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Microsoft Acquires Virtual PC from Connectix

Re: I dunno... Sounds like the prelude to WindowsFU...

Originally posted by GeneR
Let's face it: M$ is going to continue to innovate its own Windows OS and the last thing they want is to allow Apple to become the end-all-be-all solution to OS issues.
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Perhaps it's something of a white flag. MS is not about to compete with Apple or OS X's design. Thoughts of buying Macromedia Flash was as close as they've come to thinking about competing with Aqua, though GDI+ is already in Windows 2000/XP.

Maybe they've accepted there are many PC users who want a Mac now and there's nothing they're going to do about it and want to improve VPC so there's no sudden demand for native VISIO or more online banking institutions supported in the Mac Quicken, etc. If VPC becomes super fast, they may lose users but they won't lose developers. They may even make it run more games with great sound, not game developers don't need to bother with native Mac versions.

VPC is a double-edge sword. Either way MS only has so much to lose on their side...
 
Licenses

Also, M$ might be able to make more money off of selling copies of VPC by selling the licenses of Windows that go with it. They might make more money from those licenses than they would from OEMs who are selling licenses at a reduced price.

Now, let's stretch our imaginations until they nearly break, and the MBU is being good and faithful to the Mac community and does a great job with it...well, wonderful, but I think we can all agree that the price will shoot up even more. When I bought VPC (DOS), it cost $50. The upgrade to 3.0 cost nearly that much, and the upgrade to VPC 5 was somewhere around $80. If Connectix was raising prices that high, what will M$ do to them? Ugh.

Time for a new PC emulator to be written.

Not only is there the threat that M$ might kill or screw up VPC, but there is another reason why this is all bad. Over the years, M$ has been getting bigger and bigger and bigger, constantly buying out companies and products. But in this process, it has become so large, that it never excels in any one area. Pretty much all of their products are some bad knock-off of someone else's ideas. Apple is also having some of these problems, but no where to the extreme levels of M$. Apple isn't trying to be a TV-news company (MSNBC), they aren't trying to publish games, they aren't trying to create a game console.
 
i think this will be good. microsoft will do anything to make a buck or two. i dont think they will stop development just because it runs on windows as well. They are doing exactly what they want to do, putting a nice copy of windows on your mac. personally i really dont know what will happen with this software, but i think it will be ok.

iJon
 
Re: Licenses

If Connectix was raising prices that high, what will M$ do to them? Ugh.

Time for a new PC emulator to be written. [/B]
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Here's one for you, FREE. Since native development for Mac Office will be ceased, Microsoft will offer Mac users a free VPC license with an Office XP purchase.
 
VPC + Windows License

So if MS ships VPC fully integrated into the Mac OS, so great that Mac users come to rely on it, expect it, heck, even get it bundled with the OS, MS only stands to gain.

PLUS, what if they have a $99/VPC price + windows license, they'd technically make more money off Mac users than PC users. And then, if the switchers campaign is ever a success, (ESPECIALLY ex-PC users who might want that security of having PC programs), they'll make more money on PC users switching than they would if they kept using a PC.

It sounds like MS doesn't really have anything to lose?
 
Great! Microsoft will probably improve the programme. Microsoft must be the best maker of Windows-related programmes, I think.
 
If this gets ugly, I wonder...

If this is M$ positioning to drop the big bomb on Apple, might MArklar be Apples response. I think OS X on x86 is a terrible idea as x86 chips suck ass, and thecheapo hardware is completely unreliable. Still, MArklar is probably Apple's back up plan. Sure, we would lose the wonderful hardware, but OS X wuld grab market share like nothing else, half the reason people have for not switching is price, MArklar would solve that one.
 
this is less about vpc and more about virtual server. People should do a little more reading instead of always assuming its a mac vs microsoft.
 
What most of you guys don't realize is that there is a version of VirtualPC for Windows!!! Sure, it doesn't emulate the powerpc, but what if it did?

Can you imagine microsoft integrating a powerpc emulating virtualPC into the next version of windows? They would pull off a switch thing, but in the opposite direction! This can't be good news.
 
