Apple has announced a public beta of an application they call Boot Camp that allows owners of their Intel Macs to easily install a copy of Windows XP. Previously the domain of hackery and jiggery-pokery, Apple has officially sanctioned the installation of Windows onto their hardware. The application is in public beta and allows users to install legitimate full copies of Windows XP Home or Professional (not MCE, multi-disc, or upgrade copies). While not the virtualization that some had been hoping for (running Windows apps on top of OS X), this, at least, uncomplicates the current process.

Last month a team of hackers known only by the names of Narf and Blanka successfully won a user-run contest that offered up US$13,000 for the first person who could sucessfully manipulate Windows XP and Apple's new Intel hardware so that users could install the former onto the later. While the contest was technically "won," the process was probably far too complicated for the average user, and even required that the user have access to a PC (kinda defeats some of the point, right?). Apple's new process seems to be as easy as you'd expect, complete with a nice "Boot Camp Assistant" to walk you through the entire process.