Nevertheless, analysts see strains of the old Macintosh-unfriendly Microsoft outside of the 160 employees in the Mac unit, which was formed about seven months before the announcement of the five-year pact. "The MacBU guys have as their priority Mac products," said Gartner analyst Michael Silver. "For everybody else, those products are secondary. It's another question about the organisation of Microsoft that they have some products from the MacBU but other products come from other divisions. Mac users can expect better priority from the MacBU than from other divisions." Microsoft's Windows Digital Media Division, for example, is responsible for the Macintosh version of Windows Media Player and competing features bundled into Windows XP. Microsoft completed Windows Media Player for OS X in late October, around the same time Windows XP launched. But until a broad release earlier this year, the product was available only to those people willing to pay for Office v. X. Microsoft's delay in putting the product on the Web for downloading is unusual, say some analysts, and could indicate that the company took such action for competitive reasons. "It definitely seems a little bit strange to me that they would have delayed it two months," said Directions on Microsoft analyst Matt Rosoff. "There is no question in my mind they want to focus on digital media as a major selling point of Windows XP. They may have worried that this might have taken some attention away from XP." David Caulton, product manager for Microsoft's Digital Media group, said there was nothing nefarious in the delay. The version of Windows Media Player for OS X shipping with Office focused on "intranet-focused media playback," he said. "We continually improve Windows Media Player, and before we offered a release for broader distribution, we wanted to upgrade some features to provide the best Internet media performance," Caulton said. But some analysts didn't buy that explanation. Technology Business Research's Deal described as "shrewd" Microsoft's wide-distribution delay of the Mac media player, which is more widely used by Web sites than Apple's QuickTime format. Another sign of trouble: MSN Messenger 2.1 has been shipping with Office v. X since November, but only version 2.0 is available for download. Version 2.1 supports Microsoft's .Net Alerts feature, the first deliverable in the company's .Net software-as-a-service strategy. In fact, extending .Net support to the Mac could be "crucial to the platform's survival," considering Microsoft's aggressive expansion into Web services, Rosoff said. "This clearly is not a priority for Microsoft." But MacBU's Browne argued that "the 2.0 and 2.1 versions are virtually identical," and "you basically get all the text and mobile messaging features you get with Windows Messenger. You just don't get the file transfer feature, the phone call, voice or videoconferencing feature. Those are all things we're taking a look at. Video and voice can be kind of tricky. It's not a lack of interest in providing those technologies." Schiller remained optimistic about Microsoft's Mac support but noted that broader support for open standards would solve a lot of problems. "By supporting open standards these platform problems will demise over time," he said. "We believe in open standards, like supporting MP3 or JPG in Mac OS X." Windows XP, by contrast, offers limited MP3 support. If consumers want to "rip" MP3s using Windows Media Player for XP, they have to pay extra for it. With the expiration of the pact just six months away, Rosoff is taking a cynical view, considering that Microsoft's antitrust problems are winding down and that the company believes Windows XP will further marginalise Apple. "I wouldn't be completely surprised if sometime after Microsoft's contract with Apple runs out that you see Mac Office suffering a similar kind of fate," he said. "Antitrust concerns aside, it wouldn't surprise me if they said they really don't feel like supporting the Mac anymore."
See the Software News Section for the latest headlines on everything from peer to peer clients to Office software and beyond.
Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the ZDNet news forum.
Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.
