What's Next for Microsoft and Apple?
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After Microsoft dropped the bombshell last week that it is ceasing all work on future Internet Explorer releases for the Mac, industry watchers have been wondering aloud what's next for the dynamic duo. It's an interesting time to speculate, on the eve of Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference next week. For its part, Microsoft is swearing up and down that it won't off Office for the Mac. And a number of Microsoft watchers seemingly believe the Redmondians — pointing to Microsoft's growing paranoia over OpenOffice and StarOffice as a big reason why it won't dump its only non-Windows version of its desktop office suite. Read Apple's and Microsoft's Statements on the IE Move And Rothenberg on What's On Tap for WWDC
Let's not forget that Microsoft is Apple's biggest and most important ISV. Just before Microsoft invested $150 million worth of chump change in Apple in 1997, the concern was that Apple was finally, really doomed. Folks were worried Microsoft would pull the plug and it would all be over before OS X (and the third-generation PowerPC) had its chance in the market. The Microsoft support was essential for that transition. Sure, Microsoft groused earlier this year that Apple wasn't selling enough Mac OS X units to make its efforts worthwhile. But that was pure Microsoft posturing (coupled with a frustrated former MacBU general manager Kevin Browne) as much as anything, I'd argue.
What will happen in the next episode of the Microsoft-Apple soap opera? Will the partnership unravel further? Will we see Bill and Steve in Judge Judy's Court? Or will the two end up as bridge-playing buddies in the not-too-distant future?
A tip of the hat to Storage Supersite editor David Morganstern for his insight and thoughts on this column. |
