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Apple Releases Boot Camp 1.1 Beta

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

August 16, 2006, 11:37 AM

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.

Add a Comment (11 Comments)

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By kblee

edited Aug 24, 2006 - 10:58 PM

I love bootcamp.

I could not upgrade bootcamp from 1.01 to 1.1
because it says my HD is partitioned already, and quit.
I'd like to know how to upgrade only bootcamp
without touching the installation of OS-X....

Score: 0

By PCMacs

edited Aug 20, 2006 - 12:43 PM

As a biz owner who is a bit of a computer geek, the 100% compatibility of the mac is essential to me using it in my businesses.

When I read comments of Apple purists it makes me cringe since it has been the subbornness of Apple in the past that has cause their market share to drop to something like 2%. I love the design of the Apple products and am writing this on a 17" Macbook Pro, running bootcamp just to see how compatible it is. No right click IS a big deal as are many of the other keys.

My businesses run scores of PCs simply because Mac's have not been compatible with one or more of my business applications.

So far I am pleased ... it will even run Everquest2. I can't wait till this comes out of beta and everything really works. It still crashes once in a while but I am impressed with how fast Apple fixes things.

Score: 0

By bradmkjr

edited Aug 17, 2006 - 7:46 AM

After having tested the previous version myself on my own mac mini I was very pleased with the overall program. But I was relucent to buy a macbook simply because at the time there was no xp support for the built in Camera. Now with that option I may have to reconsider the macbook, or macbook pro.

Score: 0

By Rationalist

edited Aug 16, 2006 - 6:28 PM

Boot Camp is a smart move on Apple's part: users can use their favorite Intel programs, so switching to Apple is always positive without potential loss for the newly windowless.This and future updates keep them ahead of the game. Although why anyone would buy an Apple machine with the express purpose of running Windows OS is murky. But then why anyone does anything is murky. You only have to read the news to realise that many, many people, even our esteemed leaders, are not rational.

Score: 0

By foxfyre

edited Aug 17, 2006 - 1:40 PM

"why anyone would buy an Apple machine with the express purpose of running Windows OS"

Why not? Why does this perception that the Intel Macs are not PCs persist? Especially among those who claim to be so knowledgeable about PCs??

The Intel Mac IS a PC - just with an Apple logo!! It is the latest incarnation of Intel's PC roadmap! It would be a worthwhile purchase if you ONLY wanted to run Windows - well aside from the fact that you would be running Windows (sorry, couldn't resist the dig! ;-)

My question is why one desires the limitations of a dual boot configuration when they can have concurrent access to both Windows, OSX, Linux and whatever else they want to run with VMWare or Parallel....

Score: 0

By foxfyre

edited Aug 16, 2006 - 12:40 PM

I think this is fine, but I'm not really sure why it is newsworthy...

Personally, I am much more excited about the release of VMWare for OSX and its ability, as with Parallel, to run the various environments concurrently in addition to the wealth of resources VMWare brings with it - especially its library of preconfigured virtual environments.

This makes the choice of a Mac'PC' a simple choice for me. Finally we are able to have all worlds at our disposal on one machine.

(Although I do believe Apple should release an unsupported pay version of OSX for PC in order to broaden the availability of OSX and to broaden their marketspace. With its lack of licensing and the existence of real applications as well as its native compatibility with Windows files as well as the ability to natively communicate with all *nixes, I do think that it has the potential to not only increase Apple's marketshare by allowing those PC users who would not otherwise by an additional machine just to run OSX, but it has the potential to be a Linux killer - as not only is it user friendly unlike Linux for the average non-geek user (and have applications), but it also has all of the capability of full blown UNIX that a geek desires....)

Score: 0

By PCMacs

posted Sep 10, 2006 - 4:38 PM

I beg to differ ... if it wasn't for a Google search which found this article via BetaNews I would not have known about the update.

As for VMWare don't even know what it is, LOL. Not everyone here is a tech geek.

Score: 0

By compm375

posted Aug 16, 2006 - 1:11 PM

Recently BetaNews has had all kinds of computer and tech news. This is actually an announcement of a new beta, what BetaNews is supposed to have and you doubt it is newsworthy?

Score: 0

By foxfyre

edited Aug 16, 2006 - 3:41 PM

No I don't, but then I don't think every product modification or fix necessarily does either...

It does not fundamentally change its basic functionality by offering any significant functional enhancement to the product. It is basically a fix.

""right clicking" when pressing the Apple key from within Windows, and improved support for the Apple keyboard including Delete, PrintScreen, NumLock, and ScrollLock keys." are not compelling reasons to reassess the product. They do render a more usable experience, but access to the 3 keys mentioned are hardly a critical or compelling reason to reconsider the product.

If it did compelling functionality it might be newsworthy, but as such it does not present a compelling reason to change anyone's fundamental reaction to the product.

And when the balance of the article is simply a restatement of the basic functionality announced at the product release rather than a statement of new capabilities, I think that this supports my basic position. And I suspect that most already know that the utility enables Windows on the Mac.

But it is a moot point for me, as I have no interest in a dual boot configuration. My interest in in concurrent access.

What is interesting to note however, is that evidently BootCamp did not previously support the MacBook Pro, etc! And that WAS news that was not reported!

But hey, I am NOT saying that they can't post it! I am merely saying that the enhancements offered are not a fundamentally significant event!