SFist Tech Roundup: Drop and Give Me $2500!

The fallout from Apple's Boot Camp continues, and we in the labs are struggling to keep up.

For the record, we've now got our shiny new MacBook Pro dual-booting into OS X and Windows XP, and the process worked without a hitch. Once we bought another copy of XP, that is — they're really not kidding when they say you can't grab just any old installation disc. As soon as it was all up and running, we quickly ran back to the Lucida Grande-and-pinstripes-and-brushed-metal safety of OS X. We're biding our time, like John Hurt at the Nostromo dinner table, just waiting for the horrible incubating beast to burst out and spray us with blood and .sys and .dlls.

For those still wondering what Boot Camp means for Apple's future: last week, John Gruber of Daring Fireball.net wrote an interesting piece of perspective. In it, he reminds us that Apple's primary business is selling hardware, not software. Which makes the company's primary competition not Microsoft, as we all like to imagine it, but Dell, HP, Compaq, Sony, and the like. In that context, Apple's not shooting itself in the foot for allowing a competing OS on its machines; it's adding value to its hardware by letting users have machines that run two (or more) operating systems.

Over at Macworld.com, Jason Snell had a nerd slap-fight against USA Today's Andrew Kantor over whether Boot Camp portends the death of the Mac OS as we know it.

Meanwhile, John Dvorak is off his meds again, suggesting that what Apple really needs to do is open source OS X. Through the magic of spin, he manages to dovetail this perfectly with his earlier prediction that Apple is going to ditch OS X in favor of Windows.

And the only ones who really know what's going on inside the company, the rumor sites and information leakers, are finally scheduled to go to court in San Jose against The Man. Seeing as how we in the labs have no contacts and no real insider information, we're feeling relatively safe no matter what the outcome. What we do have, though, is a laptop that runs iPhoto and Civilization IV. So suck on that, Dvorak!

Screengrab of R Lee Ermey from Full Metal Jacket.