Spoiling the New Intel-Based MacBooks

UPDATE: New reports indicate that Windows won't run on the MacBooks. (Link via Daring Fireball)

On Tuesday at Macworld, Apple senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller said the company would not specifically block the use of Windows on Mac hardware. Instead, limitations in Windows itself will prevent its use on the new MacBook Pro laptop and iMac.

I guess my concerns have been allayed.

I think the better analogy would be finding that your awesome new sports car comes with an amphibious conversion kit. The kit is ugly as sin, causes the car to sink when in "forward" gear, and gets the car hijacked by pirates evey 11 minutes who use it to run down other boaters, then return it to you with blood on the fenders.

But hey, at least you're in the water, right?

The reason I care is this. I was a Windows user for almost a decade. I still use it on occasion because I sometimes have no choice. But even on a computer with twice the chip speed of my Apple, Windows is slow and clunky. It's ugly, and I have to take eternal vigilance to ensure that the Windows boxes I use stay virus and spyware free.

The Windows operating system has served as a launching pad or enabler for virtually every criminal or malicious coding enterprise. If Windows were a house, it would be condemned as a public nuisance because of the crack dealers inside. The problems inherent in the Windows platform affect even those who - like me - have opted out to the greatest degree possible. That's why I care.

Or alternatively, it's like discovering your new boat can be made to drive on roads too. Sure it won't look pretty out of the water and on a street, and sure most of the time you will do your best and stay to the water whenever possible, but you can bet it will have its occasional uses. If it helps other people switch, why care?