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yet another Microsoft blogger

 Saturday, August 18, 2007

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Apple Bootcamp gets better

Last week I upgraded to Apple Bootcamp 1.4 for our Kitchen iMac. I think Apple has already become the best PC OEM. Why?

Well take a look at the new volume graphic that appears when you use the Volume Up and Down keys:

image

And Eject

image

Just like the Mac OS. It's beautiful. Contrast to the junky garbage you see when doing this on a regular PC.

Also new is the Bootcamp control panel for Windows.

image

Which gives you a lot of new functionality.

Also new in this version is that the Apple Remote works with iTunes and Windows Media Player and Apple Software Update which checks for updated Bootcamp drivers.

Also, Apple somehow manages to place all the required drivers on a single CD you can burn yourself with a single installer. Why can't anyone else do this is beyond me.

I think all my future PCees will be Macs.

Apple | Gear
Posted Saturday, August 18, 2007    Permalink    Comments [29]  View blog reactions

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Apple Stickers

 

Sunday, August 19, 2007 7:49:19 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
You're officially a fan boy.
xxdesmus
Sunday, August 19, 2007 7:51:57 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
No other companies can do that because only Apple knows exactly what hardware you have because they make the hardware and the software.
AJ
Sunday, August 19, 2007 8:19:26 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Apple will not be the premier PC OEM until they make a PC Keyboard, and a trackpad with more than 1 button. Hell, I don't even buy PC mouses with less than 5 buttons.

Delete is backspace, there is no Pause/break... c'mon, this is not industry leadership, it's an obstinate vestige of a failed, lock-in business model that would have driven Apple to bankruptcy unless it had the iPod to save it.
cfpresley
Sunday, August 19, 2007 8:22:18 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
@xxdesmus my computing life started as an Apple Fanboy. I started with an Apple II then got a IIe then a Macintosh II CX, then a series of PowerBooks (170, Duo 270c, 5300, bronze and so on).
Omar Shahine
Sunday, August 19, 2007 8:22:52 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
@cfpresley,

Microsoft makes great PC Keyboards. Why not just use one of those.
Omar Shahine
Sunday, August 19, 2007 9:04:37 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
??? seriously .. you think having nice graphics for the volume and eject icons are grounds for claiming that apple have become the best PC OEM ? I like mac's just as much as the next guy but making a comment like that is just going to add zero credence to this blog!
nick
Sunday, August 19, 2007 9:19:48 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Nick, I take it this is your first time here.

I'm not looking to add credence to this blog. I blog what's on my mind, and that's exactly what this post was.

I've used a dozen or so pcees and laptops in the past. I've never seen anyone do volume notification properly... that is a translucent image that fades in etc.
Omar Shahine
Sunday, August 19, 2007 1:39:13 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Hmm, I wonder why no one but Apple can put all the drivers on one CD...wonder...maybe its because they already know which drivers it needs, and only have to support a very limited number of drivers, because they are not in the business of making an OS that can work on any hardware.
Brad
Sunday, August 19, 2007 2:58:17 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Face it guys - Windows just plain sucks. The author has figured it out. Stop crying and get with it - move forward, ditch your lame Dells and Vista and get a machine that runs Mac OS (you can always boot into some junky Microsoft OS if you really need to). You will be glad you did. The more you back Windows the less intelligent and informed you look. Do you want to be know as a weeny forever? - I didn't think so :-)
rusty
Sunday, August 19, 2007 4:41:53 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
@cfpresley

Any USB Mac keyboard IS a PC keyboard. The only significant difference is on a Mac keyboard, the Win/Command and Alt/Option keys switch places. Everything else is semantics. With an adapter, I can even use a PS/2 keyboard on my Mac.
Also, Apple entered the multi-button mouse market with its Mighty Mouse a couple of years back. This is in addition to the millions of commodity USB mice (including a complete line of quality devices from Microsoft) that work quite nicely with the Mac. If that's the best you can do, perhaps you should return to 1997 when Apple was at its most insular and Microsoft was debugging Windows 98. I'd personally rather live in the present where I can enjoy both companies' vastly superior products-- even if I want to run Windows on my Mac.
Electric Cat Herder
Sunday, August 19, 2007 4:59:28 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Rusty: that's a funny comment. I think you got it exactly wrong, as Omar is running Windows on his macs, not MacOS. When are fanboys going to understand one size does not fit all?
Bertrand Le roy
Sunday, August 19, 2007 5:02:02 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Actually, I'm running Vista, and have been since Bootcamp 1.1 was released. I have never run the Mac OS on this machine except to update the firmware and bootcamp.
Omar Shahine
Sunday, August 19, 2007 5:19:17 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Step up- upgrade - run Mac OS - boot over to MS only when you just need to play that game - What are you waiting for? - Fanboys (Ha)- I guess that is the Apple equivalent of "Balmer Boys"? ;-) - Think I would rather be a Fanboy - at least I'm not completely behind the times and stuck in a shackled and bloated OS.

Omar - have you spent any time with Mac OS X? You seem like a pretty sharp dude. I would like to hear your opinion on why you would stay with MS Vista?

