Parallels to let you run OS X on a non-Mac box?

Filed under: OS Updates, News, Windows, Macintosh, Productivity

Parallels to let you run OS X on a non-Mac box?

by Brad Linder Jan 22nd 2007

There's no question that Parallels is an amazing piece of software, letting you run Windows on a Mac OS X machine. The latest version of the software even lets you drag and drop files between Windows and OS X installations.

But so far all this virtualization fun has only worked one way. You could purchase a copy of Parallels, and a copy of Windows, and install the whole thing on your Mac box. If you want to run OS X on that cheap PC you picked up at the store, you've been out of luck.

But CNN is reporting that an upcoming version will be designed in such a way "that by coincidence will make it easier to run Mac OS on a non-Apple computer." Apparently that wasn't so much the development goal as a side-effect of the way the software's designed and the fact that Intel has built virtualization into its latest chips.

Of course, this doesn't mean that Mac virtualization on a PC will be Apple-approved anytime soon. But if Parallels shows that there's user demand, I don't see why Apple wouldn't release an install CD optimized for non-Mac machines at some point.

[via Engadget]

Tags: parallels, virtualization

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Peter said 10:15PM on 1-22-2007

"I don't see why Apple wouldn't release an install CD optimized for non-Mac machines at some point" - You obviously don't know Steve Jobs very well. Steve does what HE thinks is right. It doesn't matter what the user wants, it only matters what he wants. And if Steve doesn't want you to run his OS on non-Mac hardware you can be sure he's going to do everything possible to make sure that you can't.

Dave M. said 11:12PM on 1-22-2007

There was an interview with the developers of Parallels at Macworld just a couple of days ago. It's up on YouTube. They discuss just this topic of running OS X on a non Apple host. Apple has very strict licensing that prohibits the running of OS X on any hardware other than Apple hardware.

That doesn't say that some hacker will figure out a way to make Parallels for Windows fake OS X into thinking it's running on an Apple computer, but the developers of Parallels are not able to perform such an act.

Dave M. said 11:13PM on 1-22-2007

Dan F said 5:34AM on 1-23-2007

My theory is well..if mac can be ported onto any computer..why would you want to buy an apple computer? the actuall computers are what is giving apple thoes 50% profit margins. If they were to allow the software on any pc then we would have many issues such as hardware support, processor issues, and other things. one of the big reasons why mac is so rock solid is because the people who make the software make the hardware it runs on- ensuring minimal errors. This will start a headache of problems for apple develepers. As for me..lets just do things the old fashoned way- TPB and some helpfull wiki's.
just my 2 cents

TM` said 5:35AM on 1-23-2007

why would apple want their superior running os running on a supposedly "inferior" PC. Apple is mainly in the computer hardware business. Having OS X on a pc would kill off all of the mac computer lines because macs are more expensive then pcs. Why buy a mac laptop when you can buy a normal laptop for roughly 300 dollars less? On the flip side I would love to have both windows XP and OS X on my laptop but however it happen isn't going to be apple sanctioned and they are going to prevent that at all costs.

Dave M. said 5:35AM on 1-23-2007

JT said 5:35AM on 1-23-2007

Why would you want to run OSX anyway? My school uses it, and seriously... they're so F*$%#$ hard to use compared to my Windows laptop!

epobirs said 5:35AM on 1-23-2007

OS X requires a TPM in the system hardware. The vast majority of PCs still like that since the main market outside of Apple is the military and other high security customers.

Kai Howells said 5:35AM on 1-23-2007

Yes, it works... But...
I've seen it in action - 10.4.8 running in VMWare on Windows XP - but it was an illegal version of Mac OS X someone downloaded off bittorrent that had been hacked to remove the TPM checking parts... In other words, it was a version of OS X for generic PC hardware and as such was not only illegal, but comes with no support from Apple whatsoever.

Oh, and no, I didn't inhale...

Kiddie Car said 8:56AM on 1-23-2007

Was it as good for you, baby, as it was for me?

Richard K said 8:56AM on 1-23-2007

You can just hear it now... "Hello, Apple? I just downloaded Parallels for Windows off of a torrent and I can't get OSX to boot off of my XP (Vista) box. You need to help me get it working. What?!?, you don't support this? I hate Apple, you guys ... (conversation degrades into insults)"

Sergio said 8:56AM on 1-23-2007

There's very little chance that Steve Jong-il will let his preciously crafted OS X run on unknown hardware. That would take a great shift of mentality.

Mysterius said 6:44PM on 1-23-2007

"But if Parallels shows that there's user demand, I don't see why Apple wouldn't release an install CD optimized for non-Mac machines at some point."

Yeah, right. I'd be more willing to bet that Apple will be ready to sue Parallel's socks off if they provide even the slightest shred of official support for OSX on a PC. I do hope for the best, though.

Dave M. said 9:17PM on 1-23-2007

(Sorry for the multiple posts above. The site wasn't showing the post after I verified it. Don't know why.)

One thing to also consider about OS X running on computers other than a Mac, and it's also a reason there are so few choices with graphics cards, is the limited graphics card support.

The few graphics cards that support the Mac support Core Image. Core Image is a graphics subsystem for OS X that does all the 2D graphics work and scaling. The graphics cards that support the Mac support hardware acceleration of Core Image.

OS X running on WinTel boxes without those graphics cards probably won't have the snap and flash that OS X has on Mac's. I could be wrong on this. I haven't seen OS X running on a WinTel box so I can't speak for the speed of the OS on those boxes.

HeXonX said 7:48AM on 4-12-2007

JT...are you for real? Have you actually used OS X for more than a few minutes to realize that you're in a different OS other than Windoze? Your comment has to be the funniest I've read in a while! My grandma uses a Mac...and figured out the basics in a few minutes!

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