This post originally appeared on TechSoup.org's blog and was written by Ariel Gilbert-Knight,  a Technology Analyst at TechSoup Global. I have modified it slightly to for Canadians organizations.

Are you using a Macintosh computer, but you also need it to run a Windows operating system? If so, you'll be happy to hear that Mac users at eligible nonprofits and public libraries are able to request a Windows operating system donation through TechSoup Canada's Microsoft Windows Upgrade program.

If you are already running Windows on your Mac and want to upgrade to a newer version, you can request a donation through the Windows Upgrade program (just like an upgrading PC user would). If you're not running Windows on your Mac, but you would like to, there is an interesting twist in Microsoft's licensing for Macs only.

Upgrade program licenses can legally be used even if you don't already have Windows on your Mac. So if you find you need to install Windows for the first time on your Mac, you can still use the Microsoft Windows Upgrade program. Pretty cool.

You may be wondering why a Mac user would want to run Windows. This is usually done for very specific reasons. For example, an organization might want to start using Macs, but they rely on an accounting package that runs only on Windows. There are ways to run both Windows and a Macintosh operating system on a Macintosh computer.

So, using these tools, our hypothetical organization gets to use their Macs and their Windows-only accounting software. However, this situation isn't actually so hypothetical - neither Intuit Quickbooks or Sage Simply Accounting (the two Canadian accounting software packages in our donations program) offers a Canadian version for Macs.

If this is something you want to pursue, there are two options for running Windows on your Mac. Your first option is to partition your hard drive and dual boot (when you start your computer, you can choose to load either your Mac operating system or Windows), which can be done with the help of a utility called Boot Camp.

Option two is to create a virtual desktop (using a program such as VMWare Fusion, Parallels, or VirtualBox - which unfortunately aren't available through the donations program) and install Windows on it. For more information on what virtualization is, see our article Virtualization 101.

Finally, keep in mind, TechSoup Canada's other Microsoft operating system donation program, Get Genuine Software (for full Windows licenses) is not available for Mac users; licenses can only be used on PCs.

Photo: Chino A