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MS Office and Virtual PC 6.1

MS Office and Virtual PC 6.1

Previous rumors that Microsoft's Mac Office suite would be revamped should come into being by tomorrow.

Microsoft acquired Virtual PC from Connectix in February 2003. According to statements from the Mac software division of Microsoft, continued development for Virtual PC is promised.

Microsoft's acquistion of Virtual PC should be complete by August 15, 2003

Today, Virtual PC customers received emails from Connectix indicating that Virtual PC 6.1 would launch on August 12th. Virtual PC 6.0 users may upgrade for free, while 5.0 customers will be eligble for upgrade pricing.

August 12th is also the rumored date for Microsoft Office revamp - with a new Professional Microsoft Office being offered for the same retail price ($499) as the current version of Office for Mac. The new Professional Version will include Virtual PC as part of the bundle. Office v. X Standard ($399) and Office v. X Student and Teacher ($149) are also expected.
 
Well, it's nice to see that they'll continue to support the software on the mac, since they had the opportunity and the reasoning to kill it. While I'm quite sure this will make legions of M$ enterprise mac users happy since M$ only apps will work that much better and faster, my only response to this that I can think of is: whoopity do. :)

On the good side, it means that many more reasons for switchers to switch, since windows runs on OSX, and OSX doesn't run on windows.

ha ha. (bully laugh from the Simpsons - pointing :))
 
With MS at the helm, there is a good chance that we'll see some real speed improvement. say what you will about their evil monopolistic practices, but the Mac versions of their software are usually pretty good (I still feel guilty saying that).
 
Good

Glad to see M$ is actually doing something useful and not using their monopolistic power to completely overrun Mac users. The $149 student edition is great news, though.
 
Ohhh I wonder what the 6.1 update will bring?

Looks like I'll be shelling out for a new Office too...

AppleMatt
 
About time MacBU got their act together...

Now $149 for the student and teacher addition plus being able to legally install on up to three personal computers is more like it. I might actually purchase a copy and get rid of my pirated version.
 
Pro Office for Mac

That's essentially a price reduction, and a new high end product added.

Wow. Never expected the Spanish Inquisition...

With VPC added, the price of Office is IMHO worth it.

Jaedreth
 
Originally posted by esome
With MS at the helm, there is a good chance that we'll see some real speed improvement. say what you will about their evil monopolistic practices, but the Mac versions of their software are usually pretty good (I still feel guilty saying that).
Click to expand...

MS is in a unique position to make VPC as fast as possible. And I might even buy the student edition of Office!
 
Originally posted by AppleMatt
Ohhh I wonder what the 6.1 update will bring?

Looks like I'll be shelling out for a new Office too...

AppleMatt
Click to expand...
If you mine the archives, you'll find a reference to a statement from MS themsleves that says VPC 6.1 is simply a re-branding release, with MS TMs, license verbage, etc. NO new functionality or improvements (except maybe some spyware :). You'll have to wait for the release in Q4 to see any change/improvements. Having said that, I'll bet a $ to a donut that you'll have to have 6.1 to upgrade to the next release. MS wants to make sure you register the product with them, you know. I do believe that the Q4 release may actually have some substance. Obviously, MS is in a position to make VPC really shine; let's hope that's what they do. I like the fact that current rev 6 users get free updates, so far.
 
Thanks MrMacMan

But do you see how this is gonna help MS make more $$$?

1) Don't sell VPC as a separate product. It *is* part of Office Pro.

2) Offer lower cost versions of office that *normal* people will buy.

3) Those who *do* buy Office Pro may also buy additional versions of Windows to install on VPC.

$$$$$$$$$

Finally, MS is getting smart about what would motivate a Mac user to depart with his/her cash.

Not that that's necessarily a good thing, come to thing of it...

Jaedreth
 
Re: Thanks MrMacMan

Originally posted by jaedreth
But do you see how this is gonna help MS make more $$$?

1) Don't sell VPC as a separate product. It *is* part of Office Pro.

2) Offer lower cost versions of office that *normal* people will buy.

3) Those who *do* buy Office Pro may also buy additional versions of Windows to install on VPC.

$$$$$$$$$

Finally, MS is getting smart about what would motivate a Mac user to depart with his/her cash.

Not that that's necessarily a good thing, come to thing of it...

Jaedreth
Click to expand...
As per MS, VPC will continue to be offered as a stand alone product. I seem them monitoring Windows licenses more closely now. I doubt you'll see the cheap PCDOS version from here on out, but I could be wrong.
 
DaveL

Good to know.

I bet you're right on the DOS part.

However, they are working on Virtual Server, which would *rock* on XServe.

Have an XServe cluster running 10.3 Server and Win Server 2003.

Sweet.

Jaedreth
 
Re: DaveL

Originally posted by jaedreth
Good to know.

I bet you're right on the DOS part.

However, they are working on Virtual Server, which would *rock* on XServe.

Have an XServe cluster running 10.3 Server and Win Server 2003.

Sweet.

Jaedreth
Click to expand...

Virtual server is dead. It's the whole reason behind the acquisition, and MS would of paid any amount of money to ensure it never sees the light of day.

Exchange server running on Linux? Not a chance in hell.
 
Originally posted by mac15
I wonder if they will actually speed up VPC?
Click to expand...
Well, it seems apparent that MS doesn't want to kill VPC. They are a software company, so they should be HW agnostic. Obviously, they have their hands full just supporting x86. So, I would think they would have every interest in making VPC as fast as possible, since it: a) would lure people to MS software that might not otherwise be interested, and b) mean they don't have to maintain non-x86 versions of their products. I wouldn't be surprised if MS drops Mac-specific software developement and just sells x86 products running on VPC. However, I think they will wait until VPC is improved enough to make MS x86 products run well on the Mac.

Just my take on it. I use VPC 6, when necessary, which isn't very often, these days.
 
Virtual Server

Read the entire email on the linked website.

It does specifically state that Virtual Server is still in development for Mac. (Not Linux)

Besides, if Virtual Server ships with Server 2000, and then you have to buy 2003 separately, and of course MS would charge a premium for Virtual Server.

MS only promised continued development for Macintosh.

Jaedreth
 
For Me Personally-This Sucks!

My free trial of Office v.X just ran out so I ordered M$ Word Acedemic for $130 since that's what I mostly use and now I can have all of Office for $150! Man timing is everything...

Anyone know if I can do anything about this like when you could upgrade to Jaguar for $20 if you bought a mac with 10.1 just before the annoucement of Jaguar?
 
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