Verbalism Personified: To Emulate or not to Emulate? That is the question.

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

To Emulate or not to Emulate? That is the question.

Last night, a friend alerted me about a project that is causing some stir in the Macintosh, Microsoft and Open Source communities.

Reports from MacRumors and elsewhere state that PearPC v0.1 is an early version of "an architecture-independent PowerPC platform emulator capable of running most PowerPC operating systems". The emulator offers emulation for various PowerPC operating systems including Mac OS X v10.3.

If Apple doesn't shut them down and the project is allowed to mature, this could be the answer for closet Mac OS admirers. PC Users who are either inhibited by cost of hardware or who just want to marry different hardware combinations with the rock-solid stability of Mac OS X. Apple could see an increased adoption of the Mac OS.

At this point, the developers caution that the PearPC emulator is in its infancy and that optimal performance is a ways off. But there is a potential market should they succeed. However that could be a prelude leading to a wider pirating of the OS. And from Apple’s perspective, that may not be good for business in the long run.