This ease of network storage is actually a very useful feature for Boot Camp Macs because of the limitation of being able to see the Mac OS X partition (and all data stored on it) when the Mac is booted into Windows XP. If Apple makes this ease-of-use connection with educational IT staff, particularly for major upgrades at schools and for new labs, it could regain a lot of the market share that it has lost in recent years.

And this is not only from the workstation perspective, but also from the server and infrastructure perspective. For IT staff, it provides the capability of a single platform server infrastructure while providing a powerful cross-platform network (all with Apple products). Thus, Boot Camp could completely reinvigorate Apple's presence in education, which could in turn lead to more consumer sales as many parents still tend to buy kids the same types of computers that they use in school.

Ryan Faas is a freelance writer and IT consultant specializing in Mac and multiplatform network design and troubleshooting. He is the co-author of Essential Mac OS X Panther Server Administration () and the author of Troubleshooting, Maintaining, and Repairing Macs (). He is a regular contributor to Inform IT and is the mobile technology correspondent for Suite 101. For more information, visitRyanFaas.com (http://ryanfaas.com).