Once Macs use Intel processors, and the final version of BootCamp is already available, this could be the final step to having true hybrid computers (Mac OS X – Windows XP or Vista).
This rumor has emerged on the Wine project mailing list where it is mentioned that one of its users has found evidence that suggests that the latest version of Mac OS X (Leopard) would allow Windows applications to be run natively and without the need to resort to any kind of virtualization or emulation system. The open source Wine software is very popular with Linux users and allows Windows programs to run under UNIX, albeit with certain limitations.
It all begins when Steven Edward publishes the so-called “Interesting Behavior of OS X”, where it is indicated that Leopard has “Portable Executables” a type of files used in the 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows. This is a function, which apparently has never been documented by Apple, and it even tries to find the appropriate DLLs when trying to run a Windows binary code. For this reason, everything indicates that it is possible that Leopard already has the necessary elements for Apple to add a compatibility layer in Mac OS X, with which Windows applications can be run as if they were their native applications.
For their part, the places specialized in the Mac platform echo this event and argue that they do not see it as very likely, justifying this event as a residue of some test phase some of the versions of iTunes, Safari or Quicktime that do have Windows version, or some “Coherence” mode within the operating system itself, so that Boot Camp would make use of it.
Web: http: //arstechnica.com; www.winehq.org.
