RANDOM APPLE MEMORY
Mac and Microsoft – the unlikely alliance
Obviously, it’s easy to think of Apple and Microsoft as ‘enemies’ – they are certainly competitors in many fields and there have been some high-profile clashes. Look beyond the cliché though and the two companies have periodically come together to form mutually beneficial partnerships.
A perfect example of this is Word, and the wider Microsoft Office suite. On 24 January 1984, the two companies announced Macintosh computers would run, amongst other things, Word. Macintosh Word was launched a year later. Adapted directly from Word for DOS, it was the first graphical version of the software.
Other related software followed for the Mac – Spreadsheet tool Excel in September 1985, and presentation software PowerPoint in April 1987. It all added to the functionality of the newcomer machines as Apple fought to win over business users – IBM was still meant to be the real enemy in those days. By the 1990s, Microsoft was developing original code for Word for Macintosh.
Over the years, Mac users have continued to get new features from the rebranded Office suite ahead of Windows users. Indeed, Microsoft Office itself arrived on the Mac before it was available on Windows – 19 June 1989. The software suite included Word 4.00, Excel 2.20, PowerPoint 2.01, and Mail 1.37.
Furthermore, Microsoft Office was an integral part of the 1997 deal which saw a
Bill Gates’ investment of $150 million save Apple from bankruptcy – all litigation was dropped (Apple agreed to withdraw a lawsuit accusing Microsoft of copying its operating system), and the Cupertino company was given access to Microsoft Office.
Even with the presence of Apple’s own suite of Office-like products, Microsoft 365 remains available via the App Store (from £5.99 per month), keeping the link between Apple devices and core Microsoft software as strong as ever.
ABOUT CHARLOTTE HENRY
Charlotte Henry is a journalist and author covering media and technology. Based in London, she is the UK Associate of The Mac Observer, hosts its Media+ podcast, and has written for various other outlets. Her first book, Not Buying It, was published in 2019.