Mac fans love Boot Camp

Perhaps hell has frozen over.

That could explain the Macintosh community's surprisingly upbeat reaction to Apple's announcement of software enabling the running of Windows on Macs.

Normally, of course, sneering at anything to do with Microsoft's operating system comes as naturally to Mac addicts as breathing.

But when Apple announced Boot Camp on Wednesday -- software currently in beta that will make it possible to run Windows XP on Intel-based Macs and that will be incorporated in the next major upgrade to Mac OS X -- the Mac community went against type, filling Mac forums with optimistic praise for the new software.

"As a Macintosh user for more than two decades, the announcement about Boot Camp is reassuring," Ishan Bhattacharya, a doctor in Timonium, Maryland, told CNET.co.uk's sister site News.com. "I do not like the Windows graphical user interface, but there are applications available on that platform I would like to use at home without having to buy a dull beige box. Now I can do that, and so I have ordered an Intel-based iMac."

Others who already have Intel Macs want to wait no longer, particularly because they think that by bringing Windows video drivers to their Macs, they will be able to run graphics-intensive, Windows-only games on them.

"I love the way Boot Camp is so simple to use," Jamie Harris of London said. "I also like the idea of proper video drivers -- as this opens up a whole catalogue of games."

To Colin Cornaby, a Seattle student who develops OS X software, Boot Camp provides a bridge for people who have been scared to migrate to Macs after years of using Windows.

"Apple hasn't really provided much of a migration path to get from Mac OS X to Windows," Cornaby said. "Now they have provided a way to run existing software and work in a familiar environment while they get to know OS X."

Of course, not all Mac fans are so sure that Apple's move is smart. Some worry that Boot Camp might discourage makers of software like Adobe Systems' Photoshop from developing Mac-only software.

"If consumers can run Windows on Apple products, where's the incentive for developers to port their applications to OS X?" asked Bryan Kennedy, a Mac fan from Dallas. "I know I wouldn't want to waste my money rewriting my software to run on OS X when my software runs natively on Windows, running on the world's best hardware."

In any case, on its Boot Camp Web page, Apple makes a point to contrast Macs' reputation for being secure with Windows' well-publicised problems.

"Sadly, Windows XP and even the upcoming Vista are stuck in the 1980s with old-fashioned BIOS," Apple's site says. "But with Boot Camp, the Mac can operate smoothly in both centuries. Windows running on a Mac is like Windows running on a PC. That means it'll be subject to the same attacks that plague the Windows world."

And some Mac fans are enjoying Apple's bitchy references to Windows security holes.

"The little sarcastic comments on Apple's Boot Camp Web page directed toward Windows XP are just an added bonus," Bhattacharya said.