Apple hops further into bed with Microsoft

The era of Microsoft/Apple glasnost expanded further this week when thetwo companies announced that they are now collaborating on Microsoftproducts for the Macintosh. This comes less than a year after Microsoft's$150 million investment in Apple--a deal that caused collective shiversdown the spines of most Mac faithful. In their latest team effort, Appleand Microsoft will create a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) for the Macintoshand work jointly on future Macintosh versions of Office, Internet Explorer,and unspecified development tools. Furthermore, Microsoft will help Appledevelop future versions of the Mac OS, beginning with the next release,which will be version 8.2 or 8.5.

In the past year, Microsoft has created an Apple development house in theSan Francisco Bay Area dubbed "MS-Bay" that is in constant contact withApple's own developers. In addition to the 70+ Macintosh developers atMS-Bay, Microsoft also has over 100 developers dedicated to Mac Office inRedmond, Washington.

"We want to show our customers that the companies are working together," said Rick Holzli, Apple's manager of worldwide developer relations. "Thispartnership is positive, and it is creating great solutions for the Mac.