Although many believe that Microsoft and Apple began working together as a
result of the August 1997 agreement, the relationship actually extends all
the way back to 1977, when Microsoft licensed the 6502 Basic Interpreter
to Apple. Although the two companies have competed fiercely in the
operating system market, they have cooperated on applications market,
working together throughout the years to develop products that benefit Mac
customers.
For example, Microsoft introduced MultiPlan, File and Chart when Apple
launched the Macintosh in 1984, then launched Excel and Word for the Mac a
year later. The company introduced its Office productivity suite for the
Mac in 1989, before the product was introduced on the Windows platform. In
1991, Microsoft Excel 3.0 became the first application to support Apple's
Operating System 7, and in 1992, Excel 4.0 became the first application to
support AppleScript programming technology. Microsoft has also been
developing versions of Internet Explorer and Outlook Express for the Mac
since 1996.
"I think the thing to remember is that Microsoft and Apple have been
working together for over 20 years," Waldman said. "We were never enemies.
There were parts of the companies that were in competition, but throughout
all that we still worked together to bring good products to our
customers."