windows programs

anyone kniws how to run programs that otherwise only could be run on
windows without actually installing windows
i heard u could buy a program so i could do it
(i dont want stuff like bootcamp since it requires me to shift between mac and windows, and i most likely are needed to use both my mac and windows programs at the same time)

ps. anyone knows how to get the math program ti interactive 1.3 as freeware i saw it once but it was a .exe file

What sort of Mac do you have, and what programs do you want to run?

If you have a PPC based Mac, you can use Microsoft's windows emulator (Virtual PC), a Microsoft's web page for Virtual PC (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx) seems to suggest that it may also run on Intel Macs, but it doesn't say so explicitly.

If you have an Intel Mac, there is also a product called "CrossOver Mac" that will let you run a fair number (and growing) of Windoze programs on your Mac. See http://www.codeweavers.com.

For Virtual PC, I understand that you have to have a full Windoze license, but I am not sure if it requires you to install Windoze or not. No matter what, Virtual PC is a program that runs under Mac OS X, so it should meet your requirements.

Most windows software has a mac equivalent: check out versiontracker.com

Run windows apps only if there is no mac alternative (which is usually better than its windows counterpart).

But since you say you are using bootcamp, its an intel mac, which means you can use Crossover or Parallels to run Windows apps within OS X.

To run the programs I need on Windows, I use Fusion by vmware. Faster than Parallels, very stable, and can run in unity (minimize Windows programs to the Dock). Buy it at the vmware site by the end of the year and it's $60. If you are student you can get it at education pricing.

BTW, yeah, common software is often available for Mac, but we're switchers. We have Windows software and they aren't giving out Mac software for free.