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Microsoft Acquires Virtual PC from Connectix

It's a winning move by MS

The reason why MS made this purchase is to get into the virtual server market. They recognized that Connectix had a great product under development and wanted to get control of it before someone else did. Mac users seem to have missed this point completely.

Virtual PC for Mac just happened to be part of the deal. It's also a nice acquisition for MS, but they wouldn't have bothered buying assets from Connectix if that was the only product involved.

I believe that MS won't discontinue Virtual PC for Mac because it will help them to keep selling software to Mac users. Remember, MS wants to make money selling to every computer user, not just those running Windows. It's all about market dominance.

They also won't go to the effort of recoding it as a Windows only application because it would be too much work and because selling an x86 virtual machine will actually generate more profit than selling a product that only runs Windows. Here's why...

By keeping VPC as a hardware emulator the copy of Windows bundled with VPC can be exactly the same as the product they sell for hardware PCs. There's nothing a company likes more than zero development costs. The real kicker though is this one. If you want to run something other than Windows in Virtual PC, you'll still have to buy a copy of Windows because it'll be bundled with VPC.

Selling to your enemies is a feat few can pull off, but this move virtually guarantees that MS will be successful. Selling Windows to Linux users... I can imagine the grin on Gates' face already.
 
retribution i guess

By taking control IMHO of one of the most important piceces of software for mac, Microsoft has clearly crossed the line. Seems like retribution for keynote to me, don't you think? I don't know. well, hopefully microsoft virtual pc 7 will be better. Hopefully.
 
Rootless Win environment

If they ditch the multiple-OS possibilities and make it a pure virtual XP environment, they could surely make a lot of things faster.

Also, imagine launching it like your X11 or Classic environment and running Windows rootlessly. Then you could launch Windows programs and treat them like everything else.

There is definitely possibilities.

Of course, I'm still one of those wacky OS X-on-X86 supporters, and think that Apple should then ship with an improved Wine.

Hardware-wise, Apple could put multiple 970s in the big expensive machines, and have a line of the coolest-looking X86-based machines ever.

"They may say I'm a dreamer. But I'm not the only one. Maybe someday you will join us , and the world will live as one ..." :)
 
What M$ could do that's one better than WinXP atop an emulator, is to write a native g3/g4 WinXP -- assuming that Apple intends to deliver an Intel-native MacOS X sometime soon.
 
Originally posted by Shrek
One thing to point out: There is no news of this on the Connectix website. I wonder if that means that it's all just a fluke. I certainly HOPE SO!!! :( :mad: :eek: :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Now there is:
http://www.connectix.com/about/acquisition_win.html

Virtual Machine Solutions
Virtual PC for Mac provides seamless integration of Windows on the Macintosh platform, enabling Mac OS customers to run Windows-based applications, access PC networks, use Windows-only Internet applications and share files with PC-based colleagues. Virtual PC for Mac will join the Macintosh Business Unit’s mix of award-winning Mac products, such as Office v. X, Entourage™ X and Internet Explorer for Mac.

“Adding Virtual PC to its product portfolio is yet another example of Microsoft’s continued commitment to the Mac platform,” said Ron Okamoto, vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations at Apple Computer Inc. “For years, Virtual PC has helped people who want to own a Mac but need to run legacy PC applications. We’re glad to see Virtual PC go into such good hands.”
 
Apple releasing an x86 version of OSX would be a poison pill. It might take a nice chunk of market share away from MS, but it would be the end of Apple's profits, since Apple makes its huge profits on huge profit margins on hardware.

Which is why speculation on this project have pegged it specifically as a poison pill -- that Apple would use only if it were sinking already.
 
"Poison Pill"?

Why do people keep saying OS X on Intel would be a bad idea? Microsoft makes more money on software in a month than Apple makes on everything combined in a year!

Apple could still sell well-integrated X86 hardware and high-end PPC servers and workstations.

What is the down part of this?
 
