March 7th, 2007
Apple TV and Mac Office
According to this post over on Apple Insider (found by way of Engadget), Apple might have some gaming plans for their new Apple TV set-top box device. The evidence is mildly forensic, based as it is on some message strings from a localization table included with the latest release of iTunes, but is likely to be true, as what else are prompts like "Are you sure you want to sync games?" supposed to mean?
Besides, it only makes sense. Apple clearly wants to leverage its iPod and digital media success into new markets, and the most logical move would be into the living room. To do that, however, Apple needs something that exists in the living room, ideally attached to a TV set. Microsoft already has lots of options there, from the XBOX 360 through a growing web of Media Center Extender devices. Enter from stage left the Apple TV product, which serves as beachhead for Apple's burgeoning living room play.
Of course, sometimes it takes a bit of a shove to get people over the edge from standalone electronics components into a software mediated video experience. As Microsoft (and Sony) have discovered, consumer desire to play games on their TV set does a lot of shoving. Granted, having a device hooked up to the TV makes gaming possible, and from a chicken and egg standpoint, one could argue that Apple's move is merely opportunistic. Apple, however, doesn't have a game console, and is going up against a competitor that does. Makes sense to have some gaming capability, even if they aren't going to be on the same order of magnitude as XBOX games.
On a separate note, in the aftermath of the now settled Iowa antitrust court case, people are poring over documents entered into the public record that were gleaned as part of discovery in the case. One of those documents is a late-90s memo from a Mac Business Unit Chief, to which Bill Gates responded, detailing the state of affairs in development of Office for the Mac, and lamenting the lack of attention Microsoft was giving to the product. Of course, pundits turned it into articles with titles like "Microsoft Considered Dumping Mac Office to Hurt Apple, even though it seems pretty clear from the Mac Business Unit Chief's comments that they considered it because Mac sales were slumping, and Microsoft was more interested in pushing products related to its flagship Windows franchise. Granted, Gates did view it as a useful negotiation bullet point, but that's because it IS a useful negotiation point.
It did make me wonder about the subtext in such articles, however. Why should Microsoft be OBLIGATED to continue development of Mac Office? What if they simply didn't want to? Microsoft might be subjects to new bits of regulation as part of various court rulings against them and their importance in the software market, but does that include forcing companies to build products they have no interest in building?
While I don't think Microsoft should be obligated to continue with Mac Office, that doesn't mean I don't think development of a Mac Office isn't a good idea. One thing clear from the memo is that Microsoft learns a lot about porting Windows products to other platforms - such as the Mac - by going through the process of building a Mac Office. If building cross-platform technology is important to Microsoft's future - and given the development of technologies like WPFe (which I think is merely the tip of the iceberg, as it were), I think it is - then having teams experienced in writing products for those other platforms is essential.
In other words, there are plenty of practical reasons for Microsoft to continue to support the Mac platform, particularly now that Apple is making stronger strides with its media products. If you aren't working to acquire necessary information now (such as details of Mac programming), you won't have it when its truly necessary.
John Carroll has delivered his opinion on ZDNet since the last millennium. Since May 2008, he is no longer a Microsoft employee. He is currently working at a unified messaging-related startup. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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