Slashdot Mirror
RealPC For Mac Delayed By MS Cease And Desist
mgh02114 writes "Microsoft recently purchased the Windows-on-a-Mac emulation program "Virtual PC" from Connectix. Since then, FWB announced that they were working to revive their competing 'Real PC' Windows emulation program for Macintosh OS X.
Well, now it looks like Microsoft is trying to kill that program as well. FWB announced that: 'FWB is working diligently to update Real PC and Softwindows for OSX. In May, while working on this project, we received a setback in the form of a cease and desist letter from Microsoft. We are working to resolve the issues with Microsoft, and this has caused some delay, much to our frustration. We are committed to having a beta for you to test for us and help us optimize, this summer. We think we have only lost a few weeks of time to this issue.' FWB appreciates your continued patience and support."
Windows DOESN'T WANT MORE WINDOWS USERS? In order to run windows on a Mac, you have to buy the license to run the Windows, even with VPC-style emulation.
This is a load of status-quo crap that Microsoft wants to cram down the throats of those of us who like the Mac platform.
Only in slashdot are posts of solidarity modded at -1 Redundant, while posts of antagonism are modded as -1 Flamebait.
If so I didn't see it there. Why not just post the cease and desist?
What we see depends on mainly what we look for. -- John Lubbock Now search for that bug slave!
MS VPC or FWB RealPC - the choice for me would come down to speed. I've used VPC and been less than impressed with its quickness. So much so, that it would almost be faster for me to drive to the office to do the "Windows-only" tasks that I might need to do.
Luckily my company uses Citrix, which allows me to do my Windows work from the comfort of my Mac!
This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
-dunar
I call bullshit on that theory for one simple reason.
/.'s front page instead of the apple section. If this doesn't look like Microsoft-specific coercion by using their monopolistic strongarm tactics, I don't know what is.
FWB used to produce the Windows 95/98 Emulator which was called Softwindows. They changed the title of it to RealPC just to avoid extra headaches from Microsoft's legal department.
I really hope this was on
Of course, Sony ended up buying Virtual Game Station from Connectix, and burying it in the desert or something. They certainly never made it available for sale. Could be what MS is doing, too.
"Common Sense Ain't" -Unknown
It could be something as simple as a product naming/trademark issue.
It's not. Connectix paid FWB off to stop making SoftWindows so VirtualPC would be the only game in town. When MS bought VirtualPC from Connectix, this agreement was null and void from FWB's point of view. Apparently MS differs.
More info here.
Might it not have something to do with the fact that Macs are about to get a whole lot faster when the G5 (allegedly) comes out in a month's time?
At the moment, Macs are for the most part embarassingly slow (I say this as a Mac user, so flame all you like, but you're flaming your own) and when the G5 comes out and things get a hell of a lot quicker, any PC emulator is going to speed up similarly - it might even become usable.
If one ever wanted proof that they were/are a monopoly and are just incredibly anal in their business tactics, it is all right here. *sigh* It could only happen in America...
iqu
Micro$oft didn't buy VirtualPC because of the mac version. They bought it because of the virtual server technology, so they could build it into their server platforms. Since Windoze is so unstable/insecure, you get one beefy machine to run many virtual servers so that if one fails or gets hacked, all the services provided by that box don't go down. Source for this info is in every PR about the purchase. This is not conjection.
What they decide to do with the mac version is really unknown. They have said that they will continue to support it, but just ask someone with a Powerbook G4 and a Airport Extreme card what that means.
Not quite true. Windows itself is steeply profitable, and there are many other minor software products that they turn a dollar on. Nothing earth-shaking but it's there.
Porting MS-Office to Linux will send two messages: "We trust Linux enough to put our flagship products on it" (what other software does Microsoft ship Linux versions of? I can only think of the FrontPage extensions); and "There is enough Linux on the desktop and it's going to be there for long enough to make porting MS-Office to it profitable to us despite the political effects of admitting defeat."
But they will be too late by then. They'll be fighting OpenOffice.org - which is improving faster than MS-Office is and priced very attractively - on its home territory; to say nothing of KOffice (likewise) and "lite" office components like AbiWord and Gnumeric.
Linus didn't say that he'd use MS-Office for Linux, just that he'd be happy to see it. (-:
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Microsoft bought Connectix for their emulation layer on x86. They're in the middle of building a new product to compete with VMWare installations using the Connectix Windows emulator to go along with a new embedded version of XP. It's currently called Typhon right now (Typhon was the 100 headed monster who was supposed to kill Zeus, and is supposed to be the source of lava from Mt Etna).
The Macintosh version of VPC might be maintained for a minof update or two, but then disappear under the guise of "not cost effective to continue development". Damn shame too, it was really starting to work well unde OSX.