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Microsoft Officially Kills Virtual PC
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Well I can't honestly say I didn't see this one coming, I think everyone had the feeling VPC was dead from sometime now.
Who Cares
VPC for the PowerPC was a sluggish piece. M$, if they can't steal it, they buy it or they GIVE UP. They do not have one person working at M$ that can develope technology.
I say FANTASTIC, GREAT, GOOD JOB, GO make Vista, Go try and make Vista!
VPC for the PowerPC was a sluggish piece. M$, if they can't steal it, they buy it or they GIVE UP. They do not have one person working at M$ that can develope technology.
I say FANTASTIC, GREAT, GOOD JOB, GO make Vista, Go try and make Vista!
Yeah, well except for the 5 year contract they signed with Apple to continue making office.
Even if that weren't the case, Apple is GAINING market share. Those are people that don't have office for Mac. Why would Microsoft shoot itself in the foot. People forget that Microsoft and Apple aren't actually in direct competition. Not until Apple releases OSX openly on any box.
Even if that weren't the case, Apple is GAINING market share. Those are people that don't have office for Mac. Why would Microsoft shoot itself in the foot. People forget that Microsoft and Apple aren't actually in direct competition. Not until Apple releases OSX openly on any box.
bluarash said:
Office for the Mac will be a fixture. This is business, not high school slander wars. If the balance of money invested in R&D on a product vs. sales that turn a profit is lucrative, there will be a product.
For Virtual PC.... to invest the R&D in a product no one would buy would be stupid.
For Office.... even with Apple's lower PC market share, think this:
5 million copies X $200 = $1 billion in sales.
I don't know how many copies of Office for Mac Microsuck actually ships, but there are 10 million+ mac users... and I think a great majority of us need Office for work in some capacity.
For Virtual PC.... to invest the R&D in a product no one would buy would be stupid.
For Office.... even with Apple's lower PC market share, think this:
5 million copies X $200 = $1 billion in sales.
I don't know how many copies of Office for Mac Microsuck actually ships, but there are 10 million+ mac users... and I think a great majority of us need Office for work in some capacity.
Other apps...
Or DOSBox! I tried running a game under VPC 5 on a 400 MHz PowerMac G4. Too slow. So I then tried running it on a VPC 7 on a 1.25 GHz eMac. Still too slow. Then I tried running the game under DOSBox on the eMac. Ahhh, just right! Given that many of the games I still play are from the 80's or early half of the 90s, this works well for me, whether on x86 or PPC.
Another MS app which is being moved over as Universal app is RDC, which is probably my favorite MS application. I use this daily to work between my Mac and PC at work, and it works great, especially since I can use my second monitor for the PC, and still share both monitors for my Mac. A great VNC program for connecting to Windows. Too bad it can't connect to a Mac, also (I use Chicken of the VNC for that).
DOUGHNUT said:
Or DOSBox! I tried running a game under VPC 5 on a 400 MHz PowerMac G4. Too slow. So I then tried running it on a VPC 7 on a 1.25 GHz eMac. Still too slow. Then I tried running the game under DOSBox on the eMac. Ahhh, just right! Given that many of the games I still play are from the 80's or early half of the 90s, this works well for me, whether on x86 or PPC.
Another MS app which is being moved over as Universal app is RDC, which is probably my favorite MS application. I use this daily to work between my Mac and PC at work, and it works great, especially since I can use my second monitor for the PC, and still share both monitors for my Mac. A great VNC program for connecting to Windows. Too bad it can't connect to a Mac, also (I use Chicken of the VNC for that).
Microsoft has to worry about bigger things than getting their OS to run on macs, how about getting their OS to run on a PC (IE: Vista).
Microsoft was late to the plate and I wouldn't be suprised if they just bought out a company to get back in the competition.
Microsoft was late to the plate and I wouldn't be suprised if they just bought out a company to get back in the competition.
blasto333 said:
take it easy on them, they saved apple's ass in the 90's. if it weren't for them apple would have gone 'rupt. they also have to worry about a thousand different hardware configurations whereas os x 10 has to worry about the mac line.. give 'em a break. (not an ms fanboy)
yg17 said:
VPC is free for Windows. Not the Mac version. They can wring a little bit of life out of the PPC version yet, I'm sure. There's no (serious) competition on PPC.
bryanc said:
Now we can add "A 64 bit hack of a 32 bit shell..." to the beginning.
Yeah, this joke has been around forever. It originally was used when Windows 95 first came out. It isn't technically valid for NT, 2000, XP, 2003, or Vista. Those are just 32-bit (or 64-bit) OSes by a 2 bit company. :-D
Hm.
