We all would like to have the best of everything. For me, there is no time where this is more true then when it comes to gadgets. I’ve even said in the past that my love of gagdets is one day going to send me to the poor house. Well, this weekend I was able to cross out another item on that list of gadgets. It’s called Bootcamp and it’s free… sort of. Bootcamp is an application that allows an Apple computer running Mac OS/X to dual boot with Windows XP (and Vista). The application itself is free to download from the Apple website. However, I did have to pay for a full version of Windows XP. I decided to buy Windows XP Pro OEM (systems builders version) for about $140, which is a big discount over the retail version which runs about $300.

The reason I was drawn to using Bootcamp was the limited number of applications that run on Mac OS/X. Apple provides a good assortment of applications to do the basics (ie, iCal, Address Book, Mail, Safari etc.). However, there were two areas where the Mac wasn’t equal to the Windows computer.

First of all, Quicken for Mac is a run down version of the one made for Windows computers. It’s very disappointing how Quicken limits the functionality on the Mac version. But, I will say this isn’t limited to Quicken. The number of applications made for a Mac is limited. To an extent I can understand why. In the end, a software company wants to bring in the most money. And to do this, you want to create software that can be used by the most amount of people. In this case, Windows has a bigger base with computer users. It’s one of the reasons there are more virus’ out there for Windows computers. Why write a virus for a Mac computer when it will not create the most damage with users?

The second reason for running Windows on the Mac is for Windows Media Player. Now, don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not getting rid of my iPod now or anytime soon and will continue to use OS/X with iTunes until further notice. The problem is, I like to listen to internet radio. Specifically, baseball games on mlb.com. It’s the easiest and cheapest way for me to keep up with the mighty New York Mets. The mlb.com site, along with many others, work best with Windows Media Player. There are many sites that don’t work or have limited functionality on OS/X.

After about 3 hours setting up Bootcamp with Windows XP on Friday night (yes, this is what I did instead of going out), I’m all set. It’s amazing how simple it was. The majority of the time I was away from the computer while backing up my Apple files or letting Windows XP install. Choosing which OS to boot with is as simple as holding down the Option key while booting, using the arrow keys to select the OS, and pressing Enter.

So here I am, living in the best of both worlds. My calendar, address books, e-mail, music, photos, etc. live on the Mac partition. And Windows Media Player, Quicken 2005, and Windows Live Messenger are on the Windows partition.

By the way, this web browser I’m using on the Windows XP side, Internet Explorer 7, is a definite upgrade from version 6. It even has tabbed browsing. How cool is that?! Where have a seen that before. Oh, that right. Safari and Firefox have had tabbed browsers for a few years now