If M$ ends up paying little attention to VPC and doesn't keep the product quality up to standards (like taking away Linux support), customers will eventually hate them for it and that will lead even more M$ customers to look for alternatives. The odds of a new alternative showing up in the near future is good; the odds of an existing alternative (like VMware) adding Mac support to their product in response to this nonsense is very good. ;)
 
Re: "Poison Pill"?

Originally posted by welborn
Why do people keep saying OS X on Intel would be a bad idea? Microsoft makes more money on software in a month than Apple makes on everything combined in a year!

Apple could still sell well-integrated X86 hardware and high-end PPC servers and workstations.

What is the down part of this?
Click to expand...

OS X on PC hardware would be a double-edged sword. On one side, there would probably be less incentive to buy Apple hardware if the OS can be run on cheaper PC hardware. However, the dangerous part about bringing OS X over to PC hardware is making sure it can work will the umpteen-billion drivers and configurations out there. About the only possible way I can see OS X successfully coming over to PCs is if Apple licenses OS X to several larger OEMs (Dell, Gateway, HP, etc.), so they only need to worry about those few, specific configurations, instead of getting bundled up in the mess of hardware conflicts and incompatibilities which Linux and Windows have to face.
 
Guys, guys, guys...

Virtual PC is not going away. If Microsoft wanted to kill VPC, they would have done it a long time ago, and they wouldn't have needed to buy it first. MS licensed Windows to Connectix. If they wanted to kill VPC, they could have just stopped licensing Windows to Connectix.

(Well, unless you seriously think people want to buy $300 just to run Lee-nooks when they could just buy LinuxPPC or Yellow Dog Linux.)
 
ok, i havne't read everything....
but wouldn't it be kinda funny if M$ took this purchace, took the VGS code and put it on the XBox ;) or maybe use the cntx team to make a PS emulator so people could play all games on their XBox? i woulnd't like it...
i'd love a PS2 or XBox emulator for my DP tower....

sorry if someone already mentioned it....i havne't had time to read the whole list of posts....
 
This is hillarious...

A lot of you are saying that now you'll lose the ability to run Windows or Linux applications on your Mac.


NEWSFLASH:

Connectix Virtual PC made it to VERSION 6!

THAT build ain't going away. Only future versions may be in jeopardy. As long as you have a decent working copy of VPC6, you should be laughing - it works fine as is (unless, of course, you want to play games...)

:)


Anyway - even if VPC does get dropped by Microsoft, I can't see the PC emulation market dying off. Someone else will pick up the ball and run with it.
 
Real PC or SoftWindows?

I heard from a friend that FWB updated its website today to say they are thinking about releasing Real PC again...
I would bet that if we want to keep M$ free as much as possible, if we asked, they'd probably release it again!
I had real PC and it was faster and better than Connectix under 9... I haven't used either in forever though.. I live in osX now..
What do you guys think of that?
 
quesions

Originally posted by pseudobrit

2. Apple is a hardware manufacturer. Their competition are Dell, HPCompaq, Gateway, etc. They do not make an OS to rival MS.
Click to expand...

Do you mean by that that Apple does not make an OS as good as Microsoft's or that Apple doesn't make one as frequently purchased? I don't know what other people's feelings are on this topic, but I use win 95, 98, 2000pro and XPpro on a daily basis. I will also point out that in my opinion Mac OS X jag kicks their collective asses.

To get myself back on topic, I would like to ask if anyone knows of a product that Connectix has sold to another company which was not subsequently canceled by the purchasing company.

macViolinist
 
Re: no too bad

Originally posted by atomwork
i don't think Microsoft will kill this app. Bill is a large stockholder of Apple and its clear for me that his apps sell good to. So why not supporting a small company (remember: Apple has only 5% marketshare). He wins both ways!
Click to expand...

This is the oldest and most oft-repeated rumour about Apple, and I hear it so many times from my Windoze friends that I get sick of it.

FACT: M$ bought $150m worth of NON-VOTING stock in Apple - a company that at the time was worth around $5b i.e. a 3% stake. Not long after, they sold this stock for a nice tidy profit. So M$ only ever had a tiny indirect control over Apple, and now has NONE.

