Overview of Windows-on-Intel Mac status [was RE: Unanswered Questions From MacWorld for Microsoft]

   There's a succinct, high-level overview of some key issues involved
in running Microsoft Windows on Apple's new Intel-based Macs - and in
running Linux on those Macs, and Mac OS X on other Intel-based
hardware, as well - in a CNET News article last Friday:

Ina Fried
"FAQ: Will your Intel-based Mac run Windows?
CNET News.com, January 20, 2006, 12:05 PM PST"
http://news.com.com/FAQ+Will+your+Intel-based+Mac+run+Windows/2100-1003_3-6029293.html?tag=nl

Aron Roberts
Workstation Software Support Group

P.S. Two more snippets regarding these issues appear below, with
links to articles with more detailed technical discussions; these
links and excerpts may have appeared on MacInTouch last week. As
always, anything anyone says about these issues, at this early
juncture, should be viewed as speculation:

--
Dan Warne writes about Windows-booting in an APC Magazine 
<http://www.apcmag.com/apc/v3.nsf/0/64E7EA353646669ECA2570F50012430B> 
article:
EFI is the next-generation replacement for the 20-year-old BIOS, the 
oldest part of modern PCs which is in desperate need of an overhaul. 
EFI allows devices in the PC to be initialised before the operating 
system boots, and has features like full network support before the 
PC has even booted, allowing drivers to be downloaded and updated 
before an operating system loads.
   However, Intel Australia, while being careful not to comment on 
Apple's hardware specifically, says motherboards based on the Intel 
945 chipset already support EFI and can boot Windows with no problems.
   This cryptic statement can't be taken as full reassurance though: 
it may be that 945 boards support EFI but do not come with it 
installed by default.
   Officially, Microsoft says it will support EFI natively with 
Windows Vista, so it's almost certain that Intel-based MacBook Pros 
and iMacs will be able to boot Vista when it is released later this 
year.
John G. Spooner notes a potential Windows-boot solution 
<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1911077,00.asp> for Intel Macs 
in an eWeek article:
Developers have bridged the gab between EFI-based PCs and BIOS-based 
operating systems by creating software commonly known as a 
compatibility support module. That module will allow Windows XP and 
other BIOS-driven OSes to load on EFI PCs, firmware makers say.
   The module "is a piece of software that encapsulates legacy [BIOS] 
interfaces...and then runs as an application inside the EFI 
software," said Robert Wise, vice president of product marketing at 
Phoenix Technologies Ltd., a firmware maker in Milpitas, Calif.
   Phoenix and others, including Insyde Technology Inc., are offering 
the so-called compatibility modules to their computer maker 
customers. Those companies can choose whether or not to add them to 
their systems, without incurring major cost swings one way or 
another, the companies indicated.
   Yet, it's unclear whether Apple has installed such a module on its 
machines. Apple did not return a request for comment on whether or 
not it installed such as module in its new hardware.
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