Microsoft Office and Virtual PC at MWSF 2004?

[MacRumors]

Appleinsider reports that Microsoft "will officially renew its commitment" to the Mac platform at the upcoming MacWorld San Francisco in January.

Microsoft is said to be working on upgrades for the Mac version of Microsoft Office with a new project manager and a significant focus on Entourage. The new version is expected to be announced at Steve Jobs' Keynote speech for MacWorld Expo. In addition, updates to MSN Messenger and Remote Desktop Connection client are expected in the next year.

Appleinsider also reports that Virtual PC 7.0 will also be announced and delivered in the same timeframe as the new Office package. Virtual PC 7.0 would bring long anticipated G5 compatibility to the popular emulation software.

While Microsoft acquired Virtual PC from Connectix primarily for its Windows versions of VPC, Microsoft's Mac Business Unit has promised ongoing active development of the Mac version. Due to changes in the G5 architecture, prior versions of Virtual PC have remained incompatible with the PowerMac G5s.

Updated: Mac4ever.com (French) reported on December 1st an interview with a Microsoft representative at MacExpo in London. In their video interview, the rep felt that Virtual PC for G5 would likely be released in February 2004 and Microsoft Office 2003 for Mac would be released in the Summer of 2004

[ITR 81]

Looking forward to VPC7 and what kinda of support it has for games if any.

[Wes]

Finally I can get MSN 6.0 (Or Mac equivalent).

[leet1]

Originally posted by ITR 81
Looking forward to VPC7 and what kinda of support it has for games if any.

Probably won't support games just like the current one doesn't, unless they've figured out a way for it to use the graphics card.

[gif32]

Great! I was always afraid Microsoft would change its mind and leave the Mac users in the cold. I for one would never have been able to justify my PowerBook if it didn't run the same word processor / spreadsheet / etc as Windows users.

So why does Microsoft continue to support the Mac? What's in it for them? Certainly the $$ they make selling their software on OS X doesn't account for the money they *could* make if they dropped Mac support so people like me would've had to buy Windows again...

[leet1]

Originally posted by gif32
So why does Microsoft continue to support the Mac? What's in it for them? Certainly the $$ they make selling their software on OS X doesn't account for the money they *could* make if they dropped Mac support so people like me would've had to buy Windows again...

Don't you have to buy or own a microsoft OS with VPC?

[dracoleb]

Microsoft is a software company, it shouldn't matter to them what platform it runs on, as long as they sell the software

[g4pismo]

It would be nice if M$ spent a little time with the directX support.. That would bring a lot more switchers to the Mac camp. dare to dream...

[ITR 81]

Originally posted by leet1
Don't you have to buy or own a microsoft OS with VPC?

I believe he's referring to Mac Office 2004.

I can honestly say that Mac Office student ver. I bought is alot better then Office Xp..can't say much the new Office since I've never used it.

[dr_lha]

Originally posted by dracoleb
Microsoft is a software company, it shouldn't matter to them what platform it runs on, as long as they sell the software

Which is of course why they sell a Linux version of Office. MS's continued support of Office on the Mac is a bit puzzling as I bet the return on their investment for developing it is tiny compared to the Windows version.

I stil expect MS to cut Mac off at the knees sometime in the future, hopefully by then there will be a OSX native port of OpenOffice.

[ITR 81]

Apple will have it's own copy of Office by then. They've been working on Word like processor for awhile now..so it's just matter of time before they release a excel like app and call it xOffice or something like that.

[mactastic]

Good news. I use VPC quite a bit because I'm always dealing with architects and Autocad (Autodesk, please please release your software for OSX!). I always get funny looks with my powerbook, people are always asking how come I use a computer that I can't run Autocad on, and I fire up VPC with Autocad and show them. Just for fun sometimes I'll put my computer to sleep with XP running full screen, then when I wake it up in front of someone they think I'm running Windows on my powerbook. Very amusing. Although I'd like it better if I could use this for my main design platform instead of the office PCs. Then I'd only need VPC for the very few pieces of analysis software I use that are only written for the PC.

[nexus810]

On Microsoft's support page there is a product listed called Virtual PC 2004.

dont know if that means naything or not.


What blows is I bought VPC6 befor ei got my G5 and then due to Delays I got the G5 after the 30 day return policy. I was basically screwed and lost the 200 dollars or whatever.... How annoying is that.

[arn]

Originally posted by nexus810
On Microsoft's support page there is a product listed called Virtual PC 2004.

dont know if that means naything or not.

that's the PC version.

arn

[DamnDJ]

I think it would be great if Jobs lets Microsoft do a presentation on stage for Office 2004, and once the manager for Microsoft MBU walks off stage, Job's then goes on to introduce Apple's "Office" package.

"You've seen the good product Microsoft is going to deliver. Now see our insanely great product!"

[MacsRgr8]

Originally posted by ITR 81
Apple will have it's own copy of Office by then. They've been working on Word like processor for awhile now..so it's just matter of time before they release a excel like app and call it xOffice or something like that.

Yeah, we have read many rumors about this, but no evidence has ever surfaced, has there?
I believe M$ wants the Mac where it is now: Large enough marketshare so that M$ is not truly a monopolist when it comes to operatings systems for home PC's, but small enough not to be of any real threat to the M$ dominance (not monopoly).
For Apple to have success at the office there must be a version of M$ Office installed. So even the Mac users "need" M$ Office on their Mac. OpenOffice (or other office-like apps like ThinkFree) do work but the compatibility is not perfect.

