Apple on Wednesday released a Bluetooth firmware update designed for users running Windows via Boot Camp. The download is said to improve the wireless performance with Vista and XP on the latest 21.5- and 27-inch iMacs released earlier this month, although specific details have not been provided.
Apple has pledged full support for Windows 7 through Boot Camp in Snow Leopard before the end of the year. Many Macs already can run Windows 7, although users have reported varying levels of compatibility. Not all systems are able to run in 64-bit mode, while certain hardware drivers currently create problems. The Boot Camp software update will enable Macs to load Microsoft's Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate variants.
Several Owners of Apple's latest MacBook Pro offerings in the 13- and 15-inch screen sizes have reported speaker failures when running Windows via Boot Camp. The problems have affected many gamers who use Mac OS X for daily computing, then switch to Windows to play games. The problem appears to have begun with Boot Camp v2.1, which was launched in June, while the recent v3.0 release, designed for Snow Leopard, has not alleviated the widespread issues.
The latest version of Boot Camp -- found in Mac OS X Snow Leopard -- supports the 64-bit version of Windows 7, examination shows. Though not heavily promoted by Apple, Boot Camp 3.0 is noted to feature both 32- and 64-bit drivers for Microsoft's next operating system, whereas Boot Camp 2.1 can only handle the 32-bit code. Some Mac owners have already been installing copies of Windows 7 despite the only legal availability being limited to a release candidate; the final software is due October 22nd.
Ever since Apple switched to Intel processors, Macs have been able to run the most popular operating systems for the x86 architecture including Linux and Microsoft Windows. Apple offers Boot Camp for free, which lets you create a dual-boot partition, but forces you to choose between Mac OS X or Windows each time you turn on your computer. For a solution that lets you switch between Mac OS X and any other operating system without rebooting, you need a virtualization program such as Parallels 4.0.
No matter how much you may love your Mac, there may be at least a handful of Windows programs that don’t have an equivalent Mac OS X version. Rather than buy a separate machine, of course, you can always use Boot Camp to turn your Mac into a PC. However, a more practical solution may be to run Windows inside a virtual machine using Fusion 2.0.
Forum roundup: Rumors about upgrades to the iPod lineup are a recent topic of interest in the MacNN forums where members seem to think that we will see new models by the end of the year. Advice on how to make ringtones for use with the iPhone 3G can be found in this thread started by jorgem4.
Lawyers taking bar exams in New York have once again foregone the use of a Mac this year, according to information from the state's Board of Law Examiners. Since 2003, people taking the exam have been given the option of using special software, which can be preloaded on notebooks for answering the essay and MPT sections of the test. The Board has explicitly stated however that it is refusing to support "any form" of Apple product at the moment, even if is running Windows through Mac OS X Leopard's Boot Camp utility.
Paragon Software Group on Tuesday unveiled CampTune, a new application designed to allow users to customize the size of their Boot Camp partition on their Macs, without having to start from scratch. CampTune can either increase or decrease the size of a Boot Camp partition, without losing data, allowing users to quickly shift free space depending on their priorities. CampTune is currently available as a free pre-release; Paragon did not announce how much it would be in the future.
Apple today released a variety of updates for Boot Camp users, as well as a Common Criteria Tools security verification utility. The Boot Camp updates are required to install Service Pack 3 in Windows XP, Windows Vista 32-bit, and Windows Vista 64-bit versions on an Intel Mac. Little is mentioned regarding the updates themselves, but they are presumably designed to ensure compatibility with the updated versions of Windows.
VMWare Fusion 1.1.2 has been released, adding enhanced support for the MacBook Air. The new release also enables Time Machine backup of virtual machines, adds support for Windows XP SP3 Boot Camp partitions, and is now available in Simplified Chinese. In addition, VMWare can now properly disconnect USB devices connected to the virtual machine when shut down, making the USB devices available again to the Mac. It also addresses problem with wireless bridged networking in some cases not being able to obtain an IP address from the DHCP server.
Symantec has released a new anti-virus suite, AntiVirus Dual Protection. The package actually contains two pieces of software -- AntiVirus 11 for Mac and AntiVirus 2008 for Windows -- and is intended for owners of Intel Macs, who may use the Boot Camp feature of Mac OS X Leopard to run Windows XP or Vista on a separate partition. Each application is tailored to the specifics of its platform, requiring the two versions.
The first Service Pack for Windows Vista has been released to manufacturing, Microsoft has announced. English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese versions are said to be heading to assembly lines, mainly for enterprise customers, but also for OEMs who will be installing the updated version on new computers. SP1 will also be released via Windows Update, but this is not scheduled until mid-March as a manual download, and mid-April as an automatic one.
In brief: A book on iPhone binary development has made its debut, a new gaming site for users with disabilities is available, Big Nerd Ranch has announced plans for a Ruby on Rails boot camp, and Apple introduces 30 Coding Head Starts ... iPhone Open Application Development is a new title designed to teach users how to write Native Objective-C Applications for the iPhone. Zdziarski, the developer of the first fully functional application using the open iPhone toolkit, explains how to create applications using Objective-C and the iPhone API, which in some ways resembles Apple's desktop API and in other ways strikes new ground. The book covers installation of the toolkits and background on the operating system and Objective-C. Graphics and audio programming, the CoreImage and CoreSurfaces interfaces for games programming, interfacing with iTunes, and the use of sensors are all covered.
Iona College in New Rochelle, New York has long used Windows-based solutions for its various computer labs, and in March 2007, Chief Information Officer Joanne Steele filled an entire lab with 52 Intel-based iMacs in an effort to streamline maintenance and support issues. After 20 years of a PC-only environment, the decision was made to explore whether Apple's Mac OS and Boot Camp would be a valid option to provide the most cohesive multi-platform environment. In addition, the iMacs provided the peripheral benefit of having a small footprint and integrated security options such as a Kensington lock slot.
Although Boot Camp is a feature of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Apple has been offering a beta trial of the service for 10.4 Tiger for almost two years, and announced today that it will be discontinuing support for Tiger Boot Camp users. Originally introduced in April 2006, the Boot Camp beta allows Tiger users to install Windows on their Intel-based Macs, making it easier for Windows users to switch to a Mac, while offering Mac users a wider variety of software and games. Existing Boot Camp beta participants will still be entitled to keep their Windows partitions, but the software that manages installations will be deactivated, and Apple will no longer provide updates, requiring users to upgrade to Leopard if they wish to add to or modify the Boot Camp partition.
