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Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp

By | August 19, 2011, 5:54am PDT

Summary: Apple designs some of the best PC hardware you can buy, and its designs use the same parts as a Windows PC. Yes, you can run Windows on a Mac, but the experience is substandard. For Windows 8, Microsoft needs to replace Apple’s Boot Camp software with its own.

My ZDNet colleagues have gone gaga over the 2011 MacBook Air. Christopher Dawson calls it “a pretty incredible computer.” James Kendrick says it “epitomizes what mobile computers should be” and will become his primary computer. After only a week, Zack Whittaker admits he has “fallen head over heels” with his.

Among Silicon Valley journalists, MacBooks are ubiquitous. Even in Redmond, I’m told, some senior Microsoft executives consider Macs the perfect hardware on which to run Windows.

And indeed, they’re right. Intel-based Macs—and the new MacBook Air in particular—are built from the same parts that make up a standard Windows PC. The trouble is, they don’t run Windows 7 all that well. For that, you can blame Apple’s Boot Camp software, which runs the machine’s disk subsystem in legacy IDE mode and installs a messy glop of generic drivers that leave much of the hardware’s performance untapped on Windows.

Later this year, when Microsoft gets around to releasing a beta of Windows 8, a lot of tech reviewers are going to want to try the new OS on Apple-branded hardware. If Microsoft is smart, they’ll make that easy. How? By writing their own version of Boot Camp to optimize the Windows 8 experience for the underlying hardware.

What would a Microsoft Boot Camp include?

  • It would boot natively from the Mac’s UEFI firmware. Windows 7 will not boot natively using UEFI on a current Macintosh, as dedicated Mac hackers have discovered. That can easily be fixed in Windows 8.
  • It would offer a versatile disk management utility and its own boot loader so you can choose whether to install Windows 8 alongside OS X (a la Boot Camp) or to wipe OS X and use Windows as the exclusive operating system.
  • It would install up-to-date drivers and utility software for the Apple hardware, including full Windows 8 gesture support for trackpads and other input devices.
  • It would include the full collection of Windows Live apps that connect to complementary Windows Live services (SkyDrive, in particular) when you sign in with a Windows Live ID.

A clean installation of Windows 8 on modern Apple hardware would be an ideal showcase for Windows 8 and an ideal test bed to compare Windows 8 performance with that of OS X Lion—something that no one has been able to do until now. And with no crapw… sorry, I mean, with no third-party software, Windows users would finally have a standard against which to compare the performance of designs from other OEMs.

I know Microsoft is capable of delivering its own Boot Camp. Hell, some of their best engineers would probably kill for the opportunity to work on this project.

If this option were available, I’d probably buy a MacBook Air and run Windows 8 on it. How about you?

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Topics

Apple Macintosh, Apple MacBook, Microsoft Corp., Hardware, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Ed Bott

Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications.

Disclosure

Ed Bott

Ed Bott is a freelance technical journalist and book author. All work that Ed does is on a contractual basis.

Since 1994, Ed has written more than 25 books about Microsoft Windows and Office. Along with various co-authors, Ed is completely responsible for the content of the books he writes. As a key part of his contractual relationship with publishers, he gives them permission to print and distribute the content he writes and to pay him a royalty based on the actual sales of those books. Ed's books written prior to fall 2011 have been distributed by Que Publishing (a division of Pearson Education) and by Microsoft Press. As of November 2011, Ed is a partner in the independent publishing company Fair Trade Digital Exchange, which exclusively publishes his books.

On occasion, Ed accepts consulting assignments. In recent years, he has worked as an expert witness in cases where his experience and knowledge of Microsoft and Microsoft Windows have been useful. In each such case, his compensation is on an hourly basis, and he is hired as a witness, not an advocate.

Ed does not own stock or have any other financial interest in Microsoft or any other software company. He owns 500 shares of stock in EMC Corporation, which was purchased before the company's acquisition of VMware. In addition, he owns 350 shares of stock in Intel Corporation, purchased more than two years ago. All stocks are held in retirement accounts for long-term growth.

Ed does not accept gifts from companies he covers. All hardware products he writes about are purchased with his own funds or are review units covered under formal loan agreements and are returned after the review is complete.

Biography

Ed Bott

Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications. He's served as editor of the U.S. edition of PC Computing and managing editor of PC World; both publications had monthly paid circulation in excess of 1 million during his tenure. He is the author of more than 25 books on Microsoft Windows and Office, including the recently released Windows 7 Inside Out.