If you have a Mac, buy Office for Mac, and buy Virtual PC with Windows, you are paying M$ alot of money, and you don't even use a PC! Could be that the Mac users are spending more money on M$ products than PC users.....

[SiliconAddict]

Originally posted by ITR 81
Apple will have it's own copy of Office by then. They've been working on Word like processor for awhile now..so it's just matter of time before they release a excel like app and call it xOffice or something like that.

Having the app is only part of the equation. People generally know that if they purchase Office its going to be compatible with 90% of the other office users out there. Businesses don't like playing games with productivity and cost and if they rolled out a version of Open Office and the like and its not 100% compatible users would be up **** creek. Trust me on this. The business world wants to get the heck away from Microsoft Office but do you know how many .DOC .XLS .MDB files are sitting out there in the world. There needs to be a guarantee that if you install iOffice it’s just going to work with anything. (We won’t get into the discussion that even versions of Office aren’t always compatible with previous versions though.)
Also its a forgone conclusion that if Microsoft gets so much as a spore of a scent that Apple is making an Office like app they would kill office for Mac in a heartbeat. (Shades of Internet Exploder for Mac.)

If Apple does have an office productivity suite in the works is buried so far under its corp HQ that an Independence Day saucer couldn't touch it. You can bet it’s highly secretive.

Microsoft will look for ANY excuse to kill off Office because I question how much of a return on investment they get on it. For Windows all they need is a current version of VPC and bundle a plain vanilla version of Windows with that. Office is an entirely different ballgame. Honestly the real reason Microsoft still supports the Mac is for a convenient excuse. Anytime the Antitrust monster rolls in and claims monopoly and that there is no competition they can point to Apple and say SEE we have them. Revenue from Mac sales has to be pathetic in comparison to Windows. They are most likely spending a ton of cash to support less then 5% of the market.

With that being said I ain’t going to complain if they bring out new versions of Office and VPC. As long as they have at least 1 version of a functioning VPC on the G5 series I, and many others I’m guessing, will be happy. I doubt Apple and IBM will be doing a major revamp to the PPC architecture where it breaks VPC for a while.

[Flowbee]

Originally posted by gif32

So why does Microsoft continue to support the Mac? What's in it for them?

As long as they have a development team working on Mac products, MS is always 'in the loop' with regard to upcoming Mac OS and hardware development.

"Keep your friends close... but keep your enemies closer."

[AmigoMac]

Originally posted by DamnDJ
I think it would be great if Jobs lets Microsoft do a presentation on stage for Office 2004, and once the manager for Microsoft MBU walks off stage, Job's then goes on to introduce Apple's "Office" package.

"You've seen the good product Microsoft is going to deliver. Now see our insanely great product!"

Let the monkey boy dance ... just a 20th anniversary gift...

I tried once with VPC5, but didn't find real use for i, I got 384 RAM with my 12" rev A. PB and decided to delete VPC... maybe I'll get VPC, after Apple releases PB G5...

[aethier]

Originally posted by DamnDJ
I think it would be great if Jobs lets Microsoft do a presentation on stage for Office 2004, and once the manager for Microsoft MBU walks off stage, Job's then goes on to introduce Apple's "Office" package.

"You've seen the good product Microsoft is going to deliver. Now see our insanely great product!"

The thing is though, is i doubt that Apple, if they do make an office wannabe app, that it will be at all able to compete with microsoft office. Microsoft Office is a great application, i do not think apple should bother compeating with them. i have office but still bought keynote when it came out to give it a try, and aside from a tiny selectiiion of cool looking animations, PowerPoint is what i use and Keynote is not even installed anymore

aethier

[kenaustus]

Since I have to use one proprietary Windows app I'm looking forward to a version of VPC that will work well with the G5. Fact is, I can't consider a G5 until that last bit of software is in place.

MS isn't going to kill off Office for Mac anytime soon. If Apple comes out with a similar package they will simply compete harder. Leaving any OS environment for other Office apps would be leaving them open to having Office pulled into the public domain, which would be a killer for MS.

[SiliconAddict]

Originally posted by Flowbee
As long as they have a development team working on Mac products, MS is always 'in the loop' with regard to upcoming Mac OS and hardware development.

"Keep your friends close... but keep your enemies closer."

Probably no more in the loop then any other developer that subscribes to ADC. *shrugs* You can bet that Microsoft gets absolutely NO preferential treatment when it comes to new software/hardware rumors. Heck I’m willing to bet that there are a few people at MS assigned to sites like Macrumors to keep abreast of the developments on the Mac. Who do you think are the people marking negative all the time on things like Panther Released news.

Remember. Microsoft is the most paranoid company on the planet.

So: EVERYONE WAVE HI TO THE GUYS IN REDMOND!!! ***WAVES***

[the future]

I doubt it will happen, but I would love Apple to come out with a great, native word processing application. I just hate MS Office, it gets in the way all the time changing things in documents that I don't want to change just because the f***ing app thinks it can guess what I *really* want to do instead of what I'm actually doing (which it can't, obviously). Smells like Windows, in other words, and I'd love to get rid of it.

[nspeds]

Most people go for Office because of the name, usually when people think of a word processor they think of Word.

Its like Coke or Pepsi.

Hopefully the new entourage will be similar to the current Outlook 2003. I beta tested 2003 and it is so awesome.

MS better not implement activation.

[Sailfish]

There's one over at ThinkSecret, Marcus

He admits he works at Redmond.

We ask him how he can live with himself, he says he doing it until he can get enough money to start his own buisness.

In realitiy he can't remove himself from Gates teat.