No Virtual PC for Intel-based Macs

Techie writes "Microsoft has decided not to move forward with a version of Virtual PC for the Intel-based Macintosh. The amount of time it would take to bring Virtual PC to Intel would be roughly equivalent to creating the product from scratch, Scott Erickson, director of product management and marketing for Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit, told eWEEK. The article says Microsoft will also be discontinuing support of Visual Basic scripting in the next version of Office for Mac." From the article: "As cross-platform compatibility remains a top priority at Microsoft, Erickson says that as the company develops the next version of Office for Mac, the files will continue to be compatible across platforms, including with the 2007 Microsoft Office System for Windows. VB macros within files will not be accessible and users will not be able to view or modify them. However, the files themselves can be edited without affecting or changing the macros. "

Comments

Removal of VB macro's

[r2q2]

That has to be one of the BEST features ever that Microsoft could do for macintosh.

Timing?

[Suffering Bastard]

I wonder how significant this is, being timed with WWDC. Maybe MS heard about all the "Hasta La Vista, Vista" jokes and now they're firing back. (Balmer thought it a better idea than Gates's "Hasta La....Apple.....APPLE!!" comeback quip)

Re:VPC isn't the only virtualization solution

[varmittang]

Yep, hell froze over and MS decided not to continue to make a piece of software.

In other news, Paris Hilton is not having sex for a year! Oh my, I just saw a pig fly. I'm going back inside now.

Correction

[peipas]

The amount of time it would take to bring Virtual PC to Intel would be roughly equivalent to creating [a Microsoft] product from scratch...

Or, in other words, 6+ years. I don't blame them!

Do what now?

[Rob T Firefly]

That must be a typo. Never fear, I shall fix it for them..

"As attempting to completely bork cross-platform compatibility remains a top priority at Microsoft.."

newspeak

[Eivind]

VB macros within files will not be accessible and users will not be able to view or modify them. However, the files themselves can be edited without affecting or changing the macros.

This must be some new and novel definition of "compatible" of which I was previously unaware.

MS-Office --- the office-suite that is not even compatible to the same version of itself .

Hilarious.

Cross-Platform Compatibility?

[Gleng]

"As cross-platform compatibility remains a top priority at Microsoft"

Great. Now I have to spend the next 20 minutes scraping coffee and lung material off of my keyboard and monitor.

This is a feature, yes?

[jyoull]

"VB macros within files will not be accessible and users will not be able to view or modify them. However, the files themselves can be edited without affecting or changing the macros."

This sounds like a huge benefit! Maybe it'll encourage a few more people to switch, to improve the security of their Office environment. I'm not an Apple fanboy, but kudos to Microsoft for this security unhancement. Perhaps if this goes well, they'll similarly unhance the Windows version of Office.