Users of Apple's boot camp might find themselves unable to run the software thanks to the company's delays with the release of its next generation operating system, Leopard.

After months denying that Apple would be late, the company finally announced that it might be ready by October, last week.

However this causes trouble for boot camp which is set to expire in September. Apple has moved to re-assure users that the deadline does not mean that the software will delete their already-in-place Windows partitions.

However the Boot Camp Assistant, which helps set up and manage Windows on the Mac will be unusable which means that Mac users won't be able to easily install Windows, resize the Windows' partition or remove a Windows installation from their system.

Apple had pledged to integrate the dual-boot application into Leopard and the assumption was that boot camp users would just upgrade. To make matters worse, Apple is refusing to talk about its plans.