DailyTech - Report: Apple to Charge for Boot Camp

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Software Report: Apple to Charge for Boot Camp
Tuan Nguyen (Blog) - January 22, 2007 8:38 AM

72 comment(s) - last by rippleyaliens.. on Jan 26 at 11:04 AM

$29 for the option to dual boot OS X and Windows

A report at MacScoop claims that according to leaked report from Apple, the final release of Boot Camp when released will cost users roughly $29 USD. Boot Camp has been available as a free public beta since early 2006 when Apple made its first transition to Intel processors. The software add-on allows x86 Mac users to install a fully working copy of Windows XP, which ran natively on their x86 Macs. Users who use Apple's Boot Camp are able to install and separately boot a fresh copy of Windows.

While the report says that the source of the leak is not entirely sure about the final cost of Boot Camp, they are sure that Apple will be charging for the download. Those who have Boot Camp now can still continue to use the software, but Apple apparently will cease driver support for those who do not upgrade. The report also claims that Apple will officially support Windows Vista via Boot Camp when it is released.

Boot Camp is expected to make its official debut along with Apple's next generation operating system, codenamed Leopard. The report also claims that Apple will be providing Leopard users with Boot Camp free of charge. Apple did make a comment in 2006 that Leopard will have Boot Camp fully integrated. Leopard is expected to make an official showing this coming spring.

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RE: Nickle and Dime me to Death

By FITCamaro on 1/22/2007 12:57:43 PM , Rating: 2

The user base for Linux isn't big enough to justify the cost could be one reason. Yes my statement was over simplified but it doesn't require as big a rewrite of the code due to competing architectures anymore. Porting from Mac to PC is much easier than it used to be. And I'd say the financial benefits outweigh the cons considering the userbase of Mac vs. Windows.

As far as the tools are better on the Mac. How? I've used Photoshop on a Mac and Photoshop on a PC. They work the same. I've used Premiere on a PC and a Mac. Works the same. Yes there's probably some better tools that are on Macs instead of PCs still, but now if you upgrade to the Intel based Macs, your programs are gonna run half as fast since it has to emulate the PowerPC architecture. The PowerPC Macs were better and faster at content creation than x86 processors, but now that advantage is gone.

And you might find OS X intuitive. But I don't. Yes I was raised on Windows so that could be a factor but thats not going to change so I still do and always will consider Windows to be more intuitive for me. Plus, as stupid an arguement it might be, its valid, I can't play games on Mac other than a handful. WoW sucks, Doom 3 is old and wasn't that good, and I don't play Myst.

XP does everything I need it to which is equal and above what a Mac can do. And if you're not an idiot its secure.

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RE: Nickle and Dime me to Death

By Zirconium on 1/22/2007 5:52:34 PM , Rating: 1

quote:
Yes my statement was over simplified but it doesn't require as big a rewrite of the code due to competing architectures anymore.

Hardware architecture is not the dominant factor in cross-platform coding. Maybe it is if your code uses a lot of assembly instructions or does fancy stuff with pointers, but the majority of modern programs are written in high-level programming languages that can be compiled on a number of platforms. The issue, however, is with the APIs. Windows/OSX/Linux have different APIs. For instance, there are a number of GTK apps that have been ported to Windows only after GTK was written for Windows. On the flip side, you have Wine which seeks to write APIs for Linux (which is why Wine is not an emulator like some people think, and why it runs faster than emulation).

quote:
As far as the tools are better on the Mac.

I never said that. Learn to reply to the correct person.

quote:
And you might find OS X intuitive.

I said I didn't like it. Learn to read my post.

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"Spreading the rumors, it's very easy because the people who write about Apple want that story, and you can claim its credible because you spoke to someone at Apple." -- Investment guru Jim Cramer