Well, I did the trendy thing and installed Windows XP Pro on the Mac Mini (Intel Core Duo). It took about an hour to set everything up.

Standard setup screens…

Exactly the same XP user eXPerience…

Proper recognition of processor and hardware (before driver-update)…

Boot screen and how XP sees the OSX/XP partitioned hard drive.

And about two hours after the whole process… I repartitioned the drive for OSX-only. I think XP on Apple hardware is an amazing breakthrough, but I have no use for it.

What’s that? Armageddon? Apple officially says “yes” to Windows on Mac?

This morning I woke to an email informing me that Apple may have cracked open one of the remaining seals ushering in an epic battle – an iMageddon, of sorts. The thought of running Windows XP on a Mac makes me reel – it’s exciting, but it gives me an uneasy feeling.

What am I going to do about it? I’m going to ignore my hesitations, test Apple’s beta Boot Camp setup on the Intel Mini and make my own verdict. What’s the worst that could happen? I’d have to re-install OSX clean and Windows-free. Big whoop.

One thing is for sure – Apple is going to cut deep, and I mean deep into the pockets of Dell, Gateway, HP and others now that users can stick to Windows but get a gorgeous, screaming-fast Apple computer.

(Major feature presently missing – “fast user switching” between OSX and XP.)

Today, I had the distinct pleasure of setting up a Mac Mini as a temporary replacement server for a Dell-served Windows network. The Mini performed like a champ – less than 1/20 the size, 1/10 the weight, 1/5 the power consumption and soooo much faster, cleaner and more secure than W2K server. It’s gorgeous and can be run from inside a specialized safe for ultimate physical security.

This is one of the events that officiates the beginning of Spring. An outside BBQ! On today’s menu was spicy shrimp with cayenne pepper, special seasonings and olive oil. So so so good.