Youive likely heard the argument for making Appleis Unix-based OS X available for PCs. Whether you agree with the supporters of such a move by Apple or not, you may find PearPC of interest nonetheless. Wired news is covering a pair of programming students who have come up with a PowerPC emulator that runs on x86 PCs. The emulator allows users to run OSes that would normally require a PPC-based computer, including OS X. From the article:

Now Windows and Linux users can do the reverse. Released last week, PearPC is the first software emulator to allow Apple Computeris OS X to run on an Intel- or AMD-based machine.

Developed by Sebastian Biallas and Stefan Weyergraf, a pair of 23-year-old computer students from Aachen, Germany, PearPC re-creates in software the PowerPC architecture, the hardware used in Appleis Macs.

The free, open-source software allows Intel- and AMD-based PCs to run several operating systems compatible with the PowerPC, including Mandrake Linux, BSD, Darwin and, most importantly, Appleis Mac OS X.

Users can download and install a copy of PearPC, and then install a boxed copy of OS X, which can be purchased from Apple for $130.

The article goes on to say that the free software is buggy and very slow. Read the full article at Wired News.