Apple Officially Supports Windows 7

Apple has finally updated its Boot Camp Windows software to support Windows 7 as of late yesterday. The update, version 3.1, was originally scheduled for 2009, but late in the year was pushed back to early 2010, leading some to question Apple’s dedication to supporting Windows on their platform.

The update, which comes in both 32-bit (380.73 MB) and 64-bit (274.58 MB) flavors, supports Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. From Apple’s release notes:

This update adds support for Microsoft Windows 7 (Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate), addresses issues with the Apple trackpad, turns off the red digital audio port LED on laptop computers when it is not being used, and supports the Apple wireless keyboard and Apple Magic mouse.

This update is highly recommended for all Boot Camp 3.0 users.

For more information, please visit this website:http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

An additional Windows 7 driver pack was released for the new 21.5″ and 27″ iMacs, along with an applicable graphics firmware update for iMacs and Macs Pro. It’s hard to say why Apple couldn’t have released one driver package for all their Macs, but it looks like we’ll have to take what we can get.

Oddly, these packages only officially support installation under Windows XP or Windows Vista, which can then be upgraded to Windows 7.