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FEBRUARY 26, 2003 BYTE OF THE APPLE By Alex Salkever An Open-Source Opening for Apple With Microsoft buying Virtual PC, which lets Macs run Windows wares, Apple's independence may well rest with programs such as Bochs
Take the case of TekServe. The New York City outfit sells Apple (AAPL ) hardware and software, and offers consulting for companies using Macs. "We're an all-Apple shop," says Matthew Cohen, one of three partners in the venture. TekServe has become a mainstay in the Mac-heavy media community of midtown Manhattan. And by many accounts, it's one of the biggest independent resellers of Apple equipment around. STRADDLING THE FENCE. Still, even TekServe needs Windows sometimes. Cohen sells Sony displays. To do so, he must run a special inventory and sales software program distributed to all Sony dealers called SNAP. It runs only on Windows. So Cohen relies on VirtualPC. So do about 1 million other Mac users who need to straddle the operating-system fence from time to time. Cohen reacted with some trepidation when I told him about the Connectix deal, which both Apple and Microsoft have been painting as a cause for celebration. Tim McDonough, marketing director at Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit, says Virtual PC has a bright future in Redmond (see BW Online, 2/21/03, "A "Perfect Marriage" for Microsoft?"). Apple software chief Ron Okamoto served up a canned quote saying he was glad Virtual PC was in such good hands. Perhaps. But if I were a fly on the wall at Apple HQ right now, I suspect that it would be easy to confirm that the folks at One Infinite Loop are none too pleased. Steve Jobs has never liked the fact that Apple needs Microsoft more than vice versa. Redmond's deal with Connectix amplifies that point: Now, Microsoft controls two things vital to Apple's survival. The first, Microsoft Office, allows Mac users to converse with the rest of the computing world in the most popular file formats -- Word and PowerPoint documents. OPEN-SOURCE POWER. The second piece, Virtual PC, may prove even more valuable than the first. And that's where Apple needs to think out of the Bochs. No, that's not a typo. Bochs is open-source software that functions as a Windows emulator on Unix machines. Apple needs to leverage the power of open source to win much-needed independence from Redmond. Here's why. Apple is a hairbreadth away from creating a suite of products that could replace much of what Office does. I've been using Apple Works as my primary word processor for some time now, and it does just fine for what I need -- not elegant or pretty, but you can count words, check spelling, and perform most basic formatting tasks. Apple's new mail client eliminated the need to use Microsoft Entourage for individual and small-business users. And presentation application Keynote covers another of the essential functions that would formerly have required purchasing Office v.X -- it can read PowerPoint files. No, it doesn't replace PowerPoint proper if, say, I'm at a meeting and need to run a presentation on someone else's machine. But it's still pretty close to covering the main tasks Mac users need. As Apple improves its calendar and address-book applications, my decision to run my life on Mac software looks less quixotic. No offense to Redmond -- I know that Office v.X is a strong product, but I'm cheap.
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