Ted Schadler, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc., offered this answer: 'Apple is a hardware company; they build software to sell the hardware. The question is really why not to support the installation of Windows on their computers. This allows them to sell more hardware.'

Actually, two hackers named 'narf2006' and 'blanka' had figured out how to dual-boot the Intel Macs a few weeks ago with a kkludgely solution that worked but required numerous steps and patches. Then came the public beta of Boot Camp, an easy-to-use, Apple-like system that partitions your hard drive, allows you to select which partition to boot from and provides all the necessary drivers on a self-made CD that auto-installs the drivers once XP is installed.

"The means to do this was already out there and [was] not a seamless experience," said Schadler. "By releasing Boot Camp, Apple regains control of the user experience and ensures it is seamless.'

When asked about the business case for allowing rival Microsoft's operating system on Apple hardware, Brian Croll, senior director for Mac OS X product marketing was blunt: 'Lots of people are sold on the Mac, but they have one or two applications that must run on Windows -- and that kept them from the Mac."

Apple had also received numerous requests from Mac users to make Windows available on the new Intel hardware. Still others had a nonspecific anxiety around not being able to access a Windows application should they need one after buying a Mac. Boot Camp worked for all three groups, said Croll.