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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.
Well, of course Microcrap doesn't want FWB to make a Windows emulator. Why would they, M$ already makes one? We don't need TWO Winblows emulators, right? That would just be downright GREEDY.
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!
I mean, if their monopoly power and deep pockets and hordes of lawyers don't stop an opposing product, it might actually have to succeed on it's MERITS! MS always wants to avoid that at all costs.
"Common Sense Ain't" -Unknown
It could be something as simple as a product naming/trademark issue.
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
Whoa, what's going on here? Seriously, this is some fishy stuff.
Microsoft is doing one of the following:
1.) Trying to profit from Windows emulation on MacOS by buying the most popular product, then eliminating the competition. I suppose this is a good idea, as it sells Windows licenses.
2.) Trying to eliminate Windows emulation entirely because it's a threat. After all, it's a good reason for people to use Macs-- running Windows software means no inhibitions about switching. Microsoft could eliminate Windows emulation by acquiring the most popular software product (VirtualPC), suing other emulation software companies for infringing on Windows copyrights, and then discontinuing the most popular product.
As to which is the case, I haven't a clue. Perhaps other Slashdotters will have opinions in this regard.
What the RealPC guy doesn't tell you is that he SOLD his business to Connectix a few years ago. This is how Connectix did the product for Mac. VitrualPC is nothing but the evolution of RealPC.
When Connectix PURCHASED the IP from RealPC, the contract was saying that RealPC would not be able to sell anymore this product, as it was not theirs anymore. Now that MS bought Connectix's IP, VirtualPC that is, that idiot RealPC guy THOUGHT that he would be able to re-sell his own app!! What a loonie! He signed for the contract that now MS is owning.
MS only does what they should do here, as they own that IP. RealPC seems to have its head on its a$$.
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
It could be that Microsoft plans on killing VPC, and doesn't want there to be any way to run Windows on Mac.
Q: Yes, but why?
A: Palladium.
Microsoft is really into this whole Palladium thing. It provides a way to secure future revenue streams once Windows' competitors pass it by on the technology front. They just need to provide a 'secure platform' and convince/acquire the big media players into only allowing their IP to be available on Palladium.
Palladium relies on trusted hardware. If you have a bunch of trusted 'hardware' out there running emulated in software it's suddenly much easier to peek at. This is bad for media sales, and Microsoft revenue.
So, might as well cut off any such efforts before they get off the ground. Who do you think has more lawyers, FWB or Microsoft? My vocabulary word of the day today is barratry.
From this perspective, the iTunes Music Store is the biggest poke in the eye Steve could have stuck to Bill, and puts them on the defensive like nothing else could. The iTunes Music Store is actually strategically necessary for the future viability of Mac OS X and Apple. It's real purpose is to preempt Palladium. I have to admit, that's pretty frikkin clever.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Virtual PC software emulates commodity PC hardware. It does not emulate Windows. If you choose to use Windows under Virtual PC, you use a bona fide Microsoft Windows installer CD. Alternatively, you're free to install x86 Linux under Virtual PC as well.
If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
....that OpenOffice made this a non-issue. Yes, I used to run SoftWindows, etc. but never on a regular basis, and not in the last two or three years. Now that OO is available, I can run it on my Mac and/or Linux boxen and be happy.
No need to check pricing for MS emulator cloaking devices.
Fuck Microsoft.
(I love it. Two of my favorite words and I get a chance to use them!!!) :) LOL
Microsoft is one of your favorite words ? Ack !
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
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
Orange Micro definitely used to have one. Apple's version, I beleive was the DOS Compatibility Card. It was for the old NuBus Macs like the PowerMac 6100/66. Way old school. Worked pretty well...for DOS anyway. I think you could actually run Windows 3.11 on it as well. But it's been so long...
Mr. Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time is enemy action.
Apple did make these, and I actually have one that is about four years old with a Pentium 166 on it. I call it the "PC on a Stick" because it has a chipset, processor, sound card, memory controller, DIMM slot, and other features of a x86 PC all on one big honkin' PCI card. They licensed the design to Orange Micro, who made the OrangePC and ran with it, until the product went *poof*
Here's the reason why they never went anywhere:
Why would you buy a $1800 Mac, and then buy a $500 PC Compatibility Card and share the same hard disk, etc. when you can spend $500 on an actual PC and get a different hard disk, more memory (a la more DIMM slots that one), faster processor speed (you could actually support the heat sink, as it was gravity-friendly to put it on the board, rather than hanging off a PCI card, not to mention it could be bigger for more dissapation etc.), it was upgradeable through it's own PCI bus, had it's own IDE for adding more drives, didn't use proprietary wierd drivers in your OS to interface with the Apple hardware, et. al.
If anyone ever tried to get Windows NT 4 onto one of these back in the day, they would know exactly what I am talking about. It would instantly bluescreen saying that the mass storage was inaccessible, because I'll be damned if Windows NT didn't have drivers for that bastardization of a PC inside a Mac. Go figure.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
I'm sorry but it really irks me to see writers such as timothy say "Well, now it looks like Microsoft is trying to kill that program as well."
As well as what? Look, I worked as the dev lead for Virtual PC at Connectix, and came to Microsoft 5 years ago. I work at MacBU only a few offices away from the Virtual PC development team. Microsoft has repeatedly stated that they intend to continue development of Virtual PC for Macintosh, and no matter how many times people here repeat that Microsoft is trying to kill it, it just isn't so. Microsoft likes Virtual PC for Mac, and Microsoft *loves* Virtual PC for Windows. Yeah, I know, I know, slashdot people won't believe it until they see the first Microsoft-branded VPC upgrade shipping, and try it out, and say "wow", but for those of you with a little bit of faith, the future of emulation on the Mac is quite rosy.
jbx
(sig) The last bug isn't fixed until the last user is dead. (/sig)