Might be more a question for Microsoft, but if planning to get a Leopard/Vista switchable iMac, once BootCamp is out of Beta, and you want Microsoft Office on it....can you buy one license, and install on both OSs? Or do you have to duplicate, and shell out for the Mac version, and then shell out again for the PC version? =P
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Mac/Win duplicate Software
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I don't think the license codes are compatible... besides, you'd have to do something illegal to get that working anyways, since the media you are given with your purchase only contains one of the two versions....
Yeah, I've just been on WikiPedia, and it seems the Mac version of Office 2007, known as Office 2008, will be out in the 2nd half of this year, and won't contain all the same programs.
I'm just gonna have a hard time convincing my Dad to get an iMac/PC in one, if he has to pay twice for all the software.
I do have Office 2004 on an old PowerPC, so could run it under rosetta I guess....but it's still sucky, if buying the latest, you'd have to effectively buy the software twice for two operating systems on the one machine. =P
No, I do definitely understand that... what's your rationale for using Vista? Is it for games, specific applications, etc? Is Parallels an option that would eliminate the need for duplicating all your apps on both sides of the computer? It seems like having two separate fully functional installs on the computer is kind of a waste, to constantly go back and forth between using Office in Vista and in OS X....
It works like this - my Dad has on old PC, and is slow to change old computing habits. He hasn't warmed to some of the G4s I've got around. But as soon as Vista is mentioned on the news, he wants to buy a new PC with Vista.
He always complains about mess in his computer room though. We have a big box PC, from 1998, with a big CRT screen, loads of wires, etc.
Now, I've really fallen for the Macs, and I would love to just give him the all in one iMac with wireless keyboard and mouse....bye-bye mess...and look(!)...it'll still run Vista, and all your PC apps.^_^.
Meanwhile, my Mum has been learning to use a computer, and finds the Mac OS really easy. She has her own login in Tiger.
Strictly speaking, I could probably get away with only having Office on Vista for my Dad to use, and just Mail and Firefox on OSX for my Mum to use.
But I do love the idea of weening my Dad over from Windows to OSX...to show a comparison of the same apps in each OS...but perhaps I should accept you can't teach an old dog new tricks?
I don't know what Parallels is at this point in time, but I have seen it mentioned in the subject headings of some of the other posts, so I will go and look it up, and get back to you.
Executive Summary: Parallels is a virtualization technology that lets you run Vista and OS X at the same time and instantly switch back and forth between them. I think it even lets you copy and paste between Vista and OS X. So the upshoot is that you can run your Office suite in OS X and run your few Windows apps in Windows, maybe, or vice versa. Although that depends on your father.
The major limitations:
- Limited support of attached hardware peripherals
- Limited support of DirectX and gaming
- For Vista, it legally requires you to buy one of the more expensive versions; the home version is explicitly licensed to not be used in the virtualized environment.
The major limitations:
- Limited support of attached hardware peripherals
- Limited support of DirectX and gaming
- For Vista, it legally requires you to buy one of the more expensive versions; the home version is explicitly licensed to not be used in the virtualized environment.
I would like to add the following to mkrishnan's excellent summary:
You can now run Parallels in Coherence mode. This means that if you start Windows XP (in my case, Windows XP but Vista should be the same) and launch Word then all you will see is Word and the Windows Taskbar. The rest of the screen is the Mac. This feature is very useful if you are only running one or two Windows apps.