Apple
recently
approved
a
new
emulator
app
called
UTM
SE
that
enables
your
iPhone
or
iPad
(or
Vision
Pro!)
to
masquerade
as
PC
hardware
and
run
honest-to-goodness
computer
desktop
operating
systems.
Some
of
you
asked
in
the
comments
section
of
my
last
story
how
it
runs
—
a
fair
question
that
I
couldn’t
answer
at
the
time.
But
now
that
I’ve
tried
it
a
little,
I
have
answers,
and
I
can
say
this
much:
it’s
better
than
I
expected,
but
I
wouldn’t
count
on
it
for
too
much.
That’s
because
it
doesn’t
use
a
just-in-time
(JIT)
compiler,
which
translates
software
into
code
that
your
device
understands
before
it’s
executed.
JIT
compilers
go
against
Apple’s
software
guidelines
for
the
App
Store,
so
you’d
have
to
jailbreak
your
phone
to
install
a
version
of
UTM
that
uses
the
technique.
UTM
SE
will
be
generally
slow
on
an
iPad
for
anything
besides
running
old
OSes
on
old
hardware,
but
XP
runs
surprisingly
well
—
and
UTM
offers
plenty
of
documentation
for
getting
started.
I
tried
it
out
on
my
M1
iPad
Pro,
a
device
I’ve
always
wished
could
do
more
than
it
does.
Making
a
virtual
machine
on
which
to
run
Windows
is
especially
easy
if
you
use
one
of
UTM’s
pre-built
machines,
which
you
can
download
and
tweak.
I
grabbed
this
one
and
gave
it
more
RAM
and
storage
but
otherwise
used
it
the
way
it
came.
Then,
I
pointed
it
at
a
Windows
XP
.iso
file
from
the
IDE
Drives
option
in
that
machine’s
settings
and
booted
it
up.
And
waited.
For
so
long.
It
took
two
and
a
half
hours
for
my
iPad
to
crawl
through
installation.
But
at
the
end
of
it
all,
I
was
treated
to
the
old
“bliss”
desktop
background
and
the
Windows
XP
startup
sound
(which
I
didn’t
realize
I’m
nostalgic
for).
Things
were
slow
after
everything
finished
loading;
new
windows
took
a
few
seconds
to
open;
nested
Start
menu
items
did,
too.
None
of
it
was
outrageous,
though,
and
I
genuinely
think
it’s
faster
than
the
Compaq
machine
we
had
when
I
was
a
teen.
(Those
old
spinning
disk
hard
drives
really
took
a
toll.)
I
should
be
able
to
make
all
operating
systems
look
this
bad.Screenshot:
Windows
XP
/
UTM
SE
Putting
aside
performance
and
nostalgia,
using
Windows
XP
on
an
iPad
really
highlights
how
much
farther
iPadOS
has
to
go
when
it
comes
to
multitasking.
And
despite
some
improvements
to
homescreen
customization
in
iPadOS
18,
it’s
still
far
behind
Windows
XP
when
it
comes
to
personalizing
things.
XP
doesn’t
mind
at
all
if
I
want
my
title
bar
pink
and
the
text
inside
neon
green
or
different
fonts
for
every
button,
menu,
or
window.
The
world
is
my
terrible
oyster!
I
miss
ruining
my
computer;
that
was
the
dream.
Apple
allowing
emulators
on
iPhones
and
iPads
has
made
a
big
difference
for
my
iPad
Pro.
I’ve
always
liked
using
my
iPad
but
rarely
wanted
to;
now,
I
don’t
think
I’ve
ever
picked
it
up
more.
(Originally posted by Wes Davis)
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