I was digging on Wikipedia and other sources. I must have missed the part where Microsoft either sold or kept their stocks. I couldn't find hard evidence that they truly sold it. If they own 1/100 of a percent, then they are just keeping a light leash for some corporate reason.
But here is a hypothetical question you all should think of. I think of it myself sometimes. I'd like to and hope it isn't true.
Since Microsoft did help support competition between the two, what if they shared OS features? Anyone can lie up on stage if they are a good actor about their OS being original and that such and such company is copying them. But if Bill Gates struck another deal that allowed Apple to release the features we love in OS X before Vista, that would be unusual.
Just Question. I just get the feeling that something isn't right.
Asides from that, I never like hearing Ballmer talk on stage. It isn't because he is affiliated with Microsoft. He just talks in such a way that everything is generalized. "Vista will change the way you look at your computer" or something like that. He was ranting about MS Office creating new ways of writing a document. *sigh*
Oh and I use both platforms!
For gaming Athlon Alienware PC. I did a price quote to see if the All-New 7500 was similar to the Mac Pro on pricing.
It is 100-200 cheaper than the Mac Pro! I don't want an/another Alienware PC The difference between the two are the video cards. 7900 for Alienware and 7300 for Mac Pro. I'm not sure which one is a better card. Also, the 7500 has SLI, which would be great not just for gaming, but for rendering 3d projects! Any ideas if the Mac Pro would support SLI?
That Mac Pro is beautiful! Someday, I would love to own one after I finish paying off my college loans
I was digging on Wikipedia and other sources. I must have missed the part where Microsoft either sold or kept their stocks. I couldn't find hard evidence that they truly sold it. If they own 1/100 of a percent, then they are just keeping a light leash for some corporate reason.
But here is a hypothetical question you all should think of. I think of it myself sometimes. I'd like to and hope it isn't true.
Since Microsoft did help support competition between the two, what if they shared OS features? Anyone can lie up on stage if they are a good actor about their OS being original and that such and such company is copying them. But if Bill Gates struck another deal that allowed Apple to release the features we love in OS X before Vista, that would be unusual.
Just Question. I just get the feeling that something isn't right.
Asides from that, I never like hearing Ballmer talk on stage. It isn't because he is affiliated with Microsoft. He just talks in such a way that everything is generalized. "Vista will change the way you look at your computer" or something like that. He was ranting about MS Office creating new ways of writing a document. *sigh*
Oh and I use both platforms!
For gaming Athlon Alienware PC. I did a price quote to see if the All-New 7500 was similar to the Mac Pro on pricing.
It is 100-200 cheaper than the Mac Pro! I don't want an/another Alienware PC The difference between the two are the video cards. 7900 for Alienware and 7300 for Mac Pro. I'm not sure which one is a better card. Also, the 7500 has SLI, which would be great not just for gaming, but for rendering 3d projects! Any ideas if the Mac Pro would support SLI?
That Mac Pro is beautiful! Someday, I would love to own one after I finish paying off my college loans
1. Apple officially announces that Boot Camp will be part of Leopard.
2. VMWare announces their product for OS X.
3. Microsoft kills VPC for Mac as it becomes pointless and sort of redundant.
After all, if they can sell the regular version of Windows to intel Mac users, why bother wasting money on something other companies are doing (VMWare and Parallels).
You want Windows on your Mac, use Boot Camp/buy VMWare or Parallels and then buy Windows like everyone else. No extra R&D funds/time required to enter the "Mac market", which thanks to Boot Camp is "all intel Mac users".
It's a simple business decision.
Well, how about "Windows Vista: a 64-bit OS that can almost emulate a 32 bit shell running on a 16 bit extension of an 8 bit OS designed for a 4 bit CPU, made by a 2 bit company that can't stand one bit of competition."? ;-)
2. VMWare announces their product for OS X.
3. Microsoft kills VPC for Mac as it becomes pointless and sort of redundant.
After all, if they can sell the regular version of Windows to intel Mac users, why bother wasting money on something other companies are doing (VMWare and Parallels).
You want Windows on your Mac, use Boot Camp/buy VMWare or Parallels and then buy Windows like everyone else. No extra R&D funds/time required to enter the "Mac market", which thanks to Boot Camp is "all intel Mac users".
