News Analysis: Boot Camp appeals to creative professionals who work with Windows-only software, but users may be left in support limbo if their apps don't work on an Intel Mac.At first glance, Apple's Boot Camp software seems like a boon to creative professionals who split their time between PCs and Macintoshes. Mac users have long waited for the day when Windows-only applications such as AutoCAD, Microsoft Project and Microsoft Visio would run on an Apple machine.
"Those are really the three big applications—well, along with games—that are missing on the Mac," said Scott Michaels, director of professional services for Atimi Software, a cross-platform development company based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
But while Apple is explicitly endorsing the use of Windows on its hardware, the company won't be supporting the software. And it looks like major creative software vendors, such as Microsoft, Autodesk and Adobe, don't yet have plans to test their software on Intel-based Macs running Boot Camp.
Officials at Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., declined comment, except to say that they are pleased Apple customers are excited about running Windows and that there are no plans to test any software on Boot Camp.
A spokesperson at Autodesk, based in San Rafael, Calif., said that she was surprised at the announcement and that support questions haven't been settled. "Nobody really has much of a plan yet," the spokesperson said. "This just happened the other day; it's too soon to tell."
Kevin Lynch, vice president and chief software architect for Adobe's platform business unit, said Boot Camp doesn't impact the company's development efforts at all. Adobe, of San Jose, Calif., will continue to develop software for both the Mac OS and Windows operating systems.
"The reason vendors wouldn't test their apps in Boot Camp is the support cases," said Atimi's Michaels. "If for some reason those apps don't work, it would increase their support costs."
That leaves users wondering whom they'll call if they have problems running their Windows applications on a Mac.
"Can I really run SolidWorks on the Core Duo? Do they have the drivers worked out for full OpenGL support that I need for 3-D modeling?" asked Thomas Harvey, a mechanical designer in Wisconsin.
A specialist for a software company in Maine, who asked to remain anonymous, said that while his company can't stop users from running Boot Camp, those users would be on their own for support.
There is one ray of hope, though. Users who purchase a copy of Windows are really buying a license for that copy and thus are entitled to some form of support, said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research, based in Darien, Conn. So at the very least, Windows users on a Mac should be able to call Microsoft for basic operating system help.
"Support questions are always somewhat tricky," Gartenberg said. "If you're calling for tech support, there's your first problem."
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