Apple to Charge OS X Tiger Users $30 for Boot Camp?

By | January 22nd, 2007 comments icon (2) Comments


apple boot camp screenshotRumors are swirling that Mac users will soon have to start paying for Boot Camp when OS X Leopard is released. Of course, analysts and people who have a financial stake in the company are applauding the move. Tim Deal, a senior analyst with Pike & Fischer exclaim (via NewsFactor): “At $30, Boot Camp is a steal. That’s a drop in the bucket for software that allows for a dual operating system.” Oh really? Tell that to the users have been getting Boot Camp for free for the past several months and to those that know of free open-source alternatives that could do the same thing if it wasn’t for Apple’s locked down EFI boot loader. Of course, there is virtualization software from Parallels and VMware that can bypass the need for Boot Camp altogether and give you even more flexibility.

However, NewsFactor got an interesting quote from analyst, Tim Deal. He conjectured: “Down the road there’s some expectation that Boot Camp will evolve to the state where it doesn’t necessarily require a rebooting. It could allow some level of virtualization that would allow you to run Windows applications and Mac applications simultaneously.” If that were the case, then $30 is reasonable and actually a bargain. Note: Parallels latest build (priced at $79) offers a similar function TODAY with its Parallels Tools for Boot Camp.

CORRECTION: It looks like the non-beta version of Boot Camp will be bundled free with Leopard (10.5), but users of Tiger (10.4) will have to pay for the upgrade. I was under the impression Boot Camp was going to be sold as a separate product altogether. Thanks goes to member djoxygen for the clarification.





Filed in: Software

  • djoxygen

    Change the word “Leopard” to “Tiger” and you probably have the accurate story.

    Apple certainly isn’t alone in allowing people who have paid for an earlier version of a product to beta test something that will be included in a later version of a product. But nobody seems to be complaining that Photoshop CS2 users will have to pay to upgrade to CS3.

    It is perfectly reasonable (and possibly even required by Sarbanes-Oxley) to charge for additional features added to an older product. Boot Camp will be included in 10.5 (Leopard) but people who choose to stick with 10.4 (Tiger) will have to pony up a little coin for the final version of Boot Camp.

  • http://www.alexandergrundner.com Alexander Grundner

    Thanks for the clarification. I updated the post. I was under the impression Boot Camp was going to be sold as a separate product.