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That's funny considering that it actually helps if your primary OS is Windows and you are thinking of switching to Mac. Apple is not afraid of pre-existing "primary OSes".

ukimalefu wrote:

Some people say that Windows 7 is "really good". Well, ok, whatever. Compared to what?

For Microsoft's sake, and to be on the safe side, let's say, compared to Windows ME ?

gd wrote:

More recently; compared to Vista.

That's too obvious. But now, and this is a detracting thought, I wonder which goes down in the books as more craptastic, Vista or WinME?

I'm hoping to buy it soon. My XP SP2 installation on Boot Camp is crapped out. I can't boot from CD to fix it. This after the 4th time I tried to install SP3.

And that's the irony of it all. I had the Boot Camp 2.1 upgrade.

gd wrote:

Not sure why you're laughing at Apple's software team, gd. SP3 does install normally in normal circumstances, and even on an old PC of mine- hardware from '03-04; XP Pro SP1a installed mid-June '04 and subjected to any number of electrical contretemps, courtesy of nature and the power company. Typing this on it in fact.

OTOH- sturner, did you upgrade to Snow Kitty?

Boot Camp 3.0: Cannot Install Windows XP Service Pack 3

Summary
When attempting to install Service Pack 3 on a Windows XP computer running Boot Camp 3.0 (which is included with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard), the following Copy Error dialog box appears:

An error occured while copying file osloader.ntd.  Cannot copy file to destination directory.  Click Retry to retry the operation or click Cancel.

This dialog box appears because Windows is attempting to write to the first partition it sees to install the update.  Using Boot Camp 3.0, the first partition it sees is the Mac OS X partition, which is mounted as read-only.  This is why the copy cannot complete.  In order to avoid the dialog box, complete the steps below to disable the OS X file system read feature so that the Windows partition is the first one that the update sees, then reinstall the update, then re-enable the OS X file system read feature.

Getting out of the Update installer

Click Cancel to dismiss the Copy Error dialog box

Another Copy Error dialog appears  "Do you want to continue setup without copying this file?"  Click No.  (If you clicked on Yes, the update will still fail with a copy error, click Cancel).

A Service Pack 3 Setup Warning appears asking if you are sure you want to cancel.  Click Yes.

A new Service Pack 3 Setup Error appears.  The filename, directory name, or volume label systax is incorrect.  Click OK.

Another Service Pack 3 Setup Error appears telling you the installation did not complete.  Click OK to undo the changes.  Windows will now back out the Service Pack.  If any delete errors occur, click on Cancel.  If asked to continue setup without copying a file, click No.

You will eventually get a final Service Pack 3 Error message telling you that the installation did not complete.  Click OK.

Click Close to dismiss the Installing Updates dialog.

Disabling the OS X file system read feature
[etc]

Well, I'm sure this is still MS' fault. Somehow. Anyway, apparently Boot Camp 3.0 is preferred or perhaps necessary to run Win 7 on a Mac. The 7 drivers seem not yet up to spec, tho.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3841