Apple Matters takes a hard look at Apple's Leopard as it is fast approaching.  The expectation is that with 10.5, OS X will leap ahead of Windows, even in front of Microsoft's highly anticipated Vista.  One of the technological advances expected from Leopard will be centered around virtualization.  The article writes:

The big leap, the revolution, is rumored to be virtualization. That is, running multiple OSes side by side. Okay, so we’ve been able to do it for years (provided you’re the sort who watches snail races for excitement) and Parallels Desktop provides the functionality already for Intel Macs. But what we really want is it to be inbuilt into the operating system.

In the 21st century, the ideal computer would run any operating system thrown at it - and what’s more, side-by-side, with no rebooting. Apple is closer to the realization of that grail than either Linux or Microsoft. Of course, Apple does make it easier by threatening to sue the butt off anyone who tries to run OS X on anything besides a Mac.

How will this happen in Leopard? We already know about Boot Camp which allows dual-booting and Parallels offers its application for running OSes side-by-side on Intel Macs. But a question arises. What’s going on between Apple and Parallels?

Many folks on the web have pointed out that Apple is promoting Parallels, instead of Boot Camp or Virtual PC, as the solution for running Windows on Macs. The web is buzzing with pundits theorizing if it’s possible Apple will buddy up with Parallels—either a takeover or some other sort of relationship. Given Microsoft took over Virtual PC, it is possible Apple could also take the same path and buy out Parallels. The reasons would be different though. Microsoft wanted Virtual PC so it could provide backward compatibility with legacy Windows applications rather than having to continually build it into future versions of Windows. Apple on the other hand, would want Parallels to allow you to run non-Apple OSes, Windows in particular, on Macs.

Will Leopard include not only Boot Camp, but Parallels? Will that be Apple’s solution for virtualization that has been rumored ever since Apple went Intel? Even if Apple only has a partnership with Parallels to provide virtualization for Leopard, that is going to get a lot of press, and maybe even then my former IT peers might take notice.

Check out the entire article, here.