Let's see, MS can sell more copies of its windows os AND get another couple of hundred more by selling it with an emulator so that it can spread its already long tentacles into another OS? What exactly would MS have against that? All they end up doing is making more money! ****, sorry to break it to you, but MS isn’t some maniacal humanized villain looking to trump Apple at its every move. Apple’s done more pot shots at it than MS has ever done. MS looks only to make money and you can bet yer arse that if it can make a grip of cash on a legal MS emulator, it’s going to go after it.

They aren't going to cancel it, but I'm expecting XP to be the only OS available and that it will cost a bloody fortune. Maybe XP will finally run well instead of its crash happy emulated version now. Oh, and you can probably kiss your upgrades goodbye.

On the other hand, if they do cancel it, it's instant Kazaalite so you won't even feel guilty about warezing it, because it's a dead product.
 
What might be bad is that Microsoft may integrate VPC and Windows to the point where VPC won't run any other OS's as it currently does.

The advantage to this will be better Windows performance...

and I could see "VPC" itself disappearing, and simply it becoming "Windows for Mac".

arn
 
Re: Re: Licenses

Originally posted by MorganX
Here's one for you, FREE. Since native development for Mac Office will be ceased, Microsoft will offer Mac users a free VPC license with an Office XP purchase.
Click to expand...

Once again -- ugh. Having to emulate everything would be just as bad as running everything in Classic mode. Start up the emulator, slowly plod through the program...not nearly as enjoyable as a native version, especially under a PC emulation. Classic actually tends to do okay...not perfect, but okay. VPC really cuts the performance, however. On my 500 MHz iBook and my 400 MHz PowerMac, I can run Summoner under Classic just fine. But a game like Diablo II was slowed down and the opening movie to Quake III was pretty choppy in Classic mode (fortunately, both of those games are OS X native, now).

But under VPC? I think the system clocks in around 67MHz...okay for older DOS games, but dead in the water for any games made in the past 4 to 5 years.
 
"Switchers"

So some of these posts got me thinking...

This could quite possibly be the biggest marketing genius thing to do ever.

Picture MS ads to Mac users: "You like to be different, and that's so cool. But sometimes, you need that security that the program you need will run. Introducing Windows for Mac."

Since MS doesn't stand to lose here really, they could even do their own switcher ads to the Mac: "There are a lot of great reasons to switch to a Mac, and we respect you thinking 'oustide the box'. But you'll quickly find that not all of the software you're used to having will run on your new Mac. Introducing Windows for Mac. 'Switch without worries.'".

And voila, MS can make money off of everyone. In fact, if they can get people to switch back and forth all the time... ;)
 
Absolutely

It's going to be killed. Maybe not outright, and maybe not for a number of months, but VPC/Mac is history.

Redmond does NOT want you running winblowz on a Mac. No matter the revenue stream from the OS license; people running winblowz on Macs don't buy a lot of peecee software. Those running winblowz on intel hardware DO buy lots of apps. Which helps to cement their monopoly. THAT is FAR more important to Redmond that any license fees from a crappy of winblowz sold to VPC-using Mac owners.

It's really a shame that Redmond is completely able to subvert our government; if they didn't have such a lock on Washington, they'd get enjoined right quick for this move.
 
I think this has more to do with Microsoft wanting to get into the virtual server market and really, the virtual anything market. I'm thinking that all of the conspiracy theories with Keynote, Safari, Mac Office etc is going to far.
 
Originally posted by Das


They aren't going to cancel it, but I'm expecting XP to be the only OS available and that it will cost a bloody fortune.
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Yet another thing I considered. They might stop offering Dos and Win9x versions, and only offer WinXP, instead. If so, then VPC 5 looks to be my last copy of VPC I'll ever have.
 
Originally posted by smegdude
its quite obvious that m$ are gonna kill off vpc, why would they support a product who's whole use is to run their OS on a rival system?
if they do make it better then i can pretty much guarantee that m$ will be charging much more for their new OS's, makeing it more economical just to buy a new pc.

RIP VPC
Click to expand...

