A competition to install Microsoft’s operating system on Mac computers was launched soon after Apple announced its first product running on Intel chips. Two winners have claimed a prize of nearly $14,000.
Colin Nederkoorn, the initiator of the contest, revealed that the initial funding from the organizers was only $100, but it later increased to $13,854 thanks to sponsors like Digital Express, Delicious Monster, and Uneasy Silence.
Last week, the victory went to two individuals from California, known by their aliases Narf and Blanka. Their solution has been posted on the contest website, which is currently experiencing heavy traffic. Nederkoorn briefly explained the method to install Windows on a Mac: “First, you create a customized Windows XP CD and add some additional files to this disk. Then, you partition the Mac hard drive into two sections: one for Windows and one for OS X“.
Although both Macs and Windows computers use Intel chips, the process of loading Microsoft’s operating system onto a Mac is quite complex, partly due to their different boot mechanisms. There are hopes that the new generation of Windows will resolve this issue, but last week, an Apple official confirmed that Windows Vista is not compatible with Macs.
Wil Shipley, the director of Delicious Monster, a software company for Macs, stated: “Even though Apple hasn’t addressed this event, the market share of Intel Macs is likely to increase significantly now that they can legally run Windows applications, especially games. As a software developer for Macs, every 0.01% market share that Apple gains brings me thousands of dollars each year“. Delicious Monster contributed $1,000 to the prize fund.
