Wall Street was enthusiastic about Apple's move. Investors seemed to think the strategy would help Apple expand its share of the personal computer market beyond the 3 percent to 5 percent level where it has stood at for many years.

'We think Boot Camp makes the Mac even more appealing to Windows users considering making the switch,' Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said in a statement.

Still, the company said it was providing the software because it recognized a sizeable demand and opportunity. Many technology enthusiasts have already been sharing software and tricks on the Internet to allow Mac users to add Windows to their new machines, although those approaches involve a far more complicated installation than Apple's new software does.Īpple said it did not intend to support Windows for customers who install Boot Camp and run Windows XP on their machines. It works on Apple's three lines of computer that run on Intel chips the Mac mini, the iMac and the MacBook Pro.Īpple's move is a recognition of the growing interest among some users in running Windows on Macintosh computers now that they are using Intel processors, which power the majority of Windows-based personal computers. The software, Boot Camp, is available as a free download on Apple's Web site and will be part of the next version of Apple's operating system, Leopard. Turning a decades-long rivalry on its head, Apple Computer introduced software today that it says will easily allow users to install Microsoft's Windows XP operating system on Apple's newest computers.

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