A view of Apple's Boot Camp from a Windows guy... and he likes what he sees!

The Windows installation routine asks you to select the partition to install Windows (the answer is always C:), formats the partition and installs Windows on your Mac. After you successfully boot into Windows XP, the last step is to install the Windows drivers from the disc burned with Boot Camp. The process is less complicated that it sounds.

Apple's beta release of Boot Camp was offered as a test in preparation for the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, the next major release of Apple's operating system. Leopard, which could arrive early next year, will include Boot Camp. Apple will not distribute Windows XP with Boot Camp. The company won't comment on whether it will upgrade Boot Camp and OS X to perform the same feat for at least some versions of Windows Vista. But there's no question that Apple has already delivered a breakthrough.

Meanwhile, Virtual PC has a couple of advantages over Boot Camp. You can switch back and forth between Mac OS X and Windows more rapidly without having to reboot. It also runs on PowerPC-equipped Macs. In fact, it's a bit ironic that Microsoft's Virtual PC software does not support Intel-based Macs. For details, see this Microsoft FAQ.

A Microsoft guy who likes Windows on a Mac... Shocking! :-D