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Once upon a time Apple, IBM, and Motorola got together to create
a new family of processors, the PowerPC family. They also
planned to have several different operating systems for the
PowerPC: the Mac OS, OS/2, a joint next generation OS being
developed my Apple and IBM (Pink? Taligent?), and the dominant OS
for personal computers, Microsoft Windows.
The joint Apple-IBM project disappeared from view, OS/2 never
made it to the PowerPC, and Microsoft eventually threw in the towel
on porting Windows to the new hardware platform. Or so we
thought.
It turns out Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, and Office 2001
are not the only reason Microsoft has been hiring Mac programmers
left and right. Just as Apple has always had a few software
engineers playing with "Star Trek" (the Mac OS for Intel)
and Darwin on x86, so a dedicated group at Microsoft has
been playing with Windows on PowerPC.
The idea isn't as far-fetched as it sounds. Microsoft Windows is
not wed to the Intel family of processors and its clones, although
most of the world doesn't know that. It also runs quite
successfully on the Alpha processor. Well written code need
only be recompiled for the Alpha instead of the Pentium - just like
a lot of Mac and Unix code can be recompiled for OS X.
Until now, the biggest obstacle to Microsoft Windows on PPC has
been the small Mac market. But thanks to the iMac, Apple has
again become a force to be reckoned with in the personal computer
world.
However, Microsoft is taking a very different approach to Wind-X
(the project was code-named Windex, but Microsoft
anticipated serious trademark problems with that name). Instead of
a full-blown OS, Wind-X will run Windows on top of the same kernel
Apple uses for Mac OS X.
Microsoft hopes to ship Wind-X on April 1, 2001 - assuming Mac
OS X is finished by then.
This gives Microsoft three big advantages over emulators
such as Virtual PC and SoftWindows:
Windows is not running within the Mac OS, but as a full-fledged
shell for the OS X kernel.
Wind-X isn't emulating an Intel processor, which
eliminates perhaps the biggest bottleneck with VPC and
SoftWindows.
Microsoft owns Windows and many of the leading Windows
applications, so it doesn't have to license Windows and can readily
port Microsoft Office to Wind-X.
Further, Microsoft won't be competing directly with Apple, since
users must have OS X installed before they can install Wind-X.
Of course, the big question is why. Why would Microsoft
port Windows to the PowerPC? Why would Microsoft only make half an
operating system? Why does Microsoft believe there's a market for
Wind-X?
If we knew the answer to those questions, these wouldn't be
groundless rumors. But we can speculate.
Why port Windows to PPC? That's a very good question. Microsoft
obviously wants to dominate - as the Department of Justice
demonstrated. And if they can do this, what next but Wind-X for
Intel that runs on a BSD or Linux kernel?
Why make only half an operating system? Well, Windows has never
been known for stability, while Unix has. By using a kernel
perfected by others, Microsoft can concentrate on other aspects of
Windows. It also gives them an out when you call customer service.
"Sorry, that's a kernel issue."
Finally, why does Microsoft believe there's a market for Wind-X?
Because with the exception of Microsoft Bob, almost
everything Microsoft has done has succeeded sooner or later and
dominated the industry. They see a modest but growing market for OS
X, Linux, and other Unix derived operating systems; this is their
way of leveraging that with the face PC users have become familiar
with.
BTW, we've heard Microsoft's new slogan will be, "Windows
forever." Of course, we all remember what happened when Apple
proclaimed, "Apple II forever."
Maybe this is a good idea. ;-)
- Anne Onymus
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