Apple, Microsoft, and BootCamp

So there was quite the buzz around the office surrounding BootCamp, (https://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/) Apple's new boot loader which will allow you to run Windows on the new Intel-based Macs.  With there such fervor around the subject I figured I would throw my opinion on the matter out there. 

In short I think it is awesome because you get the best of both worlds. 

Good:  Apple's hardware.  When I was in college I purchased a PowerBook and loved it like it a child.  Sexy, elegant, and stylish are all valid words to describe it. While PC makers still focus on gray boxes, Apple continues to define what a computer should look and feel like.

Better: Microsoft software. Now that you have that flaming hot iMac, just imagine what awesome software you can get to run on it.  Your Mac comes with iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, (and I would strongly reccomend the Mac version of Office) but take that up a notch and add Windows.  Add DirectX games.  Add OneNote.  Add Visual Studio.  You bring the full Microsoft arsenal of apps and thousands of other killer apps that only run our the Windows platform.

Best: the future. The most important thing we can gain from this step from Apple is getting more different operating systems into people's hands. With virtualization technology (https://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx) growing by leaps and bounds questions such as "what plaform do I need to commit to" become less and less important. As an end user I really shouldn't care about how it works, only that it works.

So with Bootcamp I can buy a computer which I think looks stellar and run great software on it. No tough decisions on whether or not I can buy a software package if it can run on my OS or not - just sheer computing bliss.

While I am on the subject of Apple however, I must provide a mini-rant about their developer tools. (https://www.apple.com/macosx/developertools/) Having used both XCode and Visual Studio, in my humble opinion Visual Studio is far superior. I think the WinForms designer is more intuitive and easier to 'hook up' to code. Also Visual Studio provides a much better deployment (ClickOnce) and debugging (Edit and Continue) experience. 

Essentially, what I am trying to say is that I have wanted to buy a Mac for a long time but wouldn't because I refuse to part from the swiss army knife of code, Visual Studio. Now that I can dual boot, I can surf the web and check my EMail in OS X and create the next generation of stellar apps on Windows.

Anyways, those are my thoughts on the matter and don't reflect that of Microsoft. But Seve Jobs, if you are reading this, you might want to invest in the Mono project (https://www.mono-project.com). .Net would really help out your platform. Sure Java an ok substitute, but once you spend an hour with Visual Studio 2005 you'll notice the difference. 

Edit: spelling