hypothetical: what if annoyed microsoft stops IE & office development? ideas??
looking ahead, let's say apple is really hitting on all cylinders.... the new imac is a hit, the new powermacs are selling well, OSX continues to gain ground, developers are coming back in droves, quicktime 6 w/MPEG4 is making major inroads against real and WMP and apple's marketshare starts to climb again:
1) how can apple protect itself against microsoft if they decide OSX is a threat and respond by slowing or stalling development of IE and office?
2) what apps exist that could be upgraded or polished to take the place of IE and office?
3) what do you think apple's response should be? should they actively support 3rd party apps? should they acquire these companies now? should they quietly try in-house development on a new browser and office suite?
ideas....?
[ 01-12-2002: Message edited by: koffedrnkr ]</p>
1) how can apple protect itself against microsoft if they decide OSX is a threat and respond by slowing or stalling development of IE and office?
2) what apps exist that could be upgraded or polished to take the place of IE and office?
3) what do you think apple's response should be? should they actively support 3rd party apps? should they acquire these companies now? should they quietly try in-house development on a new browser and office suite?
ideas....?
[ 01-12-2002: Message edited by: koffedrnkr ]</p>
Comments
---www.apple.com/myths
sounds friendly, doesn't it? microsoft only promised to make mac products through this year. i agree the MBU has done an excellent job and they're profitable...but if unix developers and users start embracing OSX, apple may quickly become a bigger target and they'd be compelled to do something....something besides ripping OSX off, of course ; )
What else could they do, really?
That having been said, MacBU isn't going away.
SdC
Or they could just do what they did with Snapz Pro X and license a whole bunch of copies of OmniWeb and have them be the default browser.
I honestly don't think it would matter a whole lot if Microsoft dropped Mac support.
However, it won't happen. Even Microsoft is strictly a profit-seeking company. As long as the MBU stays mostly profitable, they will continue to exist. Holding grudges in business is a Bad Idea.
And besides, if Microsoft DID kill Apple off, who would be left for them to copy?
-Ender
<strong>Rename Appleworks to Microsoftt Offfice and continue on like nothing happened. And I'm sure Apple could whip together a nice browser in very little time. And they've already got huge support for Java 2, so that would be one less thing to worry about when making their browser.
Or they could just do what they did with Snapz Pro X and license a whole bunch of copies of OmniWeb and have them be the default browser.</strong><hr></blockquote>
MWAAAA HAHAHAHAHAA!!!
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Man, you're funny. That gave me a good laugh.
Stopping Office dev would land them an anti-trust trial, again.
There is no risk for all of that to happen. Apple could, however, by year's end, start aiming its marketting directly at Wintel users etc. again, once the agreement is out. They could also develop a web browser, since they're not bound not to anymore. I've also got a feeling OmniWeb could be default by year's end on new Macs...