He doesn't even need to buy anything Nox, all he needs to do is set up a Win XP VM with VMWare or something similar
On topic, I have anecdotal evidence of how realtime helps make an APM player better. I've been playing the old CM1 games with a friend of mine who is a ridiculously good RTS player (like top of diamond league in SC2 level sort of guy), he has a very fast APM. I on the other hand am complete rubbish at RTS games like SC2 and the like, however I am pretty good at CM. Before we started my friend hadn't ever played CM before nor was he particularly well versed when it comes to the type of tactics this game demands (he did have interest in a more hardcore battle sim though). Whilst over time he has gotten better the general rule is that in any CM1 game I literally roll him every single time if we play a QB on level terms. We have to play games where he has a unit advantage or some other advantage over me for the games to be close.
Last couple of days we have been trying out the CM: Battle for Normandy demo over TCP/IP, and straight away it has become apparent that being forced to play RT gives him an advantage. I find myself quickly falling behind in the speed I issue orders and keep abrest of the situation, whilst my friend is completely out stripping me in this regard. On a small battle it makes only a slight difference, but as more units become involved it increases dramatically. On a small battle I can still beat him comfortably but if it is any larger than say a platoon or two I am the one who is almost always on the losing end as I just can't control my forces as quickly as he can.
I love BF and I am still buying this game regardless, however I dearly hope that WEGO TCP/IP play or at least RT with auto pause makes it into the new CMx2 games at some stage. I tend to agree with the opinion that WEGO is one of the things that made CM so unique back in the day and it shouldn't be lost. Also personally in my opinion one of the best way to play the old CM's is WEGO over TCP/IP with a good friend, chatting on Skype/Vent/TS and enjoying some fine alcoholic beverages as the battle plays out.
For now I will be either using Skype for PBEM or practicing at getting my RT game better.