Now that you can install Windows on a new Macintosh with relative ease, why would any self-respecting computer user choose to buy a PC?

A year ago, you’d have donned an extra layer of protective clothing before answering this question. The unspeakably dreary Mac vs PC debate rumbled on for so long, with the two sides so firmly entrenched and utterly opposed, that insurance companies would refuse to touch anyone attempting mediation. Then earlier this year Apple lobbed an unexpected grenade in the form of Boot Camp, a technology – albeit unsupported – which allows Windows XP to boot up on the new Intel-based Macs: simply hold down a key at startup to choose between Windows and Mac OS X. Mac fanatics were horrified at such betrayal, but, faced with the alternative of ditching their beloved Mac, they inevitably came around to Apple’s way of thinking.
The ability to run alien system software on your computer isn’t a new thing. Emulation has been around for years, enabling you to run old Sinclair software on your PC or Windows software on your Mac, but it was always more of a neat trick than a serious solution; the software would be merely usable at best, and crashing constantly at worst. But, as processors speed up, emulation becomes more realistic. PearPC allows you to run OS X on a PC, and Parallels Desktop is mounting a challenge to Boot Camp by giving the option of running Windows applications on a Mac without having to restart the machine first. “Emulation is perfect for occasional use of particular applications,” writes Mark Anderson, “and you’re getting an officially supported setup – unlike with Boot Camp.” (Both solutions, of course, require you to purchase a copy of Windows.) Parallels recently claimed that they’ve made it easier to install Windows on a Mac than on a PC, and some magazines argue that certain Windows software packages now run faster on a Mac. Both claims have been fiercely contested by a few dissenters; the majority of us don’t particularly care.
Boot Camp is the culmination of many years of reluctant acknowledgments from Apple that Macs and PCs need a level of interoperability. Today most new computers coming off the production lines are virtually identical – Intel make the CPUs, Fujitsu make the hard drives – and the choice is boiling down to logos and price. “Apple produce a very focused range of computers,” writes Paul Waite, “two laptops, three desktops – and if you want a lower spec computer for a lower price, a PC is the way to go.” The best reason given for buying a PC, however, came from an contributor to digg.com during a recent, otherwise tedious debate: “To safely run my daughters insulin pump using a Windows-only application, in order to keep her alive.” There’s certainly no arguing with that.