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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
Ternarybit 12th Sep
Why would they bother doing that? Apple would just artificially block it explicitly.
View in thread
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
pedroroque 19th Aug
Or they could buy HP's PC division, and build their own PCs
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
IAmMarty 19th Aug
@pedroroque Or they could do both. Win on an MBA would be great.
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They're not going to do either ...
RationalGuy 19th Aug
@IAmMarty Microsoft will never become a PC manufacturing company. Why would they obliterate their business model, alienate all of their OEMs and risk regulatory nightmares in order to be saddled with a low-margin hardware business?

Making Windows run better on Apple hardware is probably not very high on MS' list of priorities. Anything that makes someone hesitate from buying a Mac is probably a good thing in their eyes.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
magius 19th Aug
@RationalGuy Well, maybe they should reconsider. When you think about it, it is not in Apple's best interest that Windows runs well on their machine. Apple fans with an itch to check Windows without having to buy a PC (via old license or work) may be turned off by the decreased efficiency/performance of their Apple system under Windows and not realize it is because of generic drivers.

If MS on the other hand would resolve this they could show equivalent or better performance and maybe gain a future costumer (or at least become more of a contender to in an Apple-only environment).
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
comp_indiana 19th Aug
@IAmMarty

Hahaha, Google just did it to their 'partners'. MSFT would kill it's own just to gain a little marketshare. (Which they are losing month by month to Apple.)
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
belli_bettens@... 26th Aug
@RationalGuy Chances are small that all OEM's will drop Windows once Microsoft has it's own PC-devision. What are the OEMs alternatives? Will Dell suddenly ship out nothing but Linux laptops? I don't think so. Of course there are other arguments too why MS won't buy HP's PC devision but it ain't out of fear for the OEMs
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
Jayton 19th Aug
@pedroroque Lots of this talk going on... I also immediately thought of this.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
Masari.Jones 19th Aug
@pedroroque Both are great ideas, and hence that's why Microsoft won't do it.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
FuzzyBunnySlippers 25th Aug
@Masari.Jones

Because we all know Microsoft has no good ideas... heh, I get it. But somehow they still seem to make Billions year over year. Where does that leave you, Einstein? Apparently 'making money' is one good idea.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
kaveetdanani@... 19th Aug
@pedroroque hehehe like it!
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
The Douginator 20th Aug
@pedroroque You know, I would buy a Microsoft Laptop. You took the words right out of my mouth. I also realize this might alienate some if not all the OEMs out there as another person mentioned. For me, I would care less. Maybe Microsoft could sweeten the deal too.

Let's say, they somehow lock the hardware down on their computers like Apple does. They can identify that you are running a genuine "Microsoft PC" and you would get something like "Office" and other software suites for free -- Free upgrading, stuff like that or something. Or at least come out with a robust flavor specifically designed for the Microsoft PC systems -- Yeah, I for one will be all for that.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
jessedegenerate 22nd Aug
@The Douginator

yeah that's about the worst idea ever. Do you know nothing of MS's past transgressions with Apple / Netscape? the IE anti trust stuff?

I don't get why people who know nothing about the history comment on it.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
justthinking 19th Aug
In a New York minute...
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Not Microsoft's job
aaron44126 19th Aug
A nifty idea, but simply not going to happen. Microsoft writes the OS, OEMs and hardware vendors provide support for configuration and hardware device drivers. I can see Microsoft making it able to boot from Apple's EFI so that you can install and boot Windows without boot camp, but OS X dual-boot or drivers are going to be the responsibility of Apple or the end user to get set up.

Not that it's a big deal. Apple will update boot camp with Windows 8 support in due course. Also there's a good chance that the existing Windows 7 drivers will be all you need to get a Windows 8 system working.
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Contributr
You're wrong about the drivers
Ed Bott 19th Aug
@aaron44126

Virtually all of the class drivers for Windows peripherals today ARE written by Microsoft. That's why you can do a clean install of Windows 7 and get full hardware support on many devices without ever touching a third-party driver.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
toomuchtime 19th Aug
@Ed Bott No totally true. remember a few years back when Win7 came out, before upgrading it was necessary to run compatibility software to determine whether software or hardware drivers on the upgrade PC where compatible with Win7. If not, you had to get one from the vendor.
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Not really true
jscott418 19th Aug
@Ed Bott Microsoft takes a basic driver from the manufacture and applies it to Windows 7 drivers as a approved driver. But many PC manufactures alter those drivers for their machines. Especially drivers that have certain features. Microsoft does not manage those drivers.
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Correct in most cases
rhonin 19th Aug
@Ed Bott
Have found that for some OEM's, they have "altered" drivers that are specific to their machines.
For most a clean install of Win7 (not the OEM version) works very well with little if any issues.