Rusty
rusty
Sunday, August 19, 2007 5:59:23 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Omar, I just bought a MacBookPro back in April after using a Dell Laptop/Desktop for years. The quality of how these notebooks are put together is amazing. no loose parts ever, not loud, battery lasts longer, tight hardware fit, and yes its more expensive but worth every penny.

I was also becoming a big Linux/BSD supporter about 6 months before a switched, which I think is the other half why I like my Mac, becasue of the OS. I just feel more at home in a nix environment, which is what a mac is at heart (it just happens to have this sweet GUI wrapped around it).

I used a PC my whole life. But not anymore. Its not that I'm a fanboy, its just that I wanted something more from my computer workflow, and Apple has filled that void.

peace
taelor
Taylor Redden
Sunday, August 19, 2007 6:40:07 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
acutually, all the features you mention were 100% available in 1.3beta. only difference is new Nvidia drivers, which, as a macbook pro SR user, im very greatfull for
copper7op
Sunday, August 19, 2007 7:23:32 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
@AJ, Brad: So are you suggesting that the reason Dell, Sony, etc don't do a similar driver CD is that they *don't* know what hardware they're making?
Ben
Sunday, August 19, 2007 8:01:37 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
@rusty: I think you should take a look at this page.
LPX
Sunday, August 19, 2007 11:40:17 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
1. The reason Mac keyboards don't have computer industry curiosities like the "Pause/Break" key and the "Scroll Lock" key is because those are relics of a bygone era called MS-DOS. We don't need a "Num Lock" key either for the same reason. We have a Clear key instead, which Windows users for over a decade now have wondered why they must press C for clear in their Calculator app, most resorting to clicking Clear with the mouse for a keypad app.

2. The volume and eject effects are nice to see in Windows too, as those are from Mac OS X. It is nice to have everything you need on one CD, which is burned in one step and installed in one step.

3. Yes Apple only has to worry about one set of drivers. That's why they're called an OEM. Sony, HP, Dell and all the others to. The fact that Windows PC users forget this and expect to go scouring the Internet for what they need is just another testament to what they put up with in the Windows world. You really take these things for granted until you try something new.
SPC
Monday, August 20, 2007 12:32:03 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
"there is no Pause/break"

OH MY GOD!

How do I ever get work done without pause/break
James
Monday, August 20, 2007 6:27:18 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
What does the pause/break command do anyway? Never needed it before.
Slevin
Monday, August 20, 2007 8:31:03 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Those icons (at least for Eject) aren't new to 1.4...

I just wish they'd fix tapping support in Windows. I've gotten used to using the button, but I'd prefer not to have to.
Brandon Paddock
Monday, August 20, 2007 8:31:58 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Oh also, the lack of a "PrintScreen" key kind of sucks. They should map it to something like Fn+Eject in the Apple keyboard app. That's what InputRemapper does... but InputRemapper is buggy and causes blue screens, so...
Brandon Paddock
Monday, August 20, 2007 8:50:48 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
SPC made the great point that you Microsoft apologists are overlooking (willingly or unwillingly) and that Omar is alluding to as well: Gateway, Dell, et al know what their system specs are just like Apple, so why can't they make it less painful to get all the drivers installed on their systems???
Joshua Curtiss
Monday, August 20, 2007 9:24:29 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
This isn't exactly new; 1.4 has been out for at least a month. But yeah, I was pleasantly surprised to see the volume overlay come up when using fn+F3/4/5.
Champion Champfactor
Monday, August 20, 2007 3:06:56 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Brandon says, "Oh also, the lack of a "PrintScreen" key kind of sucks. "
I truly hope he's kidding here? That is a funny, right?
'cause it did make me laugh.
:-)
otto
oto
Monday, August 20, 2007 8:59:01 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
@Rusty,

I used Mac OS X for a few years, back when I worked on Mac Office and such. Long befor it was even released.

I found the complexity and overhead of living a life of two operating systems a bit much so at the time I moved almost entirely to XP.
Omar Shahine
Monday, August 20, 2007 9:02:42 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
@Brandon

I was previously using 1.3 and never saw any icons appear. Perhaps there was some kind of bug that was fixed in 1.4 on my iMac?

and yes, my post alluded to exactly what @SPC said.

Each OEM knows exactly what they are building... Each and every configuration. But they make it dammed near impossible to install a clean version of Windows and get up and running in under a day.
Omar Shahine
Tuesday, August 21, 2007 2:46:44 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Wow I see a lot of fanboy type answers and it really saddens me. I use Linux, Mac OS and Windows because each on is good for different things. The problem it seems is that people forget no matter what it is everything has pros and cons. Macs cost so much damn money and a clone PC is way cheaper to buy or to build. You can run Mac OS on a homebuilt PC as well as linux and windows. On a mac you can do the same. My problem with my mac is that I am a gamer and well the video card offerings for macs sucks pretty bad. Upgrade my mac ha ha thats a good one, I already have a hard drive, cd and or dvd drive, disk drive, sound card video car, ram and I just wanna upgrad emy Motherboard cpu and with a mac I am SOL. My mac is way more stable which is why I use it for school but for fun my windows machine blows the mac away. Buy what you want and need and who cares what anybody else thinks
Aric
Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:44:43 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Can you run Windows server 2003 on a intel mac with bootcamp?
will
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