Apple Releases Boot Camp 1.1 Beta

Apple silently pushed an upgrade to its Boot Camp dual-booting software on Tuesday, offering support for the latest Intel-based Macs and better hardware support among other enhancements. The Cupertino company recommended that users of the previous version upgrade to the newest release to take advantage of the new features.

"You don't need to partition your hard drive again (unless you want to change its size) or reinstall your Macintosh and Windows software or documents," Apple said on its Web site. However, the company said it was important to update the Boot Camp Assistant software, create a new Mac drivers CD, and install the new software in Windows.

Some of the enhancements include support for the recently released Mac Pro and Xserve computers, the ability to install Windows XP on any internal disk, "right clicking" when pressing the Apple key from within Windows, and improved support for the Apple keyboard including Delete, PrintScreen, NumLock, and ScrollLock keys.

As well as improved operating system and keyboard support, Apple has also made the iSight and Built-in microphones Windows compatible thanks to new drivers.

Apple shocked the technology industry back in April of this year when it first announced that it would allow its users to install Windows on a Macintosh through a dual boot sequence.

"Apple has no desire or plan to sell or support Windows, but many customers have expressed their interest to run Windows on Apple's superior hardware now that we use Intel processors," Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing said at the time.