Leopard Recognizes Windows Executable Format, Virtualization in the Works? - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Leopard Recognizes Windows Executable Format, Virtualization in the Works?

An interesting observation was noted on the Wine mailing list. As it turns out, new in Leopard is the ability to load and understand Windows Portable Executable (PE) files which is the common format for Windows applications and libaries. Understandably, the author raises a number of questions about the discovery:

So this leads to the question. Whats going on? Is this a hold over from EFI which is PE by default? Why would the OS need to load the EFI files? Maybe just for easy of development and testing? Or is something else going on? Is Apple going to be adding a win32 compatibility layer to OS X? Is having a loader of any use to us?

This, of course, leads some to the most dramatic conclusion: that Apple may be integrating Windows virtualization into Mac OS X itself. Of course, rumors of this possibility had been circulating for the months prior to Leopard's official release.

One developer we had contacted about this finding thought it was very unlikely and felt that this parsing of PE files may simply be the product of Apple's ongoing work with Safari and iTunes for Windows. He also noted that simply parsing PE files is a far step from being able to actually run Windows applications.

Popular Stories

Chase Sapphire Reserve Apple Perk Feature

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Introduces New Perk for Apple Customers

Monday June 15, 2026 12:07 pm PDT by
Chase this week announced new perks for its Sapphire Preferred credit card, and one of them is a complimentary one-year Apple TV streaming subscription. To get the free year of Apple TV, which typically costs $12.99 per month in the U.S., you must activate the card by December 31, 2026. If you are already subscribed to Apple TV directly through Apple, the complimentary subscription from...
iCloud iPhone 17 Pro

iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage Get Two New Perks on iOS 27

Tuesday June 9, 2026 11:29 am PDT by
If you pay for extra iCloud storage on your iPhone, beyond the 5GB included for free, you might receive two more perks on iOS 27 at no additional cost. First, Apple said there will be daily usage limits for some of the new and enhanced Apple Intelligence features on iOS 27, including image generation. However, the company noted that "increased access" is available with "most" iCloud+ storage ...
Chase Sapphire Reserve Apple Perk Feature

New 'Apple One' Perk Extends to Chase's Sapphire Reserve Credit Card

Tuesday June 16, 2026 6:26 am PDT by
Yesterday, we reported that Chase's Sapphire Preferred credit card ($95 annual fee) now offers a complimentary one-year Apple TV streaming subscription, or a $7.50/month discount on an active Apple One subscription instead. It turns out that the Apple One discount now extends to Chase's premium Sapphire Reserve credit card too ($795 annual fee). The Sapphire Reserve has offered free...