One Computer to Rule them All
The world has been going through a bit of a bumpy patch in the past few years. Old orders are being shaken up and new situations are making old enemies into uneasy allies.The computer world has been experiencing it's own upheavals though nothing that would get CNN into a lather.

Apple's news that they were switching to Intel chips has been dissected in huge detail, with much handwringing and predictions of gloom. Maybe the doomsayers are right but while they furiously shake their magic 8-balls, we can speculate on the implications for the power user. Since Macs now run on the most used chip architecture for desktop operating systems , there is quite a profound new possibility with these new machines.

The OS for the Job.
Rival Operating Systems have been a bit like like teenage gangs up until now. The Goths thought they knew best, the Bookworms had the most knowledge but not much popularity while the Jocks had the power but not much finesse. After the acne has subsided, most people had realised that every gang contributed something towards the overall school. However, while you were in the group, that type of tolerance would have got you a dunking in the toilets.

Looking at the OS market from an objective point of view, there are indisputable facts about the three most popular desktop systems on the market.

Mac OS X : By far, it has the coolest media image and exploits it position of the underdog. It retains the strongest user experience & media management software, partly due to the small pool of supported hardware models. At the moment it is the most secure desktop environment and a very distant third in gaming behind PC and consoles.

Windows: Has the software support that puts other systems to shame. Safe to say that if someone has thought of doing something on a computer, a Windows program has been written for the task. As a result of this ecosystem the user experience is not as strong and unfied as the Mac but vastly broader.

Linux: The Fields of Dream OS, if you build it, they will come....The momentum building up behind Linux has been slow but steady and the moment will be reached where it's place as a viable desktop OS will be assured. The homebrew software emerging from the Linux developers will produce some of the killer apps of the next decade. It's server usage gives it a corporate credibility that the Mac would find very hard to emulate.

For some people, one system fufils all their computer needs but for the power user, having the power of all three environments opens up another world of software/dependability/media management. Recognizing the strengths of each OS, there should be no barrier to installing multiple systems on these Intel Macs and adapting your workflow to whatever environment suits the current task. There should come a point at which the power user can work on their digital media in OS X 10.5 (Leopard), switch to Windows Longhorn for the specialised app/gaming and float their way into any Linux flavour for their open source development. Two thirds of this workflow is already technically possible for Windows users, but if OS X was available to other PC hardware then this would be as feasible on Dell, HP etc as on the Intel Macs. As it stands, Apple seems to want to hold onto it's OS X crown jewels until it feels it has nothing to lose.

The fact that you may need to reboot each time to make this a reality puts a dampener on the multidesktop dream. An ideal scenario on a high powered workstation would be simultaneous booting of each OS and a software switch between each desktop as the task required. The virtualization features promised for future Intel chips may make this a reality.

The big question and uncertainty is the developer support and how having a triple-boot machine will affect the bottom line of developing for solely Macintosh. Arguably the cost of developing for the Mac platform has now increased for the support of two chip architectures for roughly the next 5-7 years. Cash strapped software houses will definitely be considering their options. The benefits of having the Leopard/Longhorn/Linux are apparent but it will be a bumpy road to that point.

[April 2006 Update] Apple have now released Boot Camp enabling people to boot XP and in time Vista (the official name for Longhorn) on their Macs. There are also some reports of sucess in booting Linux making the above scenario more than plausible.

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