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With Bill Gates’ departure from his everyday role at Microsoft having happened over a month ago now, I thought it might be a good time to reflect on what this means for Apple’s relationship with Microsoft, and vice versa.

I think that despite Bill’s obvious place in the Windows-based world, he still has and has always had a certain affinity for the Mac platform and many of Apple’s products. Let’s not forget that Bill was so very involved in software for the original Macintosh, and agreed to form probably Apple’s single most important partnership that, in my opinion, likely saved Apple from going under in the late 90s.

So, as much as many of us who prefer the Mac like to think of Microsoft as a competitor (which they are, in a certain sense), they really have been an asset to the Mac platform for years. Bill Gates was smart in realizing that Mac users are not all necessarily anti-Microsoft, they just preferred a different computing platform. And, most of these users were so loyal to the platform, that, given the choice of switching to Windows or just living without Microsoft software on the Mac, they were going to stick with their Macs. But, most of these people would also be happy to use Microsoft software on their Macs, provided it was well done and added something positive to their Mac experience.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who I’d say is the man with the most influence within Microsoft now, has never seemed to look at things the same way. I know I could never imagine him sharing the stage with Steve Jobs at All Things D! You’ll probably remember that he laughed at the iPhone when it was released, and has generally mocked Apple…at least in the public eye. This isn’t really a surprise, as this man’s anticompetitive spirit stretches so far he will not even allow his kids to use Google. It’s safe to say he’s a little bit too cocky about how absolutely amazing Microsoft is and how nobody else is worthy of having anyone use their products.

So, I guess that my final thought is, now that Bill Gates is no longer playing a particularly active role at Microsoft and Steve Ballmer is now “the man,” so to speak, I worry a bit about what this means to Apple’s long term relationship with Microsoft. Ballmer has never been the most friendly guy in the world to those of us in the Mac community, and I just hope that Mac software development is not pushed to the back burner. If that were to happen, it would be a shame, because I like and appreciate using Microsoft Office and Messenger on my Mac, as I’m sure many others out there do, and it would really be a step backwards for Apple and Microsoft to stop taking the high road and go back to this “we’ve got to kill the other guy” mentality.

What do our readers out there think? I’m curious to know your opinion on this and what you think is in the future for Microsoft Software on the Mac (and the iPhone?)