Consider yourself corrected.
 
Re: quesions

Frogmella....
Thankyouthankyou. I get sick of reading that line, too. It sucks even worse when the media spreads the past as the present.
Thanks for correctin'.


Originally posted by MacViolinist
...

To get myself back on topic, I would like to ask if anyone knows of a product that Connectix has sold to another company which was not subsequently canceled by the purchasing company.

macViolinist
Click to expand...
this is the only product line i recall them selling prior to the CVG and VPC..... CVS was the only product that was bought and disappeared. ... I think it is MS' track record of "embrace and destroy" that people are focusing on too much. Which as it goes, is sorta what Apple did with a lot of 3rd party system extensions and utilities, even prior to Watson and Sherlock 3...
anyhow, your answer:


From Connectix's Support pages....

Issue:

Problems with QuickCam, Quick Clip, VideoPhone, or Digital Radar?

Solution:

If your question is regarding a QuickCam product (this includes VideoPhone and Digital Radar), please contact Logitech. With the sale of the QuickCam product line to Logitech Inc., support for these products has been transferred to Logitech.

For the latest information and troubleshooting steps, or to contact Logitech Customer Support for the QuickCam products, please refer to: www.logitech.com

http://www.logitech.com




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Product: Other (specify below)
Category: General Info
Article ID: 4179
Created: 3/22/1999
Modified: 1/5/2002

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
originally spoken by yumpin yiminy
CVS was the only product that was bought and disappeared.

I am not familiar with CVS. However;
i am assuming that you are talking about Connectix Virtual Gamestation here, aka: CVG or CVGS. CVG was not just simply bought by someone and then disapeared. CVG/S was purchased by Sony and then intentionally discontinued.

If you are only able to think of 2 apps that connectix has sold in it's history (I really was hoping for more) and both of them were emulators of one kind or another and have been sold to the company that controls the OS or Hardware being emulated and so far 50% of those companies have canceled the product immediately after the purchase, I just wonder what we have in store for us.......


-macviolinist
Click to expand...
 
cntx said that sony basically came in and said stop or we'll sue you for all you're worth, then take the company, then we'll go to work on your families....well, maybe not ALL of that, but you get the jist...
something about mac users no longer buying and play stations....weird how emulators will do that....
 
that just made the decision about upgrading....

M$ has done it again.

Well, I can't believe this happened, but I'm not surprised. Apple has bought companies as well.

But what does it matter anymore? What software (besides internally developed) is there that isn't available for Mac either as a port or as a different software title?

OpenOffice is replacing M$ Office. Apple apparently is coming out with its own version.

Crap, I'm from Seattle (Redmond, WA is a suburb of Seattle) and have acquaintences that work at M$. Half of them use Macs at home!!!!!

What is so special about M$??? Maybe the fact that they don't follow W3C standards?

Honestly, there was nothing in my previous job and there is nothing in my current company that I can't do without a Windows machine. Half of the time the software that I need to use is already included in the Mac OS X. Not to mention the fact that it supports the latest techonogies.

As far as upgrading to VPC6, it isn't going to happen. When I first started using VPC3, it was to emulate W98, now with VPC5 it's almost all Red Hat Linux. Why upgrade? M$ isn't going to support any linux version. If they did I would be very surprised. However, there is the rumor that M$ will be selling Linux software within two years.

All I can say is who cares. IF THE SOFTWARE ISN'T INCLUDED WITH YOUR MAC, GO AND FIND IT!! THE SOFTWARE THAT YOU NEED IS OUT THERE!!!
 
Re: quesions

Originally posted by MacViolinist
Do you mean by that that Apple does not make an OS as good as Microsoft's or that Apple doesn't make one as frequently purchased? I don't know what other people's feelings are on this topic, but I use win 95, 98, 2000pro and XPpro on a daily basis. I will also point out that in my opinion Mac OS X jag kicks their collective asses.
Click to expand...

Apple does not make an OS to run on Intel iron. Therefore, MS and Apple are not competing. Also, if Apple were to introduce X for Intel, the clones would destroy their hardware sales and M$ would use their huge amounts of capital to lower the price of Windows and eat Apple alive.

