Google and Microsoft Both Want To Stop Dual-Boot Windows/Android Device 153
An anonymous reader writes "The laptop has undergone many changes over the past decade. At various times, netbooks, ultrabooks, and Chromebooks have been en vogue. Over the past several months, we've seen signs of the next step in the laptop's evolution: Android/Windows dual-boot laptops. Several companies have built these machines already, including Asus and its upcoming Transformer Book Duet TD300. However, neither Google nor Microsoft seem to want such an unholy marriage of operating systems, and they've both pressured Asus to kill off the dual-boot product lines. Asus has now complied. 'Google has little incentive to approve dual-OS models, since that could help Microsoft move into mobile devices where Android is dominant. ... Microsoft has its own reasons for not wanting to share space on computers with Google, particularly on business-oriented desktop and laptop PCs that could give the Internet giant an entry point into a Microsoft stronghold. Computer makers that make dual-OS machines risk jeopardizing a flow of marketing funds from Microsoft that are an important economic force in the low-margin PC business.'"
Re:Eh..... (Score:4, Interesting)
* Apple has Boot Camp because they have to allow Dual Booting in order to lure in the majority of computer users
Most users who want to use Windows software on a Mac will use some virtual solution like Parallels; then they can run Windows and MacOSX software at the same time, without waiting 5 minutes for a reboot.
Really, I think someone deep inside Apple did it as a prank. It is great fun to hang out at Starbucks, and watch the reaction of all the other MacBook users when they suddenly realize that you are running Windows.... on a MacBook.... heads have been known to explode.
* Of course Apple provides the Windows drivers for Apple's own machines; every vendor that supports Windows has always had to do so.
There are enough drivers built in to a standard Windows distribution to allow most common hardware to just run, no special vendor drivers needed.