(c) 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., a division of Ziff Communications Co. All rights reserved; reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Opening Up to DOS
If you need to live in a Windows world but you've always wanted a Mac, then Apple's got good news. A Power Mac with SoftWindows, Windows emulation software from Insignia Solutions, may let you have your Mac and Windows too. Just as the power of RISC enables the Power Macs to run current 680x0 Mac programs at speeds rivaling those on a Quadra 650, it also enables SoftWindows to run most DOS and Windows software at thoroughly acceptable Intel 486SX speeds. (See this month's Mac to PC for results of speed tests and a discussion of compatibility issues.)
Like Insignia's SoftPC, SoftWindows lets you use your Mac's mouse, hard disk, and display and run DOS and Windows applications just the way they run on a PC. You can cut and paste between Windows and Mac applications, and you can use your Mac's floppy and CD-ROM drives to read PC disks and CD-ROMs. You can also access PC as well as Mac networks from within SoftWindows.
You need at least 16 megabytes of RAM to run SoftWindows (that's why Apple bundles SoftWindows only with 16-megabyte Power Mac configurations). That may sound like a lot (and it is), but that memory has to support some hefty software. With 16 megabytes of RAM, a Power Mac can run the Mac operating system, the Finder, SoftWindows, DOS, Windows, a couple of business-oriented Windows applications, and a small Mac application. Having 16 megabytes of memory under Windows is a lot like having 8 megabytes with the Mac operating system. You can run standard business applications comfortably, but you need more memory to run large applications, such as those for managing databases.
Running DOS and Windows on a Mac is not new; it's just more practical on a Power Mac. For some years now, you've had the option of equipping your Mac with Orange Micro's OrangePC, a speedy 486SX coprocessor card, but at almost the cost of a PC. For just a few hundred dollars, you were able to run Insignia's SoftPC software, but you paid in very slow Windows speed. With SoftWindows installed on a Power Mac, you get the speed of lower-end 486SX hardware for the cost of a piece of software.
SoftWindows comes installed on several configurations of the Power Macs. Alternatively, you can buy SoftWindows directly from Insignia Solutions (415-694-7600); pricing was unavailable at press time. / John Rizzo
