Microsoft Corp.’s Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) confirmed that the upcoming version of Virtual PC would not ship with Office 2004 when it is officially released next week. The new version of Virtual PC will be the first compatible version of the Windows emulator available for owners of Apple’s Power Mac G5.
“Virtual PC for Mac Version 7 will be available in the second half of 2004,” MacBU Product Manager, Jessica Sommer, said in a statement given to MacCentral. “At that time Virtual PC 7 will ship in a box by itself as well as be packaged with Office 2004 in the Office 2004 Professional Edition.”
Sommer would not further detail release dates beyond the second half of the year, but she did offer some insight into what caused the delays. Sommer said the MacBU estimated their development and testing schedule based on previous experience with Office development — the schedule turned out to be longer and more vigorous than expected.
“In addition, there is an edition of Virtual PC 7 that ships with Windows XP in a box by itself, as well as Windows XP being included in the Office 2004 Professional Edition,” said Sommer. “We are waiting for the release of Windows XP SP2 in order to offer the most recent, most secure version of Windows XP to our Virtual PC for Mac customers. Windows XP SP2 release has moved to the end of July, which has impacted our schedule as well.”
Microsoft acquired Virtual PC from Connectix in February 2003.
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