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Those crazy MacHeisters are at it again, and this time the deal is even harder to resist.
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New Microsoft Stuff Popping Up on Apple Hardware of All Kinds

10:06 pm, January 11th, 2009, Pete Mortensen

microsofttag.pngMicrosoft often gets a hard time from true Mac people — usually with good reason. For decades, MS apps for the Mac have been less full-featured than their Windows equivalents, and it’s only been in the last eight years that the Mac Business Unit has had the support to even try to make a decent version of MS Office.

The Redmond juggernaut is now trying harder, and they’ve really been speeding up their efforts in the last month or so. First, Microsoft’s beta program Songsmith was promoted in an unintentionally hilarious ad running on a MacBook Pro running VIsta, then MS released its first iPhone app, Seadragon. And today, MS has released a second iPhone app, Tag, which uses the iPhone’s camera to read special barcodes in order to access exclusive content off of posters, magazine ads, and more.

All that, and the beta version of the Hail Mary of operating system known as Windows 7 has been successfully installed on a Mac using Boot Camp, a positive sign for dial-booting Mac users for years to come. Granted, that one is more about MS not explicitly making Windows incompatible with Apple’s Intel-based platforms, but it’s still mighty handy.

What do you think? Has Microsoft finally made peace with the fact that it can’t win over true Mac lovers and started, you know, realizing that they can still make software we might want to use? Or is it all a trap?

Image via TechFlash.

Tag via My iPhone Place

Windows 7 Dual Boot from Our Coffee Stops via Engadget.

Posted by Pete Mortensen in News, Software, iPhone | Comment on this article

About the author

Petemortensen

Pete Mortensen is the communications lead for growth strategy firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete's particular Apple avocations are both around design--interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!

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2 comments

    It’s a trap. They’re pretty delusional if they think this will make microsoft look nicer in the eyes of apple users.

    John Lambo, on January 12th, 2009 at 4:53 am

    No. Microsoft has acquired a grandmotherly image for me and has earned my total disinterest. I don’t get passionate about Microsoft, because that is just a waste of good emotion. I just yawn. Microsoft is trying very hard to be cool, but the fact that it even has to try makes it come across as pathetic. I’m moving on. For me it is “Microwho? Are they still around?”

    Harvey, on January 12th, 2009 at 6:09 am