I am by no means an “Internet pundit” on any issue, but a lot of my friends ask me what I think when Apple comes out with something new. I will write short posts when this happens and will link only to the best of what I see–there are plenty of other places to find links.

Earlier this week, Apple announced Boot Camp, beta software and instructions to run Windows XP on Intel-based Macs. In a nutshell, you can buy a new MacBook Pro laptop, Mac mini or iMac, install Windows XP with Boot Camp and have a computer that runs both Mac OS X and Windows XP natively. A “boot” screen appears on startup and you decide which operating system you want to run and away you go. Switching from one to the other requires a reboot.

I’ve looked at the Apple release notes and read a lot of commentary (some of the best from the always enjoyable John Gruber at Daring Fireball, Walt Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal and Ted Landau at Macfixit).

Here are my initial thoughts:

• This is major development that will evolve over time, yet have immediate impact for some. Much more information will likely become available at WWDC this summer as to the direction Apple wants to take with regard to running Windows and Windows software on Apple hardware.
• Smart software vendors will not abandon Mac development. The Windows version of programs like Photoshop and Word are not the same as the OS X versions and there is much more to the experience than just the application itself–file operations, windowing, look and feel and workflow are all important to the whole experience. Any vendor that says “just boot into Windows” isn’t worth your money and probably doesn’t care about the Mac market now anyway.
• Apple has made some dumb decisions, but they are not a stupid company. I am not a blindly-loyal fanboy of the company or of Steve Jobs, but you have to respect what has been accomplished the past few years. Can you imagine the choices that had to be made to announce something like this? Gutsy move.
• I think Mr. Gruber is spot on when it comes to computer enthusiasts (read: nerds) and OS X. It’s been embraced by the people coming up with the “next big things” in the tech world. Go to any cutting-edge tech conference these days and you will witness a sea of PowerBooks. And not just Apple-related tech conferences. Nerds like learning, nerds like options. This gives them another option. Options are good.
• Wall Street liked it, so it MUST be the right decision. Right?

As soon as Apple comes out with a larger version of the MacBook Pro, I’ll be right there to install Boot Camp…DK