Microsoft expanding Mac team ahead of new products
Microsoft's Mac Business Unit last week kicked off the largest hiring spree in its history as the group prepares to accelerate development of a new wave of software products for Apple users.
"The Mac BU at Microsoft is growing - we?re launching our biggest hiring initiative since the inception of MacBU eleven years ago," said Craig Eisler, General Manager of the Mac BU at Microsoft. "We are hard at work planning for products beyond Office 2008, and we are growing our team to help turn our vision into reality."
Microsoft's Mac chief didn't elaborate on exactly what those future products and directions would entail, though he did promise prospective hires the opportunity to work for the "the brightest, coolest, and most interesting business unit at Microsoft" where the "free caffeine, [...] milk and juice" will be ever flowing.
When pressed for details, a spokesperson for the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant would say only that the company expects to release new versions of Office for Mac every 2 to 3 years.
"We expect this to be the case with our next release," the spokersperson said. "We?re still the in early stages of planning and have nothing more to share at this time."
The Mac Business unit was originally conceived in the months leading up to Macworld Expo 1997 as part of a compromise between Apple and Microsoft. Under the terms of the deal, Apple agreed to bundle Internet Explorer for Mac on all the systems it sold in order to help Microsoft thwart Netscape's efforts to provide a true cross-platform browser.
In return, Microsoft agreed to pump $150 million into the then beleaguered Mac maker, cease threatening to delay Office 98 for Mac, and commit to developing new versions of the productivity suite for Apple customers for the next five years.
The pact helped the Mac BU quickly gain status as the second largest Mac software developer behind Apple. Although it would inevitably relinquish that title in the years that followed, the group today still bills itself as "one of the largest dedicated Mac software development organizations outside of Apple."
It's believed the Mac BU currently employs around 180 people whose products -- including Office, Messenger, and Remote Desktop Client -- combine to generate over $350 million in revenues each year.
Readers interested in additional history of Microsoft's relationship with Apple, as well as the origins of Office for Mac, are encouraged to check out AppleInsider's recent six-part series: Road to Office 2008.
"The Mac BU at Microsoft is growing - we?re launching our biggest hiring initiative since the inception of MacBU eleven years ago," said Craig Eisler, General Manager of the Mac BU at Microsoft. "We are hard at work planning for products beyond Office 2008, and we are growing our team to help turn our vision into reality."
Microsoft's Mac chief didn't elaborate on exactly what those future products and directions would entail, though he did promise prospective hires the opportunity to work for the "the brightest, coolest, and most interesting business unit at Microsoft" where the "free caffeine, [...] milk and juice" will be ever flowing.
When pressed for details, a spokesperson for the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant would say only that the company expects to release new versions of Office for Mac every 2 to 3 years.
"We expect this to be the case with our next release," the spokersperson said. "We?re still the in early stages of planning and have nothing more to share at this time."
The Mac Business unit was originally conceived in the months leading up to Macworld Expo 1997 as part of a compromise between Apple and Microsoft. Under the terms of the deal, Apple agreed to bundle Internet Explorer for Mac on all the systems it sold in order to help Microsoft thwart Netscape's efforts to provide a true cross-platform browser.
In return, Microsoft agreed to pump $150 million into the then beleaguered Mac maker, cease threatening to delay Office 98 for Mac, and commit to developing new versions of the productivity suite for Apple customers for the next five years.
The pact helped the Mac BU quickly gain status as the second largest Mac software developer behind Apple. Although it would inevitably relinquish that title in the years that followed, the group today still bills itself as "one of the largest dedicated Mac software development organizations outside of Apple."
It's believed the Mac BU currently employs around 180 people whose products -- including Office, Messenger, and Remote Desktop Client -- combine to generate over $350 million in revenues each year.
Readers interested in additional history of Microsoft's relationship with Apple, as well as the origins of Office for Mac, are encouraged to check out AppleInsider's recent six-part series: Road to Office 2008.
Comments
where the "free caffeine, [...] milk and juice" will be ever flowing.
