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XP Won't Run on Intel MacBook, iMac

betanews.com — Due to Apple's use of the extensible firmware interface (EFI) rather than BIOS, current Windows releases will not run on the systems.

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  • Obvioustroll, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Doesn't this mean that the reverse is also true? That "real" OS X won't run on machines that don't use EFI as their BIOS?
  • chris_hale, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1This has been posted over and over today.... please search
    http://digg.com/search?search=xp+mac&submit=Submit
  • tophfisher, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This may not be true, the Apple EFI is said to support BIOS emulation.
  • rderveloy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0NOT TRUE!!!!

    APPLE AND MICROSOFT SIGNED AN AGREEMENT THAT APPLE WOULD NOT PREVENT WINDOWS FROM BEING INSTALLED ON IT'S COMPUTERS!!!!

    The technology is there to keep them from doing that, but sheesh! File this under completely wrong!
  • rderveloy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0*eats crow* I misread the title. It does look like XP, in its current form, won't be able to install or run normally on the new bios system without a patch or update. It will be able to work using emulation.

    Windows Vista will be able to run natively on the new hardware though.

    Sorry, when I read "xp" my mind registered "windows". :S
  • banglogic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Digg for the introduction to the EFI standard.

    Death to the old-school BIOS.
  • j.carcinogen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2EFI does have a compatibility layer to allow support for legacy operating systems that, to a certain extent, rely on BIOS information. This means EFI has full compatibility with Windows XP and Linux among others.
  • randylovin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1BIOS should have died a long time ago. You have MS to thank for its continuing existence.
  • dhughes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Death to the old-school BIOS." Famous last words.

    I think that soon EFI will be uttered in the same breath as DRM.
  • thecoleorton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1and this is a bad because......
  • mingistech, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0ah yes.... just what i wanted to hear :)
  • sneakerelph, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2man... computing is really going downhill. i hope this whole DRM thing will pass over and it will be known in computer history books as "The Big DRM Scare"

  • conigs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Somewhat off topic, but from the article:
    "Anyone, including Apple, can purchase and re-sell Windows for use on their industry-standard hardware." --Microsoft spokesperson
    Yeah, I don't see that happening any time soon.
  • mjar81, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1give the hackers 2 months. it'll run. and there'll be a .torrent file for it :)
  • dhughes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1thecoleorton "and this is a bad because......"

    Well if you want to be led around by the nose and told what you can or can't do. Enjoy!
  • jpac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1As Stated before. Apple and Microsoft have made this agreement. But..Vista Only anybody?
  • StephnDolenc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0haha, true conigs
  • tgermer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Not true.
  • BassCadet, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Putting Vista on one of those fancy, purty Mac laptops (sorry, not up to date with what gimmicky name Apple gives them these days). Wow. I wonder what Mac users would do if they owned a Mac product that actually allowed them to use more than 5-7 software titles.
  • KillerX, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Who the f*ck would want to run Windows an a perfectly good Mac any way? Only Microsoft Butt Monkeys would even think about it.

    Ha! Ha!

    Mac OS X only way to go. :)
  • aletornw, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Death to the old-school BIOS.
  • conigs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Not to fuel the flame, but those of us that use our computers for more than gaming have plenty of options for software on the Mac (unless you're using CAD, then Mac support admittedly sucks).
  • clickwir, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Ok This is lame.
  • valis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I don't get it. Are there people who care one way or the other?
  • mikeazorin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0This is *****. Just like you can run Yellowdog on an iBook G4, you can run XP on a MacBookPro.
  • TheCheeta, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1People with nothing better to do. People who haven't seen the sun since they hit puberty. People who would know a live woman if she came up and stuck her tongue in their ear.
  • lobbster, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0CAN I RUN OSX ON MY THINKPAD
  • MoeB, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0"Who the f*ck would want to run Windows an a perfectly good Mac any way? Only Microsoft Butt Monkeys would even think about it.

    Ha! Ha!

    Mac OS X only way to go. :)"

    my apple fan boy meter is going nuts.

    obviously KillerX has never had to live in the read world where people need to run applications on different platforms because they were not available on their platform of choice.
  • buckdog05, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hmmm, you can connect to the internet before booting the OS. Looks like EFI will be a big target for virus writers if it gains popularity.
  • gometro33, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Would XP be run natively or only through emulation? I'm looking to buy a Mac but need CAD and if I can dual boot to XP and OSX (XP running natively, not through crappy emulation) this would be huge.

