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Microsoft and VPC - What if...

S

shakespeare

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 29, 2002
294
0
Portland, Maine
This is pure speculation; I have no inside information whatsoever, I was just thinking.

What if Microsoft's plan in acquiring Connectix is to offer Virtual PC for the Mac for free or for very cheap?

Wouldn't that hurt development on the Mac, if anyone with a Mac could easily run all their Windows software?
 
Re: Microsoft and VPC - What if...

Originally posted by shakespeare
This is pure speculation; I have no inside information whatsoever, I was just thinking.

What if Microsoft's plan in acquiring Connectix is to offer Virtual PC for the Mac for free or for very cheap?

Wouldn't that hurt development on the Mac, if anyone with a Mac could easily run all their Windows software?
Click to expand...

Hahaha, but seriously. Microsoft is going to wring us for every drop of money they can get from VPC. To the point of they want to kill Apple. If they can prevent Mac users from using windows on Macs and force them to buy PCs they will have made there goal.
 
Well, I don't know. Of course, I immediately figured they'd make it very expensive or kill it altogether, but I wonder if an even shadier practice would be to sell it cheaply, so that developers will stop bothering to make Mac versions.

Anyway, it was just a thought.
 
Since it costs to develop apps for windows and it's free for os x I dont think people will start developing for Windows prior to OS X.

it simply looks better under aqua ;)
 
I suspect that Microsoft bought Virtual PC in order to incorporate it in their new OS that has been discussed as being in development ("Longhorn"). If they are indeed writing it from the ground up as I've heard, I wouldn't be suprised if M$ bought VPC in order to include backwards compatability similar to Classic mode in Mac OS X. IMHO.

I don't see them buying it for the sole purpose of making it a better Mac app, although they might do it. We'll find out sooner or later.
 
I'm sure it's been discussed somewhere already, but I was thinking:

Would MS deliver a knockout blow to Apple, if they produced a version of VirtualMac to run on the PC? Would it be that difficult to emulate the Mac hardware so that OSX 'thinks' it's running on a Mac?

With AMD's all-conquering Opeteron to be released shortly and the widening performance gap between P4 and G4...is it not conceivalbe that the Mac OSX might well perform faster on a so equipped PC? in spite of the overheads of emulation, effectively killing the need for Mac hardware...unless you really are prepared to pay for a subjectively 'better' look...cause that is all that you would be paying for.

And Apple couldn't very well claim abuse by a monopoly, since MS will also keep VPC an effective alternative for Mac users wanting to run windows.

Apples only hope would be to release a new Mac with new CPU, to keep the 'target moving'...however it might be too late now.

MS already know all about how OSX works. Many of their developers were called on to help develop OSX so that Office OSX could be released asap.
 
I'm sure it's been discussed somewhere already, but I was thinking:

Would MS deliver a knockout blow to Apple, if they produced a version of VirtualMac to run on the PC? Would it be that difficult to emulate the Mac hardware so that OSX 'thinks' it's running on a Mac?

With AMD's all-conquering Opeteron to be released shortly and the widening performance gap between P4 and G4...is it not conceivalbe that the Mac OSX might well perform faster on a so equipped PC? in spite of the overheads of emulation, effectively killing the need for Mac hardware...unless you really are prepared to pay for a subjectively 'better' look...cause that is all that you would be paying for.

And Apple couldn't very well claim abuse by a monopoly, since MS will also keep VPC an effective alternative for Mac users wanting to run windows.
 
Originally posted by shakespeare
Well, I don't know. Of course, I immediately figured they'd make it very expensive or kill it altogether, but I wonder if an even shadier practice would be to sell it cheaply, so that developers will stop bothering to make Mac versions.

Anyway, it was just a thought.
Click to expand...

It's unlikely that MS would blatantly do any such thing. It's more likely that they would make the software buggy, so that Windows wouldn't run properly any more. Of course, the world knows that they are perfectionists at buggy software. I think that VPC v 7.0 will not work well by design.
 
Originally posted by Mac til death
I suspect that Microsoft bought Virtual PC in order to incorporate it in their new OS that has been discussed as being in development ("Longhorn"). If they are indeed writing it from the ground up as I've heard, I wouldn't be suprised if M$ bought VPC in order to include backwards compatability similar to Classic mode in Mac OS X. IMHO.

I don't see them buying it for the sole purpose of making it a better Mac app, although they might do it. We'll find out sooner or later.
Click to expand...

Acually OS XP, and longhorn all run on the same basic kernal. The next major release will be quite different, and acually not look like a Mac OS!
:eek:
 
Originally posted by Mac til death

I don't see them buying it for the sole purpose of making it a better Mac app, although they might do it. We'll find out sooner or later.
Click to expand...

Microsoft making a better app? Ha ha, that's funny...
 
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