On Wednesday, June 4, 2003, at 06:35 AM, Scott Howe wrote:
The point is though, it isnt in Microsoft's best interest to make the Mac look bad because they own a good chunk of the company!
Beep Beep Beep Urban Legend Alert! Urban Legend Alert!
Microsoft, back in 1997 (?), just after Steve Jobs took over again, bought a much ballyhooed 150 million worth of stock in Apple.
This was widely touted as a big vote of confidence in Apple, ';saving them' , and has morphed into 'Microsoft owns a big chunk of Apple'.
As Paul Harvey says, here is the rest of the story....
Microsoft's 150 mill was *non-voting* stock they had to hold for a certain amount of time, and came about as a settlement of a lawsuit between Apple and Microsoft over Microsoft having stolen code from Quicktime to use in it's nascent Windows Media Player, and never, even then, amounted to a large stake in Apple. They also reached a deal to have IE installed on each new Mac as the default browser. (Unlike Windows, IE could be removed as simply as dragging that fetid folder to the trash and many people did.)
Microsoft also sold their stock as soon as they could, reaping a handsome profit, thus proving, once again, to Corporate America, Crime Pays Well..
It was about this time that Microsoft realized that they had made something like $4.95 in Mac Office licenses in the last couple of years, and even if Apple was in the doldrums, there had to be a reason. Gee it only took them several years to realize that Office 6 for the Mac was a warmed over Windows port that never worked right in the first place, so they created the Mac Business Unit to rewrite their Mac apps. That lead to Office 98 which in light of it's predecessor was a HUGE leap forward, and garnered a significant amount of business for them. This is why Microsoft stays in the Mac market, it makes M*O*N*E*Y for them.
Does Microsoft yet 'get it' in terms of software design...no. Their PC products are just as bad; Office is a bloated, overly complex crashy piece of crap on the PC, too...it's just that they're fat, dumb and happy in that market, they have NO competition, save Corel's Word Perfect office irritating one heel, and Appleworks irritating the other.
Open Office is possibly the only thing that could hurt them now..and Microsoft is scared, VERY scared of Open Source software. When cash-strapped corporate Veeps find out that there is a office suite that's compatible, just as good and FREE, they're gonna start thinking...many are.
I just wish the OSX-native version of Open Office would get a move on...or that Apple would just take over the development. They could toss some programmers, money and time at it , sell it as Appleworks 7 and be done with it. (They could even continue to let Open Office for OSX be free since the Appleworks version would have value-added stuff not under the GPL...Sun is doing that with SunOffice...which comes with a database component, more add-ons and actual live support for $70 a desktop)
It's not as if Apple hasn't fired a couple shots across MS's bow with Safari and Keynote...
-- "Wherever you go, there you are." - B. Banzai, Ph.D. Bruce Johnson
-- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and...
Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! |
Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html>
G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/>
Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
