You’ve probably noticed I’ve spent a lot of ink these last few weeks talking about running Windows on a Mac. Specifically, I’ve been talking about the ability to use Apple’s Boot Camp or Parallel’s Workstation to have “the best of both worlds” at your computer fingertips.

This week I’m here to tell you that for most MacHeads it’s all pretty irrelevant. Sure, you can do it. You can run Windows on a new Intel-based Mac, and if you boot into Windows (using Boot Camp), it’ll run as fast as on a PC made by Dell/HP/Compaq/Lenovo/Your-Neighbor-Brian/Insert-Name-Of-Generic-PC-Maker-Here.

The question is: why would you want to do it? There’s an old saying that goes something like this: “People use a Mac because they want to. People use Windows because they have to”.

Now, hold on there. Before you sit down and write that Letter to the Editor (which I really, actually, encourage you to do) accusing me of being an Apple shill, hear me out. If you’re happy in the Windows world, more power to ‘ya. Knock yourself out. Seriously. We all make our beds and have to lie in them.

My point is that lost in the hype and hysteria of “Windows on a Mac” is the simple fact that today, in terms of what most people use a computer for, we Mac users don’t suffer at all from “Windows envy”. Perhaps there was a time (somewhere in the mid-90s) when one could claim that Mac users had to deal with the stark reality that software developers were eschewing the Mac market and developing software primarily for the rapidly expanding Windows market.

That is simply no longer the case, due to two major factors. The first: the rise of the Internet. Despite Microsoft’s best efforts to make the Internet their own, it just hasn’t worked out that way. The “information superhighway” and all the on-ramps onto it now actually impede Microsoft’s march to world domination. But, I digress.

The second factor? Steve Jobs’ return to the Apple helm in the late ‘90s. Jobs foresaw not only the promise of the Internet, but also the increasing role that digital media would play in our lives. PC pundits scoffed at the notion that the original iMac had no floppy drive. Jobs somehow knew that your basic 1.4 MB floppy disk couldn’t hold even a single digital photograph or digital music file.

That first iMac also came with built-in Ethernet, which was an optional “upgrade” on PCs. Somehow Jobs & Company knew that cable modems and DSL were the way of the future.

On the software side, Apple’s iLife suite of consumer digital lifestyle applications gave Mac users the power to manage their digital media long before similar software appeared for Windows. iLife is bundled on all Macs, not part of some add-on (read “more money”) Windows service pack. But, Microsoft is catching up (or catching on). Sometime later this year Windows Vista will ship with its first photo management tool similar to Apple’s iPhoto. Of course, right now iPhoto is up to version six.

To be fair, there is some excellent Windows software Mac users are certainly missing out on. Some (not all) high-end games (however, if you really want games, why not get an Xbox or Playstation?). AutoCad professional drafting and design software. Dragon Naturally Speaking 8 voice recognition and dictation software.

On the other hand, Mac users don’t use or need most custom-built enterprise applications or Dentist Office 2000.

And, lest we forget, Mac users don’t get to use anti-virus, extra-firewall, anti-spyware, or anti-adware software.

Well, you can’t have everything, after all.

© 2006 Peter F. Zimowski