It's hard to know whether to clap or cry. A guy in Texas - Colin*, from Houston (he's not telling his surname) - is running a contest (with ever-increasing prize-money) to see who can be the first to get an Intel Mac to dual-boot between Mac OS X and Windows XP.
"Fair enough", says you, "give the man a round of applause. Er, but why is he doing this; is it idle curiosity – not that there's ought wrong with that, mind?"
Well, no, and glad you asked. As it turns out he's got a bit of a deadline to meet because, in his own words,
My new Apple MacBook is
shipping on the 15th of February. I told my boss that this would
replace my IBM desktop and I could boot Windows XP on it. I am still
confident it can be done. I am giving $100 of my own money and offering
anyone else who would like the instructions on how to dual boot these
two operating systems the ability to give some of their money into the
pot as a prize for the person / group that can make dual-booting Mac OS
X and Windows XP happen on an Intel Mac.
Now, with one interpretation, that might mean he's talked his boss into buying the MacBook for him – potentially leaving him paddle-less up a mucky creek in a barbed-wire canoe come Feb 15.
Or, it might mean that he's bought the MacBook himself, is willing to use it for work but has been arguing with his gain-saying boss, who reckons he won't be able to run XP on it.
Whatever the case, we think this might well be kosher - would a man who runs a site exposing time-share scams (timesharereview.blogspot.com) come up with such a scheme? We think not; unless that site is itself also a scam.
Heck, you go figure. If you're comfortable with what you find on his WinXPonMac site, you might even feeling like lobbing some money into the prize-pot via paypal – the total stood at US$7,535 the last time the counter was updated (Jan 27, 2006 - 05:43 CST).
Whatever you decide, let us know your thoughts in the HEXUS community.
* We don't know if he pronounces his name properly or if he calls himself "Co-lean". Hopefully, though, that will come out in the wash, too.**
** Interesting fact - Colin Powell's mum DOES pronounce her son's name properly (unlike Co-lean himself).***
*** Hopefully she is fit and well and still is able to pronounce his name loudly when he comes round Saturdays for sandwiches, pies and cups of tea.
