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Everyone I know with Intel Macs runs Windows with either Boot Camp or
Virtualization.
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I'm talking about virtualization for backwards compatibility, not virtualization for running a completely different OS. For example, Apple dropped support for OS 9 virtualization with Leopard.
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Palm Desktop.
Office 2000 (our Corporate standard)
Cisco VPN
MSYS (there's a patch to get it to work and I'm doing some hacking to
try to get it to work).
Various Visual Studio/Platform SDK/SDK tools. I got my first BSOD
on the new machine trying to install Microsoft's own tools on Vista
x64.
Antivirus software. The salesperson specifically asked me what office
and antivirus programs I was planning to use and apparently had a
list of applications that didn't run or didn't install on x64.
Embedded Flash, Java in 64-bit browsers.
I've been on x64 since 2004 and read planetamd64 which is one of
the better places to deal with x64 issues (drivers, hardware,
software).
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Most of those programs are for the commercial sector. Once again, I'm referring to consumers.
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iTunes did support x64 in one particular version and then it broke
in the next release. A little while after that, you could install
it but not all of the pieces worked. I've been running iTunes on
x64 for several years.
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That must be a problem specific to your system, then. According to the
iTunes page, 64-bit Vista is supported.
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I try to stay on the legal side of software licenses.
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It was a rhetorical question.
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What does the issue of Hackintosh have to do with battery life?
Did someone run a benchmark of a Hackintosh system?
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The problems with Hackintoshes display how closely OS X is integrated with Mac hardware, meaning that optimization of things such as battery life are very easy to do, in comparison to Windows.
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That x64 is in stores is a huge sea-change from 2003. 4 GB of
laptop memory runs about $100 retail these days. Computers with
Vista should come with at least 2 GB of RAM. When 4 GB has better
$/GB (maybe we're already there), there will be a push to drop
in 4 GB of RAM and there's your impetus for going to x64. I can
see people that consider themselves power-users going to x64
just because they want 4 GB of RAM in a consumer model instead
of the 2 GB budget model.
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By that time, 64-bit should be well supported. If a 64-bit OS comes preinstalled, drivers aren't going to be an issue. The only issue is 3rd party software, in which support for 64-bit software is being added all the time.
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In terms of marketing I'd say that Apple doesn't spend a lot of money on it.
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Maybe not, but their advertisements are nevertheless some of the best in existence.
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Their web site is awful and that's the portal to the
company's products.
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Apple's? There isn't anything particularly wrong with it that makes it worse than any of the other companies'.
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Where they shine is word-of-mouth recommendations.
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This does play a big part, but it's augmented by their physical stores and the halo effect from the iPod/iPhone. It's very easy for a salesperson at an Apple store to get someone who walks in to buy an iPod or iPhone to walk out with a MacBook as well. So they don't have to get the customer into the store; the iPod/iPhone does that.