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http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,125393,00.asp

Users Find Flaw in Boot Camp

Some users report that Apple's software has permanently turned their Macs into PCs.

Matthew Broersma, Techworld.com
Thursday, April 13, 2006

Some Mac users are reporting problems with Apple's Boot Camp, the software that lets Intel-based Macs run Windows. Ironically, some users have said been stuck with Windows, with their hardware left unable to reboot the Mac OS.


In a discussion thread on Apple's technical support Web site, more than a dozen users reported that Boot Camp successfully partitioned their hard drive and allowed them to install a working version of Windows, but then would no longer allow them to switch back.

"It all worked fine until I wanted to start up OS X. Then the startup screen never progressed. I actually left and came back an hour later and it was still just the gear thing spinning around," wrote a user from Chicago.

"Now I'm stuck with a XP/Apple (scary!)" wrote another user.

Users Excited

Apple's announcement of Boot Camp a week ago had an effect akin to mass hysteria on users, the IT industry and the business community, even seeing Apple's stock price jump 10 percent.

All this excitement may to have led some users to install Boot Camp without taking many precautions, ignoring the fact that the software is a "beta" product, and that Apple said at the beginning it wouldn't offer technical support.

"This isn't a minor glitch, but a major problem. Barring erasing my drive and reinstalling OS X, I am stuck with an Apple laptop that only runs Windows," wrote a user. "I don't want solutions that entail using the command line. I would like something from Apple saying that they recognize the problem and are working on it."

"Apple should consider taking Boot Cramp off distribution immediately!" wrote another.

Other affected users were more philosophical about their quandary. "A bit scary, but that's life on the bleeding edge," wrote one user.

A number of users said they had been forced to erase their hard drives and re-install Mac OS X, restoring their data from backups. Others said they had been able to fix the problem using command-line tools or Apple utilities such as Repair Disk.

Apple said it does not offer support for the Boot Camp beta. The software will be built into a future edition of Mac OS X.

mattbeef

well there are enough warnings that its beta software so you cant blame apple really

Markus

I've seen similar complaints about Parallels Workstation.

I think the problem is that Google has skewed peoples ideas of what beta means.

To me it means pre-release, test software, not verified for use on mission critical machines. It has undergone some testing, but not extensive in-depth testing. There may be minor issues, there may be major issues. It's released to allow it to be tested in a wider field than would be possible in-house.

When we release a beta, it is clearly stated that it should not be installed on live systems, and you should backup before installing it.

Granted, Apple should probably put the warning they have on page 3 of the setup and install guide on the boot camp main page, but then people should really be reading the information supplied. Saying "Who read's manuals?" is a bit lame.
I read the accompanying docs, partly as I wanted to know what it was doing, partly to find out if it would work on a multi partitioned drive (it won't ).

So you don't have a backup and your machine has gone **** up after installing beta software. tough ****ing ****! you're a fool and you are learning a very very hard lesson.

As for comments from some such as "I won't be using the beta again and will be very sceptical at using the released version" *sigh* Why do you think they have it in beta, it's so that many people will try it before it's built into 10.5.
When 10.5 is seeded, it will not be a public seed, as with any previous version of the OS, it'll be seeded only to developers. There are a fair few of us out there, however, there is nowhere near the numbers you'd want for testing something like Boot Camp. The first time "real" users would see BC would be in the release version of 10.5, and there's no way you can put in a shoddy version in the released version of the OS.

So a public beta is made available, people test, report problems, Apple fixes things. All in their own timeframe, and to their own liking. The warnings are there, if you choose not to heed them, well, you're silly.

spectrum48k

Not being able to get back to one's original OS is a pretty fundamental flaw. I wouldn't have even tagged it a BETA if that was the case.

I don't have a MAC, but so this begs the question - how "available" did Apple make this to its users ? I'm hoping it was only put out to their tester community and not made available to everyone "at their own risk"