iPad runs Windows, Nokia runs OSX
Black is east, up is white... argh!
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Citrix has been demonstrating Windows 7 running on an iPad, as a dumb client at least, while a Finn has hacked OSX to the N900 for no very good reason.
Images of Apple's iPad running Windows 7 have been floating around the internet thanks to Citrix, which has got its dumb-terminal Windows client running for the BOFH who wants to wander around annoying Mac fans.
Meanwhile, a Finnish hacker has created a port of OSX (10.3) for the Nokia N900, which (thanks to judicious use of hardware emulation) takes well over an hour to boot.
Putting Windows on the iPad is little short of insane, but Citrix already has dumb-client software running on the iPhone so the fact that it works rather well on the iPad is no great surprise. It's such a niche application that even Citrix is polling on its blog to see if anyone really wants it, but more importantly, it provides screenshots of Windows running on an iPad which certainly catch the eye:
Windows 7 via Citrix Receiver and XenDesktop 4
That's an emulator of course; even Citrix doesn't have any real hardware yet, but the idea of a light wireless pad Windows remote control is attractive; so attractive that it's been tried before, in the form of Windows Sideshow and various preceding technologies that promised to take the windows desktop onto a slate-like device. But the iPad is probably the hardware best suited, even if it's not quite what Steve Jobs had in mind for his latest baby.
It's also safe to say that OSX isn't the operating system Nokia had in mind for the Linux-based N900 tablet phone, but that hasn't stopped Toni Nikkanen using hardware emulation to get the Apple OS running on it despite the fast that getting to the "About my Mac" screen now takes a couple of hours as the following (heavily edited) video demonstrates:
Pointless technology is, to our mind, the best technology, and both these projects are pretty pointless. But it is possible that remote access to Windows 7 from an iPad will appeal to some, while no one is really going to wait two hours to see their N900 running OSX. So today's award for the most pointless OS port has to go to Mr Nikkanen - though even he is some way off from our all time winner: ZX81 emulation on the ZX80, which takes some beating. ®
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COMMENTS
And people like this....
...are the reason the human race is so adaptive, we see a challenge and we try to beat it.
Good work that man.
I think it shows that even in an environment hostile to change it can be overcome
10/10
Pointless
Ipad. Laptop without a keyboard. Just another tablet PC which have been happily filling niches in stock control inventory tracking & parcel delivery since 2001.
*Yawn
What Steve Wants
So, this summer, a company calls up Apple and says they'd like to buy 30,000 iPads in order to run Windows via Citrix. Apple will book that sale and send a very nice thank you letter. They may even send a thank you note to Citrix.
It is Steve's intention to sell devices and systems. The software is to add value to the hardware. Third party software adds value to the platform at a nominal cost to Apple.
So as we enjoy a warm chuckle and share the levity of this faux ironic moment from the os wars, Apple have grabbed their coat - it was the one with all those checks in its pockets - and have proceeded, secondary verb unknown, all the way to the bank.
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