I remember when I was in my 20s and used to think that sort of thing was cool. I'm SO glad I'm grown up now, rich, and don't give a shit about working 80 hours a week at a dot com with free soda and foosball outside my office. Get a life, people...
Microsoft's Mac chief didn't elaborate on exactly what those future products and directions would entail, though he did promise prospective hires the opportunity to work for the "the brightest, coolest, and most interesting business unit at Microsoft" where the "free caffeine, [...] milk and juice" will be ever flowing.
I remember when I was in my 20s and used to think that sort of thing was cool. I'm SO glad I'm grown up now, rich, and don't give a shit about working 80 hours a week at a dot com with free soda and foosball outside my office. Get a life, people...
So, it was ok for you to think it was cool when you were in your twenties (aparently on your way to getting rich) but it is now something that only losers have interest in?
A little too cool for ourselves, are we?
Money for Mac?
Publisher for Mac?
+ all of apple's new ms exchange integration might lead to more revenue possibilities for ms
actually i'd like apple to offer a mobile me for the soho market - a 10-20 license version that can be used with your own domain - and then make headway into the exchange arena
Sorry to go off topic, but I had to comment on your tagline - I love it. Please address these if you haven't before:
your/you're
there/their
then/than
here/hear
to/too
how about giving us feature parity with the windows version of messenger? i'm guessing they hired a bunch more people who are experts in bloat for office...
Amen, brother!
Cross-platform video chatting in MSN needs to be implemented. Not being able to video or audio chat with folks on a Windows PC after all these years is simply unacceptable.
My two cents.
Cross-platform video chatting in MSN needs to be implemented. Not being able to video or audio chat with folks on a Windows PC after all these years is simply unacceptable.
Yes very true. Although I was very pleased to finally be able to chat with my PC friends using iChat on the Mac and AIM on the PC. We do so all the time now. Because of this many have stopped using MSN on their PCs and switched to AIM.
It's believed the Mac BU currently employs around 180 people
Including cleaning and kitchen staff no doubt.
At the end of the day, no mater how many people MBU hire, they work for Microsoft and if they make the Mac version of Office better than or even equal to the Windows version, they are in trouble because it gives people fewer reasons to use Windows.
The fewer people using Windows, the fewer developers making Windows-only software. Gradually the Microsoft monopoly erodes. They just won't allow that to happen. Our experience on the Mac with Office will be painful as it has been and if it won't always be the case, at least for the next 2-3 years.
Nothing more nothing less...
Hello, I'm the 1990s, I'm dead. Please move on without me.
It's for the Microsoft Expression bundle and Silverlight.
Nothing more nothing less...
Microsoft Expression and Silverlight aren't in MacBU. Those are in other divisions of Microsoft. The currently-released applications from MacBU are Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Entourage), Messenger, and Remote Desktop Connection.
Regards,
Nadyne.
Nadyne Mielke | user experience researcher
Microsoft Corporation | Macintosh Business Unit
http://blogs.msdn.com/nadyne/
The pact helped the Mac BU quickly gain status as the second largest Mac software developer behind Apple. Although it would inevitably relinquish that title in the years that followed, the group today still bills itself as "one of the largest dedicated Mac software development organizations outside of Apple."
So, who took over as the next largest Mac software developer? And is this measured in product sales or number of developers?
Including cleaning and kitchen staff no doubt.
At the end of the day, no mater how many people MBU hire, they work for Microsoft and if they make the Mac version of Office better than or even equal to the Windows version, they are in trouble because it gives people fewer reasons to use Windows.
The fewer people using Windows, the fewer developers making Windows-only software. Gradually the Microsoft monopoly erodes. They just won't allow that to happen. Our experience on the Mac with Office will be painful as it has been and if it won't always be the case, at least for the next 2-3 years.
Actually, Microsoft probably could make more money on the Mac than Windows, if they actually started porting more of their games and software to the Mac. Alot of sales of Halo 2, Halo 3, etc. could be made on the Mac. They probably make more money on MS-Office for the Mac than MS-Office for the PC, not in total sales, but per computer.