[MW Forums]

According to a 1997 memo made public as part of a recently-settled antitrust case, Microsoft threatened to drop Office 98 development while in talks with a then-struggling Apple. more

[dbater]

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According to a 1997 memo made public as part of a recently-settled antitrust case, Microsoft threatened to drop Office 98 development while in talks with a then-struggling Apple. <a href="/news/2007/03/05/macoffice/index.php">[more]</a>

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Microsoft has always been like that! This is nothing new to me.

[jmincey]

As if we needed it, this is yet another reason to oppose monopolies in whatever industry they present themselves.
It's amazing the Microsoft would consider doing this though. In 1997, Apple was NO threat to Microsoft -- so apart from sheer brutality, what would be the point? Microsoft was making a profit from MS-Office for the Mac, even if the profit was somewhat down at that time.

[Grapho]

The point was killing Netscape by whatever means necessary. That I believe was MS motivation back then. The only thing MS got in return from Apple was allowing it to pre-install IE on every shipping Mac from their on. Now MS doesn't even have IE for the Mac. Seems pretty pointless today, but back then it might have seemed very strategic move from MS. I also believe that Apple is a bit more bold today then it was back then, and in a lot better financial position, their for, no longer scared. Office for Mac has never been entirely cross platform, nor has it had feature parity. MS intentionally cripples it to force people to use Windows, so now that Mac's can run Windows they try and make it expensive to be able to run Vista on a Mac.

[ante_em]

Wow... very interesting stuff. I just read the full memo PDF, and a few points really stick out.
First, the tone of the story fails to communicate the clear desire Wladman had to put out a good product for the Mac. And his so-called "guinea pig" suggestion was clearly just one of many ploys he was using on Gates to get him to go through with an almost ready-to-ship product. Waldman sounds like a really good exec, if there is such a thing.
And he was clearly aware of the Mac's innovative tendencies (and not just so they could be stolen) as well as a fact I wouldn't have guessed: Mac users are more intolerant, and vocal, about software design issues. (At least during the dark years, I would have figured we'd just be happy development on the platform was still happening at all.) They actually were relying on Mac users to tell them crucial feedback issues (such as app bloat) that Windows users were clearly just willing to shut up and take.
His disgust and frustration with the MS 'subs' (localized offices spread all over the world) is telling--MS has clearly gotten so bloated that it reminds me of the latter-day Roman empire, trying to keep its distant colonies in line with regional governors running their own little kingdoms on the side.
Even more interesting: He mentions that his Office for Mac development team had been "scouring" "Why I hate Mac Word"-type web sites for feedback. That's great to know!
I can't tell you how many times I've been at Macworld or SIGGRAPH and tried to talk to an Adobe person about a couple of very simple but extremely powerful features for Photoshop I'd like to request which were successfully used in an old Alias application called StudioPaint on the SGI platform... That app is long dead, but years later it has a few capabilities that Photoshop could STILL really benefit from... but the reps ALWAYS brush me off with so much indifference it's just infuriating and deeply insulting. Maybe I'll launch a web page.
Anyway, the memo is REALLY interesting. If Waldman ever leaves MS, Apple should hire him.

[jonhoyle]

You are correct that Apple was no threat to Microsoft at the time. Back in 1997, Microsoft's war was against Netscape, not Apple. The reason for threatening this back then was to blackmail Apple into making Internet Explorer the default browser on the Mac. Once Apple capitulated (which they did somewhere in the Mac OS 8.6 or 9 days), Bill Gates allowed the Mac/Office team to release.
Once Microsoft won the browser wars, they didn't care anymore what the Mac ran. Explorer began to atrophy, allowing Apple to come up with Safari. And the rest is history.

[buddhistMonkey]

@jmincey: "...apart from sheer brutality, what would be the point?"
At the time, Apple was embroiled in a lawsuit with Microsoft over QuickTime code that had appeared in Microsoft's Video for Windows. Apple threatened to sue for billions, while Microsoft threatened to pull Office for Mac. See Apple Computer v. San Francisco Canyon Co.
The $150 million "investment" was in no way a bail-out it was a monetary settlement for that lawsuit, along with the promise to keep producing Mac Office for a minimum of five years. In return, Apple agreed to install Internet Explorer as the Mac's default browser.

[wstaddon]

I wonder if MS still has the shares...

[veggiedude]

No they don't. I recall they sold the shares at a time it had doubled (a year or two later). If they had kept it until now, they'd have a fat big profit.

[Uncommon]

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First, the tone of the story fails to communicate the clear desire Wladman had to put out a good product for the Mac. And his so-called "guinea pig" suggestion was clearly just one of many ploys he was using on Gates to get him to go through with an almost ready-to-ship product. Waldman sounds like a really good exec, if there is such a thing.

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Thanks for that added insight. It's great to have a less cynical and sensationalized view of the memo.

[sdf]

Waldman's (!) on WININET.DLL not being included on Mac was amusing.

[solipsism]

Very interesting as it sheds some light on the deal the Apple/MS deal.

[Toe_MW]

Just in case you didn't have enough reason to want to tell Microsoft where they can go... this ought to do it.

[Floop1977]

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Just in case you didn't have enough reason to want to tell Microsoft where they can go... this ought to do it.

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See, I think this misses the point. Yes, Microsoft are a horrible monopoly megalithic company that sometimes does bad stuff. HOWEVER, what this email clearly shows is that the people who work in the Macintosh Business Unit at Microsoft are passionate individuals who believe in the Mac. This email actually really impressed me because I felt that this guy is fighting for the Mac, and Microsoft listened. That's got to be good news. Sometimes I question Microsoft's motives, as if they don't really want to make Mac products. I mean, Roz Ho never set my world on fire for being passionate. But maybe that just doesn't come across in interviews and presentations; but this email clearly shows a Mac fan working at Microsoft. And that makes me think maybe there is more than one; and that's pretty cool.