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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=1794
MacBU Speaks on VirtualPC Acquisition
By Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac
March 7th 2003
Marketing director addresses VPC's future and the Apple-Microsoft relationship.
Tim McDonough, director of marketing and development at the Microsoft's Macintosh
Business Unit (MacBU), discusses the company's acquisition of Connectix's VirtualPC in
an interview with MacGeneration.
McDonough covers topics such as MS's commitment to the future development of Macintosh
software. He says that VPC will make no difference to MS's development of the next
version of its Mac Office suite for OS X, which he reveals "will offer much more than
the current version for Mac OS X."
With regard to the future of VPC, McDonough says it's too early to canvas specifics
about the application, but says the MacBU are looking at tighter integration with OS
X, and says the company will listen to feedback from VPC's users, through Mactopia, as
well as user surveys.
MacGeneration tell McDonough that almost 50% of readers surveyed said that they
thought MS would abandon VPC following the acquisition of Connectix's major assets.
McDonough responds that he finds this "amusing" [We doubt whether McDonough used the
word "amusing", but probably thought it was 'funny' - as in 'strange' or 'odd' - Ed.]
describing VPC as a good financial opportunity. McDonough also points out that MS also
hired most of the team that developed VPC, although he would not be drawn on how many
Connectix workers, precisely, would be joining the MacBU development team, stating
only that the number would be "substantial".
McDonough also dismisses suggestions that VPC will be prohibitively expensive, arguing
that because VPC represents a financial opportunity, he would not be looking to
increase its price. He also promised to look into the 80 euro (over $US80) price
differential between the US and European versions of VPC.
The MacBU marketing director also comments on Safari, saying that Apple had spoken
with MS prior to its launch of the browser. McDonough describes the Safari beta as
"excellent"
On the end of the 5-year Apple-MS agreement, McDonough is upbeat, arguing that
relations between the two companies are stronger, and that that have developed closer
linkages in software development. He says he's happy with the Apple-MS relationship
that exists at present.
In the article, MacGeneration also interview Kurt Schmucker, a vice-pr�sident at
Connectix.
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