I recently attended CCSP boot camp. I was there for two very specific purposes — like most people in attendance, I wanted to achieve the Cisco Certified Security Professional certification, but I also wanted in-depth training on the technologies that my staff deploy and I manage.
On April 4, a date chosen because April Fools’ Day fell on a Saturday, Apple released a freely downloadable beta utility called Boot Camp. The product has one astonishing, if not bizarre, purpose: to give Intel-based Macs the capability to boot and run Windows XP. It doesn’t surprise me that Windows runs on Macs — that was inevitable. Also, by the time Boot Camp was released, open sourcers were within two or three device drivers of achieving that goal without Apple’s help. Indeed, the stout-hearted crew at onmac.net set up a cash kitty to reward those who solved the problem of Macs’ inability to boot Windows.
Following on the heels of Apple’s release of Boot Camp comes a virtualisation system allowing both operating systems to run at the same time.
Apple Computer’s Boot Camp beta is pregnant with possibilities for IT. Some are good — very good, in fact. But it all comes down to how Apple will ultimately define its support of Windows.