Q&A: MAC USERS: I understand it can run Windows applications. How labor intensive is it to do that?

Windows Application

MAC USERS: I understand it can run Windows applications. How labor intensive is it to do that?

Can you just install a Windows application and just select it when you want to use it, or is it more involved then that? Can you just switch from a Windows application then a Mac application and go back and forth? Is it part of the Mac Operating System or do you have to buy additional stuff?

windows application best answer:

Answer by Andy
Run Windows virtually or dual boot. Google how to do either.

Windows Dock Icons

Image by Sören ‘chucker’ Kuklau
The 3094 build of Parallels Desktop allows you to see running Windows apps in the Dock; moreover, you can keep the apps in there even while the VM isn’t running, and launch the VM (and the app) this way. This works through little proxy apps that are created inside the new "Windows Applications" subfolder of your VM.

Of note, but not shown here: if the application has an 128×128 icon (which Windows XP does not yet fully support), Parallels actually copies that properly.

The build is labelled ‘beta’, but since it actually adds features over the previous ‘beta’ and also has some major reliability issues, ‘alpha’ would have been the more appropriate term. That said, Parallels’s development pace and results are generally quite impressive.

Crashed Windows applications in Yates in Central Station

Image by alistairmcmillan
The jukebox application that plays music videos on the monitors in Yates in Glasgow Central Station used to crash a lot. Every time it crashed the bar staff had to reboot the whole system.