It's a simple business decision.
ehurtley said:
Well, how about "Windows Vista: a 64-bit OS that can almost emulate a 32 bit shell running on a 16 bit extension of an 8 bit OS designed for a 4 bit CPU, made by a 2 bit company that can't stand one bit of competition."? ;-)
The reason MacBU has had to abandon VBA is that the Mac compiler won't work on Intel Macs. And Microsoft has already announced that VBA is being deprecated on Windows (it will go on working for a few years, then will end). So there's no point devoting enormous efforts to making a new compiler only for it all to go away shortly afterwards. There is some reason to believe that eventually VB.NET will work on the Mac as it does on Windows, as a cross-platform solution. Until then, VBA macros need to be translated to AppleScript. There can be no better signal that MacBU is committeed to the Mac than to see the huge investment they have made in AppleScript. Office's AppleScript is already working as of Office 2004, and it mirrors the VBA model identically: macros can be translated to AppleScript _now_, and will then "just work" in the next version of Office too.
well, maybe Microsoft will sell nicely priced Windows home and pro for packaging with Parrallels and as a coupon with boot camp.
anything is cheaper than the retail price.
anything is cheaper than the retail price.
nsjoker said:take it easy on them, they saved apple's ass in the 90's. if it weren't for them apple would have gone 'rupt. they also have to worry about a thousand different hardware configurations whereas os x 10 has to worry about the mac line.. give 'em a break. (not an ms fanboy)
yeah!
come to think of it, if it weren't for them and their illegal/immoral practices Apple would be at 90% and linux would be the underdog and there would be no Windows, so....
...errrr, hang on, what?
nsjoker said:take it easy on them, they saved apple's ass in the 90's. if it weren't for them apple would have gone 'rupt. they also have to worry about a thousand different hardware configurations whereas os x 10 has to worry about the mac line.. give 'em a break. (not an ms fanboy)
It's my understanding that Microsoft's cash infusion was more symbolic than anything else and helped forge a relationship that included the much more important agreement to continue making Office for the Mac. Furthermore, Microsoft was worried about a DOJ investigation and ensuring that Apple would continue on keep that particular dog quiet.
Microsoft has never done anything out of charity; there's always been profit in the company's actions and they deserve to get thumped a little bit.
That said, the MS programmers have a very difficult problem to solve, much of it created by people who worked on Windows more than a decade ago.
longofest said:Originally Posted by Freyqq
Are they working on a universal MS Office?
---------------------------------------------
Yes, but we don't exactly know when that will come out. Look for it AFTER Vista (if that can happen)
I would be willing to bet big money that MS Office Universal Binary is ready to go right this minute.
There is no way Monkey Boy Balmer is going to let the Mac Business Unit release it before Vista and the New Windows' version of Office!
Can you imagine the press release - "Well we are pushing back the release dates of Windows Vista and Office. We want to make sure that it is absolutely perfect. However, we are releasing Microsoft Office Universal Binary for the Apple OS X operating system". It just ain't gonna happen
hulugu said:
It was part of a patent lawsuit settlement. Apple had over $1 billion in cash on hand and $7 billion in annual revenue at the time of Microsoft's investment. Microsoft's $150 million didn't save Apple. This is a myth that just refuses to die. In reality, Apple saved Apple -- by changing the way they were doing business.
idea_hamster said:If I were an MS shareholder, I would be OUTRAGED.
How much did they pay for that? To be fair, I don't recall if MS bought just VPC or all of Connectix, but it hardly matters!
That's got to be a giant pile of shareholder wealth pissed away in a half-assed attempt at being part of (read: smothering) the increasing popularity and utility of Apple.
I would really love to see the numbers on that boondogle.
The connectix deal wasn't a 'boondogle' at all - connectix had other products than VPC. MS Virtual Server is based on the code they got from connectix. The server virtualization market is absolutely huge compared to VPC's potential market. I'm sure to Microsoft, VPC was a drop in the bucket in terms of revenue, and if I were a shareholder, I'd be happy as hell that they dropped it.
Well, this didn't really surprise me, seeing as how MS may have gotten their money's worth already by using the virtualization technology from Connectix in their Windows incarnations.
It was earlier said that MS Office and MS Messenger are the last 2 remaining applications that Microsoft is actively developing for the mac. I don't think Microsoft will drop these anytime soon as the former is a huge cash cow and the latter gives them a user base to compete with Yahoo! and AOL.
It was earlier said that MS Office and MS Messenger are the last 2 remaining applications that Microsoft is actively developing for the mac. I don't think Microsoft will drop these anytime soon as the former is a huge cash cow and the latter gives them a user base to compete with Yahoo! and AOL.