Is Microsoft dropping Windows Media Player for the Mac? Though it has made no announcements on it, Betanews.com thinks it is.

WMP on the Mac still uses codec 9, anything in codec 10 doesn’t work, the google CES keynote for example doesn’t play — or at least won’t on my PowerBook.

No sign of version 10 for OS X, and 11 is in Beta for Windows, see Vista. Is Microsoft slowly pulling away from Apple? The stronger Apple gets the more obstacles Microsoft will put in the way of switchers.

Outdated MSN Messenger and Media player. Would Microsoft ditch Office on the Mac? Not for at least another five years, Microsoft commited to Apple again at the 2006 MacWorld. Good job too, iWork is not up to replacing MS Office and Open Office certainly isn’t — although it might be by version 2.

Apple and Microsoft’s Macintosh Business Unit have signed a formal “commitment agreement” deeming Microsoft to continue developing Office for Mac for at least another five years, Microsoft said.

“We wanted to comfort our customers around the world that we are in this for the long term,” said Scott Erickson, the Mac BU’s director of product management and marketing. “It makes sense to really publicly show our commitment to the platform.”

Microsoft’s Mac site is:
[www.microsoft.com/mac/default.aspx]

WMP for Mac is at:
[www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=windowsmedia]

The new codecs reccommeded for OS X users are available from: [www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/flip4mac.mspx]

Reports also surfaced Wednesday that Flip4Mac’s application was unstable with the latest version of QuickTime, version 7.0.4. Crashes of QuickTime and Safari were reported on numerous Web sites. The company told users that it is working on a fix for the issue and hopes to have it released by Thursday.

Microsoft had not responded to a request for comment by press time.

BetaNews | Microsoft Quietly Ditches WMP for Mac

This has now reached Slashdot, [apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/13/075230]

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