Bootcamp Limited use?

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Hi everyone,
I finally got my copy of Vista Ultimate and have installed it via bootcamp. I haven't encountered any errors or problems yet, but was alittle worried by some of the text I saw while installing bootcamp. It said that Bootcamp was to be used on a trial basis for a limited amount of time. I am using bootcamp to install Vista on my college laptop...and I cannot afford to have it all of a sudden stop working. At some point do I have to worry about it not allowing me to use my windows partition? If I need to purchase the final edition, I'm fine with that, but I really need to know if I will be able to just upgrade to this new version. A full wipe of the info I will be putting on my computer would be nice to avoid if @ all possible. Any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris
 
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Boot Camp is currently in beta and plans state that it will no longer be available as a free download once it is completed. It will come bundled as part of Leopard, so as it currently stands, you'll have to upgrade to Leopard in order to get the final version of Boot Camp.

Fortunately, you don't have to worry about your copy of Boot Camp no longer working as soon as Leopard is released. The EULA states that the beta of Boot Camp will continue working several months after the final release. Last I checked, it was around September or October 2007.

Now, it's possible that the final version of Boot Camp might become available as an option for Tiger users at a fee, but only time will tell whether this is will actually happen or if it's just wishful thinking.

Oh, and to actually answer your major question. Yes, you should be able to just upgrade Boot Camp without losing your Vista partition. :black:
 
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Chris3d
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So in your opinion, do you think they will offer the final version of boot camp to Tiger users. I'm wondering weather or not I should activate this copy of Vista, or wipe out the install all together and wait. If they are going to let us have / purchase the final version of boot camp, and update to it...I'll go ahead and activate, but I don't want to go through the trouble of calling MS and explaining my situation to get my key to activate again.
 
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Boot Camp is essentially a piece of software that partitions your hard drive, sets up a boot loader, and burns a CD with all the drivers for your hardware. Updates are simply tweaks to this system, evident by the fact that the beta works just fine. So the final version should just have better performing drivers and more stable code in the program itself.

What all that means is that your Windows partition isn't affected by Boot Camp updates. Once the partition has been created and boot loader installed, there's really nothing more needed to keep Windows running on a Mac. So upgrading to the latest version of Boot Camp shouldn't require you to scrap your Windows installation just to start new. Just like every other partitioning software, Boot Camp should see the Windows partition and set itself up accordingly.

Now, if you're willing to upgrade to Leopard to get the final version of Boot Camp, you probably won't have anything to worry about. It should be utterly seamless.

One final note. You shouldn't have to worry about calling up Microsoft as activation should go without a hitch if you're simply re-installing Vista on the same machine with the same specs. The only time you would have to call is if you've activated too many times in a short period of time or if you've changed a significant piece of hardware, such as a motherboard.
 

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