i've read several rumors now that with the other secret features os-x leopard might run windows apps without the need of windows at all. is this really possible? also i doubt apple would do their own virtualization tool, since it's a lot of work and parallels/ vmware already made a big leap there. also apple said they were very happy with the parallels work. so what do you think? here's the wired article: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/06/whos_afraid_of_.html
Running Windows apps without Windows has been possible in Unix and Linux for some time using WINE technology. I think it is the kind of thing that Microsoft could probably defeat rather easily should they choose to do so. WINE has been pretty shaky in that some programs work and some don't, and each requires some kind of individual attention. That said, it do avoid resource depletion of hypervisors and emulation, so if your application runs at all it should run very well. Sun has been doing library compatibility tweaks in Solaris so that Linux programs run natively. Here's something to consider: See the problems Parallels and VMWare are having with Vista. Now, Microsoft has no problem at all, but these companies are spending a ton o' dough on the compatibility layer as is Apple. They are behind the curve from MSFT, and any time MSFT wishes to renew that cost cycle for their competition they need just release a new version/maintenance package that introduces incompatibilities. WINE certainly falls into this vulnerable position. There's another interesting problem. If Windows apps finally do run in a reliable and performance-acceptable fashion, why would anyone go to the trouble of creating Windows applications *and* Mac-compatible applications, including universal apps, and deal with the additional problems of platform testing, chasing Windows/OS X OS upgrades, marketing, etc? It seems that such vendors depend heavily on customer loyalty to buy Mac apps to run on Mac hardware, but if Windows buyers begin buying Mac hardware in big numbers and don't bother with OS X much, that will become a declining market for OS X products. My crystal ball is less than useful most times, but I've been down this road with OS/2, Solaris, and Linux, and after all these years there's not much compelling software for the Mac except Parallels and Fusion, and look at the problem they solve.
