Microsoft: No Vista on Intel Macs
Microsoft confirmed reports that at least the initial Intel Macs from Apple would not support Windows Vista, telling BetaNews Friday that its next generation operating system would not support the EFI boot process being used by the new systems.
Apple decided to use Intel's new Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) over the older Basic Input Output System (BIOS). As previously reported by BetaNews, Windows XP cannot run on the Macs due to its lack of EFI support, however Windows Vista was expected to change that.
While Vista would support EFI, Microsoft has only decided to do so for 64-bit CPUs. The Intel processors being used with the first-generation Intel Macs have all been 32-bit.
The decision by the Redmond company is also a blow to Intel, which has been attempting to push EFI as a more flexible and modern successor to BIOS. Being that it is a major change, adoption has been slow in the market, and now with shaky Microsoft support widespread use of EFI could be delayed further.
According to APCMag.com, which first broke the story on Friday morning Australian Time, support for EFI among 32-bit processors would have to wait for "subsequent release of Windows client." It was not specified whether this would be a service pack or the next edition of Windows.
"As it pertains to Intel Macs running EFI, at this time Windows will not support native EFI boot until these systems have 64-bit capable processors. Windows XP will boot under EFI when a Compatibility Support Module (CSM) is present," Microsoft said via a statement Friday.
The company declined to share any other details regarding the decision.
Apple seemed to pass over the news, with its Senior Software Architect Cameron Esfahani quoted as telling developers at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco that, "Windows is a legacy OS. We don't offer legacy support," to laughter and cheers from the audience.
A request for comment from Intel was outstanding as of press time.