No hardware profits + small share of the Intel OS market with little profit (if any) = dead Apple.

OSX is obviously superior to XP, but in order for Apple to survive, it cannot compete in the same arena with MS.

An OS is a natural monopoly market. Who wants ten, twenty OS standards out there to have to program for? I like the fact that Apple is only 5% of the market. It would be healthier if it were about 10%, but the fact that MS remains the monopoly means that Apple is free to be different, and NEEDS to be different.
 
Originally posted by MacViolinist
originally spoken by yumpin yiminy
CVS was the only product that was bought and disappeared.

I am not familiar with CVS. However;
i am assuming that you are talking about Connectix Virtual Gamestation here, aka: CVG or CVGS. CVG was not just simply bought by someone and then disapeared. CVG/S was purchased by Sony and then intentionally discontinued.

If you are only able to think of 2 apps that connectix has sold in it's history (I really was hoping for more) and both of them were emulators of one kind or another and have been sold to the company that controls the OS or Hardware being emulated and so far 50% of those companies have canceled the product immediately after the purchase, I just wonder what we have in store for us.......


-macviolinist
Click to expand...
I confused the initials for that playstation emulator ever since i bought a copy after the intitial lawsuit/injunction threat by Sony. Tacky packaging is all I can say. But hey, what ever. that was the past that no longer matters to this intstance.....

my thing is that it doesn't really matter what the precendent is. sony was *suing* to stop production of the virtual game system. microsoft has been *making money* off of virtual pc for quite sometime now. There is a noticable difference between the two scenarios.
most of the software connectix has made is for os 9 or earlier and quite often was making up for hardware upgrades being expensive. Ram Doubler, Speed Doubler, etc were the types of products that they could not really sell off nor can they expect much from in the terms of future sales. The Web cam technology and the cams --Connectix's only true hardware venture, IIRC, is still kicking under the ownership of Logitech.
To jump on the notion that the world is going to end now that Microsoft owns VPC is just ridiculous.
Quite frankly most of the posters on this particular thread come across as very self-centered as if somehow this decision on the part of Connectix directly impacts their lives moreso than any other thing in this ever-changing world. Guess what? it is a drop in the bucket.
Microsoft will still make the product, if you buy it.
Like I said before, they will force you to upgrade to XP or better instead of other older or competing OSs, like before. They can't really make it all that much better as a product, but, they can make it usable enough that any user will be pleased with the performance. Heck, this might, just might be the shinining moment for MS to use Virtual PC to truly and easily provide more of this .NET service to mac users. But, hey. The world is going to end, why speculate on potential positives, right?
Quite frankly, having used Real PC and Virtual PC the convenience is nice, but so is the convenience of being MS free and just using a mac to do anything even when it comes to delivering files to a PC user. Until then if I need to use a PC, I use a real PC (wintel variety).
Quite frankly, I'm in the camp that more Mac development of really great applications, easily found and readily known is the best way to counteract the dirth of PC only productivity or time wasting applications on the Macintosh. That should be paramount, instead of whining about how another program *might* be discontinued.
Support your developers, peeps. Become your developers! And everything will be alright.
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by ryan
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away there was a rumor of a "Red Box" that was to be in Apple's next generation OS, Rhapsody. This "Red Box" was suppose to an x86 emulation layer that was going to sit next to the "Yellow Box," a classic "emulator" for MacOS 7/8 apps. Apple has a talented bunch of developers who, given the task, could write an x86 emulator for OSX, lets hope that Mr. Jobs gives those marching orders.
Click to expand...

A couple of corrections: The classic "emulator" was referred to as "Blue Box" in Rhapsody. "Yellow Box" was the new, native environment. Also, Rhapsody was designed to be cross-platform (much the way MacOS X is), and "Red Box" was the equivalent of "Blue Box" for the Intel version of Rahpsody, except that instead of providing Mac backward compatibility, Red Box provided Windows backward compatibility.
 
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