Done this on an ASUS, Dell, AW, Toshiba, Lenovo, Hp and Sony.
Sony and Hp had "custom" drivers.
AW had alternate drivers that took advantage of specific hardware configurations.

happy
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
striker67 19th Aug
@Ed Bott - Why would microsoft even want to do this? They would be making it easier for people to buy Macs? Mac OSX doesn't even run well in a virtual session so I see no reason for Micorsoft to reciprocate. If anything I would think they shouldn't be supporting it at all. Urge the OEM's to build better computers would be a better bet
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
PollyProteus 19th Aug
@striker67

If the consumer wants to spend money on a pretty Apple notebook and not run OS X, but run Windows to it's fullest capability (and not held hostage to generic drivers that provide minimal capability) then it *is* in Microsoft's best interest to provide that ability

Remember, to install Windows on a Mac computer, the customer needs to spend the bucks for a full install of Windows (less if it's the OEM version but still they have to purchase), so regardless if the consumer buys Mac hardware or not, for the customer there's a Windows license purchase, which means Microsoft gets money.

And if Microsoft can tout that Windows will run to it's fullest capability on Mac hardware, then Apple gets money for the hardware but it continues to be a Windows-centric world, which is good for all the application writers that create great software for the Windows environment.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
BillDem 19th Aug
@Ed Bott Some are asking, "why would Microsoft want Windows to run on Macs?" Answer - For the same reason they want Windows to run on HP or Dell computers. They don't care what hardware you use. They are not a hardware company. From Microsoft's perspective, Apple is not their competitor. Most Apple owners buy the same Microsoft products HP or Dell owners buy. If Apple were smarter, they would embrace Windows as another way to sell Mac hardware, but they blindly choose to view MS as a competitor. Fact is, most Apple owners also use Windows and other Microsoft products. Microsoft wants to sell you the OS and the software, regardless of the hardware. So, I think Ed's idea is a great one, although I'd be plenty happy with Microsoft just writing decent drivers for Apple hardware. For me, MSBootcamp just isn't necessary. I wouldn't run OS X if I bought an MBA and I wouldn't buy one unless I could run Windows-only. MBA would be a great Windows 8 machine without OS X taking up space for no reason. Hey Microsoft, write us some Mac hardware Windows drivers and we'll buy more from you.
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RE: I'd be plenty happy with Microsoft just writing decent drivers...
bobiroc 19th Aug
@BillDem

I don't think that is the issue here. The drivers for the Apple hardware are exactly the same. I have bootcamped enough macs to see the same Intel Chipsets, Graphic Chipsets, NICs, Wireless NICs, and so on. There may be a couple unique things but I think the only hold up is the Apple EFI that is a bit unique. I have not really noticed a performance hit on any of the Macs I have bootcamped to be honest. I first tried with parallels and hated it though
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
comp_indiana 19th Aug
@Bill Dem

"Fact is, most Apple owners also use Windows"

The difference is, we all tried that trash and CHOOSE NOT to run it. Windows users typically never tried anything else. Sure, they look at the mac and mumble to themselves, but they never actually learned to use it. call any tech support, ask for help wtih the Mac version. The techs can't even bother to learn their OWN SOFTWARE for Mac, that's how bad your Mac hatred is.

If you think Mac users run windows as well as mac, then you are just kidding yourself. Only if someone like you forces them to.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
comp_indiana 19th Aug
@Ed Bott