Because it's not a rival system. Microsoft makes software for the most part. Not hardware. Every time someone buys VPC it comes with a full version of Windoze. Microsoft could care less what platform it's running on. As long as it's running. And if people are switching to macs, they'll sell it to the mac users.
 
Sorry, topicolo, but emulate OSX/FreeBSD?

Originally posted by topicolo
What most of you guys don't realize is that there is a version of VirtualPC for Windows!!! Sure, it doesn't emulate the powerpc, but what if it did?

Can you imagine microsoft integrating a powerpc emulating virtualPC into the next version of windows? They would pull off a switch thing, but in the opposite direction! This can't be good news.
Click to expand...

QUESTION #1: Wouldn't M$ need to get a license from Apple to make a PowerPC emulator?

QUESTION #2: Emulate FreeBSD? Wouldn't it be easier to simply load FreeBSD onto the PC itself and create their own desktop?

I would hope this never happens, but you never know.

:(
 
Originally posted by springscansing
I do not really understand virtual PC. It runs so damn slow. For under 300 bucks, you can get an Athlon 900mhz system, 256 RAM, 60GBHD, 10/100 ethernet, DVD-ROM, and a geforce4mx 64MB graphics card.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3401785793&category=4317

Right there. Same price as Virtual PC, and KICKS ITS ASS in every way possible.

1 hour left... someone better jump on it.

Please, someone explain to me why Virtual PC is good.

Connectix's Playstation emulator was also stupid. 50 bucks for the program, 40 bucks for two controllers... just buy a damn playstation already! Even Steve Jobs said that.

And RAMdoubler was slow as hell and terrible... speed doubler didn't double much...

I personally could care less about Connectix. Someone prove me wrong.
Click to expand...

I agree with you about the performance/price
ratio of VPC versus a real PC, having tried VPC on a new iMac with 768Mb and still found it slow as $ht.

BUT, the playstation emulator was anything but
stupid. I had it running 3 and a half years ago on my Lombard G3 Powerbook and it was a really really good product. At the time it was the
only way you could effectively have a portable
playstation, and it's still better than Sony's offering with that little LCD (Powerbook 14").

It was/still is a really great feat of emulation, and a great way to access more games on the Mac. If Jobs said that about VGS, then he was being an idiot. Any way to show consumers that the Mac can be a multi-purpose games machine is a sure-fire way to create Switchers. I'm sad sony did away with VGS:(
 
Originally posted by garyhoare
This is nothing less than a shot fired across the Apple's bow.
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My initial thoughts were "We're Doomed!".


But then something waaaaay back in my brain started to Niggle a little bit...


By any chance was Connectix working on a Virtual PC that would run under Linux?


If so, this could be a preemptive move against Linux (regardless of the implications to Apple).


-hh
 
Originally posted by topicolo
What most of you guys don't realize is that there is a version of VirtualPC for Windows!!! Sure, it doesn't emulate the powerpc, but what if it did?

Can you imagine microsoft integrating a powerpc emulating virtualPC into the next version of windows? They would pull off a switch thing, but in the opposite direction! This can't be good news.
Click to expand...

it is against the EULA of OS X to run it on anything but Apple hardware. Unless Microsoft asks really nice, it won't happen.

Also, there are good arguments for both sides of this argument. It may be killed, and it may get better.

If Microsoft sees every Mac user as a potential $800 for Office and Windows, what do they have to lose? Nothing, and lots of dough to gain. Mac users, in general, legally buy software as a greater % than PC users.

On the other hand, if Microsoft sees OS X and the Macintosh as competition, they'll kill it off.

I guess we will have to wait and see.
 
"XP Classic"... would that mean there would be a "XP Diet" version?

Originally posted by Moxiemike
how about XP Classic?

:D

option to install with any new version of Mac OS.....
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Oh boy. Sounds like the Coca Cola/Pepsi war when you use that word, Moxiemike.

How about:

XP Diet (Same lame OS, but with half the calories?)
XP Classic (For those who wanted XP New but really prefer the old stuff)
WindowsFU (A soy-based OS that really screws you in the end)

Too much time on my hands... :D
Okay, okay, back to work...
 
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