    I'm sure this will be hacked with in a month. Going to be very cool to watch the ensuing legal battle battle hackers, Microsoft, and Apple.
  • Jozer99, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Its only a matter of time before someone comes up with a bootloader that will boot Windows XP, and a bit more time before someone comes up with a bootloader that will trick OS X into running on Dells and such.
  • jholdaway, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I don't think that Microsoft would fight to allow native installation of windows. I think that they would rather have it not. Microsoft owns the emulator brand VPC and would love MacIntel Duo's to be as incompatible with windows as the power version.

    You know they are loving that their soon to be released x86 version of VPC will run windows directly on the processor. The only fear they have is if Windows can be booted without a Bios Emulating software package then there goes those of us not afraid to self install the OS.

    Don't worry gometro33, No matter if it is native installation and boot or emulated install or boot your CAD and WinVista will run directly on the processor without a emulator to pass through.
  • Math-Sux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0So, I assume the drive would be partitioned with the Apple Disk Utility. How exactly would you format the windows partition to accept XP/Vista or whatever os (what file system would you use)?
  • master_of_fm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3thats funny, because gateway has been shipping pcs with EFI bioses for 2 years now

    http://news.com.com/2100-1008-5131787.html
  • jettavito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Flash the BIOS and it will work
  • fredclown, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0>> BIOS should have died a long time ago. You have MS to thank for its continuing existence.

    Cause everything is Microsoft's fault. Those stupid keyboard thingies are Microsoft's fault too. If it weren't for them we would have thought manipulation devices by now. And don't get me started on those monitor things ... those are Microsoft's fault too.
  • Uriah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0WOW! Two contradicting stories, one after the other, which one is true!?!?
  • Mond, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0from what i read it looks like windows vista isn't going to work either... since it's 64 bit?
  • juanfgs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"So, I assume the drive would be partitioned with the Apple Disk Utility. How exactly would you format the windows partition to accept XP/Vista or whatever os (what file system would you use)?"

    With a LiveCD ?
  • mattclare, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Next digg story:

    "Millions of geek speculate wildly over hardware they won't see for a month"
  • drbroccoli, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Running windows on a mac is comparable to vandalizing church. It's desecration.
  • elroy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I would like to see windows booted in a mach thread, similar to the way you ran classic on earlier OS X releases. Why bother with booting into the system if all you need it for is to run a few programs? I'd much rather have them look like windows programs but run in the OS X window server, saving the effort of a reboot.
  • paulmetzger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Who cares, I don't want dual boot, I want virutalization.
  • Bytor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Who the f*ck would want to run Windows an a perfectly good Mac any way? "

    I think there is a large amount of us who would like to dual boot. Especially us Windows users making a transition. In fact if this doesn't get hacked nicely to work, it will change my plans about buying a Mac altogether. No dual boot, no mac.

    On another note which stable hack do you think we will see first. Windows on a Mac, or official OSX on generic PC's?
  • p3lEr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0hmmm.....
  • anorris, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"give the hackers 2 months. it'll run. and there'll be a .torrent file for it :)"


    2 months? I say 2-3 weeks tops.
  • GeneHACKman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is like saying that a Chevy Geo engine will not run in a Corvette. You'll just have to stick with the V8 I'm afraid.
  • 3Den, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Why is this news?

    Apple said they dont' care if it runs or not; they aren't going to do anything specifically to prevent it from running. They also aren't going to expend a penny to make sure it can, either. They are building a mac.

    If it turns out that someone does up some tweak to get XP to install on it, Apple won't care.
  • geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Buying a Mac to run Windows is like buying a Ferrari and filling it up with regular to drive around town.

    I can't even see how people run Linux on their Macs; I tried, but after not even a week I switched back to OS X. There's simply not a better operating system in current existance.

    That being said, it's brand new hardware, with a brand new BIOS subsystem, why would you EXPECT a 5 year old operating system to run on it? (Windows XP came out in 2001).
  • CanuckMakem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Why the hell would any Mac user WANT to run Winblows???
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