Apple updates Boot Camp for Vista

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 29 March 2007 08:07

Business IT - Technology

A new beta release of Apple's Boot Camp utility allows Mac owners to install Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business or Ultimate.

While enthusiasts had reported some success in persuading previous versions of Boot Camp to work with Vista, Apple only claimed it work work with XP.

Whether the aim is to install Vista or XP, the requirement remains that a full version rather than an upgrade disc be used.

Other features of Boot Camp 1.2 beta include updated drivers (for the trackpad, audio, graphics, modem and iSight camera, among others) and support the Apple Remote in iTunes and Windows Media Player.

The new software also provides a Windows system tray icon for easy access to Boot Camp information and actions, and improved keyboard support for Korean, Chinese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, and French Canadian.

An existing Windows setup can be updated with the Boot Camp 1.2 drivers and other changed items without a complete reinstallation.

Boot Camp is expected to remain a free beta release until Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is launched.

The arrival of Vista support in Boot Camp disproves recent claims (already denied by Apple) that Leopard's debut will be delayed for several months to provide Vista compatibility.