Ha ha, the 'windows centric world' is over, and it was never a good thing.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
striker67 19th Aug
@ Polly & Bill...still don't see the logic and the big difference between Apple vs HP & Dell is that Apple has a closed OS that doesn't play when trying to run it in virtualization on a windows box. Even if a windows user wanted to they could not run mac osx. When Apple plays it would then make more sense to for MS to play as well. Otherwise too bad. Sometimes you can't have your cake and eat it too. MS has other OEM's to consider when making these decisions. They far outsell any hardware Apple produces.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
scubashnurpel 19th Aug
@Ed Bott The difference in the hardware field is probably 80/20 with the stock windows drivers fully supporting the vast majority. The "custom drivers" i have had to use only offer UI differences or they support highly specialized hardware (Audio/Video/Imaging). Mainstream support is almost always complete, and if it isn't now it will be more so in Win 8. A Mac capable of running windows natively would be big. I would buy one. And it would be an even playing ground to answer that age old question of which OS is truly faster. I already know I can accomplish about any task known to man on Win 7 in conjunction with a cadre of open source and proprietary software.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
cool8man Updated - 19th Aug
@aaron44126

As a Boot Camp user for the past 2 years I can say that Apple has been pretty lousy and slow to deliver driver support. The first 7-8 months of using their new Macbook Pro with Windows 7 was a little bit dicey. They finally brought out an update that fixed a bunch of little glitches, but they never really put any effort into optimizing the drivers.

I agree with people who say that Macs make great Windows computers. I own 2 MacBook Pro's and I never use Mac OS on either of them.
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The reason I think Microsoft won't do it ...
mwagner@... 19th Aug
@aaron44126 ... is because it dings Microoft's own OEMs who don't want customers to have just one more reason to buy Apple hardware.

Apple hardware just went through a MUCH NEEDED upgrade so I yeah, if Apple didn't have such a stinky attitude, I'd consider the 2011 MacBook Air.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
pjalm 20th Aug
@aaron44126 I think you missed the point. Apple's Boot Camp drivers are a total joke. To start, Apple forces BIOS emulation for all other OSes except OS X and puts the SATA controller in Legacy IDE mode not ACHI which disables 2 SATA ports on the Mac Pros and hinders the performance of all disk IO. You also lose the power management features which drastically reduces the battery life. If Microsoft could add full support for EFI booting on Apple hardware this could change a lot of things. I remember a lot of express cards would not work for me in windows on the first generation MacBook Pros due to the BIOS emulation.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
Morpheus Phreak 19th Aug
Sorry, but I can't call any machine an incredible computer if it is using integrated Intel graphics that steals RAM since it has none of its own.

That's not to say that I don't want one purely for the portable factor, and if I get one I do intend to run Windows on it.

That's the only thing that Macbook Air has for me...the portable factor. The problem is a ton of Netbooks have it too, and they have hardware that is just as impressive for less. sad
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Swappable
rhonin 19th Aug
@Morpheus Phreak
It should have swappable graphics sad
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
comp_indiana 19th Aug
@Morpheus Phreak

Uh, hate to break it to you, but the high end model has a dedicated video card now. You probably need that for playing games. (Top skill for most windows users.)
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
FuzzyBunnySlippers Updated - 21st Aug
@comp_indiana
Or CUDA cores for encoding/decoding/hardware acceleration... also, do you not know that avoiding sharing RAM with the system for graphics will increase your system speed regardless of purpose (games) or otherwise? Or were you so proud of yourself when you thought of that 'gaming' quip to abandon reason?
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I was reading an old copy of Macworld
adacosta38 Updated - 19th Aug
...in the bathroom. It was about the Intel transition and one of things the author of article said about Mac developers was, the possibility of abandoning OS X for Windows since it will now run on Mac hardware. The author countered this point by saying reason why someone buys a Mac is to run and use OS X specifically. Yes, they might need that one obscure Windows app they don't have native support for in Mac OS. If they do need Windows, the entire performance benefits is not necessary. If you are an enthusiast, it might matter though because you see things differently from the average user.

Then again, it would be a welcome for Mac users who need to install Windows 8 on a Mac and to avoid the Boot Camp driver disc they have to create. Apple should welcome it too, since they don't have to worry about the class drivers anymore, so they can focus on something else.

Then again, probably Apple wants it that way to somehow show up Windows as being an inferior operating system compared to OS X on the same hardware. You might say, but Microsoft is writing the drivers and Apple can simply make them inferior with a firmware update. Also, this will add burden to Microsoft development, since they will have to take into consideration every Intel Mac and future ones.

