Filed under: Software, WWDC, Universal Binary
Microsoft axes Virtual PC for Mac
Virtual PC will never be Universal, it turns out that Microsoft decided to kill the Mac version of Virtual PC instead. Macworld reports that while there will be no Universal version current customers will still receive support.This announcement comes hot on the heels of the news that VMware will be coming to the Mac. It always pains me when a large company decides to stop development on a Mac product but I can see where Microsoft is coming from on this one, they just want you to buy a license for Windows and who cares if you are running Boot Camp, Parallels, or VMware.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tofu said 6:45PM on 8-07-2006
Yeah WHO CARES that you are still running PowerPC macs... *sniff*
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Adam said 7:04PM on 8-07-2006
Or you could just use a pirated version of Windows- which will annoy those crazy fellows in Redmond. I tell you what actually, why don’t we just bully the companies who haven’t made a copy of whatever software we need, (my case Adobe Audition), available on OSX? That was I can ditch Windows forever, and bask in the golden love of Apple.
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Paul Wilde said 7:08PM on 8-07-2006
Good. Now they can focus on making MSN Messenger less sucky.
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Ralph Daily said 7:13PM on 8-07-2006
The much bigger issue is dropping VB scripting support for mac, which was in the same press release. So much for compatibility. The VPC loss is not a big deal other than pricing, Microsoft bundled Windows at a reduced price in VPC. ralph
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Laurent Giroud said 8:18PM on 8-07-2006
I suppose they already sell you a windows license along with Virtual PC, so that might not the reason why they decided to stop maintaining it.
I'd rather hypothetize that they are trying to shut the gates (no pun intended) before "standard" windows users have a chance to switch.
Those users don't know anything about VMWare or Parallels (I know first hand lots of PC Windows developers who have never heard of VMWare) and Microsoft might (rightfully) assume they might be rebutted by dual boot solutions such as BootCamp.
So by removing the most obvious and safe (because it's Microsoft's) way to run Windows on a Mac, MS might be hoping that a big percentage of their user base won't be tempted to switch too fast.
Remember that Vista will be out in Fall 2007, MS is certainly hoping they will buy a new Vista license, preferably on a real PC.
If these users have an obvious and safe way to run Windows on their new Leopard Mac without dual booting and without buying Vista, that would be quite a blow to MS.
MS clearly does not want this to happen, and shutting Virtual PC might be one way to avoid it.
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Bob said 8:25PM on 8-07-2006
You do realise MS only bought VPC to help out their guys that were / are trying to emulate xbox games (intel chip) on the xbox 360 (PPC chip)?
Either way, they did a crap job!
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Ian B said 9:29PM on 8-07-2006
Microsoft is just pulling everything they can (ex. IE, WMP, and now Virtual Desktop) because they are finally scared of the real computer, the mac.
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Richard said 11:16PM on 8-07-2006
Good! Microsoft's products for the Mac are horrible anyway. Personally, I wish they'd just stop producting ALL of their Mac products.
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henrrrik said 4:41AM on 8-08-2006
Bob,
MS bought Connectix mainly because they needed a virtualization solution for Windows Server.
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Ross said 4:59AM on 8-08-2006
Hand up all who are suprised by this news, as soon as microsoft bought vpc you knew it was dead.
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Todd said 6:12AM on 8-08-2006
Well I see the old my mac is better than your PC has flared up again. I happen to use both platforms and can say while windows does have many faults, PC's have their place in the world. Apple to increase market share should make themselves a little more affordable. I work in a big box electronics retailer and see first hand people would love to buy Apple products but once they see the price they head over to the PC's. I personally believe Apple is superior but their pricing leaves alot to be desired.
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Stuart said 6:40AM on 8-08-2006
How much did it cost MS to buy it?
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Tony said 1:20PM on 8-09-2006
I am seeing a lot of complaining about MS software here. If you wanted to run MS software you should have bought a Win PC. You made you Apple bed, now lay down in it and keep quite. "Power PC", and "real computer". If you truly believe that then stick around for awhile, soon your "MAC" will have no resemblance to and Apple at all. They are already running Pentium, soon AMD processors. RDRAM is soon to go. Some of the few great things about the Apple PC are dead or dieing. Soon you will all just be the lovers of a different OS, and we will all be using the same hardware.
MAC - RIP.
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