Its something to be considered though for those who really need this. Because even when Windows 8 RTM's, Intel Mac Users will probably have to wait until some time after GA to get native driver support. Apple can also use it as leverage for a future revision of OS X, so if you want native Windows 8 Boot Camp drivers, you need to update to Mac OS 10.8
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Contributr
That was then, this is now
Ed Bott 19th Aug
@adacosta38

Sorry, but I know many people who buy MacBooks, wipe OS X, and install Windows. They love the Apple hardware but need and want Windows. This option would be for them. More importantly, this group includes a disproportionate number of reviewers and journalists, who would otherwise run Windows 8 in a virtual machine (inferior experience) or use Boot Camp (also inferior experience although a little better).
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
cbrcoder 19th Aug
@Ed Bott Good idea however it would have been even better if MacBook Air had touch screens happy
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Your anecdotal experiences are statistically irrelevant
baggins_z 19th Aug
because your friends and acquaintances are not typical computer users.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
GeiselS@... 19th Aug
@Ed Bott You are absolutely right Ed. All the consultants I know (most Microsoft certified) would love Apple hardware running only Windows. Add me to that list as well.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
rhonin 19th Aug
@baggins_z
Guess again.
I have two professional companies working on my current ERP project that use Macs. They both use Win7 on them as they need the full suite of MSOffice apps to support their business and the customers they work for - includes project and visio.

In my business, for those that use Mac hardware, Windows is a required feature.

plain
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
comp_indiana 19th Aug
@Ed Bott

No body wants to look bad or stupid. You can have Windoze running if you are so, erm, inclined. Just don't let anyone see the screen, or use some Mac type window dressing on it, you can pretend to have a real Mac.

Your acquaintances probably all work in Redmond.
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@rhonin
baggins_z 19th Aug
And, exactly how does your anecdotal situation refute my original point? Bott talks about his techno nerd friends. You talk about a vertical business space. The vast majority of Apple sales are to the consumer space. Where "the full suite of MSOffice apps to support their business" is not a requirement.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
arminw 19th Aug
@Ed Bott
I would suspect the vast majority of users of Windows on a Mac are not techies like you and most readers here, but people who have a few Windows only programs for which no equivalent exists on the Mac OS X. Most of the time, these non-technical users do not require blazing performance from their one or 2 special Windows apps. Almost all my software, I would say 90% runs natively on OS X, but I do have a few programs that I like very much which I run in a VM using Parallels. These programs do not require much CPU horsepower and therefore run just fine.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
rfoto 20th Aug
@Ed Bott
Wipe OS X? Is that really necessary? Do they need the disk space and never anticipate using a Mac app? Sounds foolish unless I am mistaken and you need to wipe OS X to boot into Windows.
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I'm considering a MacBook Air as it is
WilErz 21st Aug
@ Ed Bott

I'll have to see how the Windows 8 hardware looks first (especially tablet hardware), but as it is I'm considering buying a MacBook Air. Apple hardware tends to be a bit more dated than the latest PC hardware, but that actually has some advantages (e.g. more mature drivers).

In my case, I've no interest in OS X, so something like what you're suggesting would actually increase that chances that I'd buy a Mac. It could still be good for Microsoft, however, if they earn more from Windows licences sold to Mac owners than from OEM Windows licences.
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So...
ego.sum.stig@... 19th Aug
Why would anyone actually want to run Windows 1,2,3, ... 8 on a Mac? Mind you, it would be amusing to see Apple accidentally break it every time they did an OS X update.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
Tigertank 19th Aug
@ego.sum.stig@...
I cant imagine anyone wants to run Windows per se, they just need to run a piece of software that is PC compatible.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
Badgered 19th Aug
@Tigertank I can't imagine anyone wants to run Windows per se, they just need to run a piece of software that is PC compatible.

I'm trying to figure out if you're being sarcastic, or are just clueless.

Oddly enough, some people like to use OS X, some Linux, and yes some Windows. So... expand your imagination.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
vegaramos 19th Aug
@Tigertank I would, why not. Windows 7 is an awesome OS, easily rivals OS X.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
comp_indiana 19th Aug
@Tigertank

That's the take home point. No one except a few PC Geeks want windows at all. No one. NOt your sister, not your brother in law, no one. Certainly not anyone with an open mind about computing. Just the true-believer MSFT zealots. wink
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
striker67 19th Aug
@comp-indiana...you realize that the windows installed userbase makes Apple pc installed user base look tiny right? I guess there are an awful lot of PC Geeks around.
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RE: Windows 8 on a Mac: why Microsoft should write its own Boot Camp
Ternarybit 12th Sep
Why would they bother doing that? Apple would just artificially block it explicitly.

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