By Eydie Cubarrubia

Cooperation between Microsoft and Apple may not have been all it was cracked up to be if Windows Vista is not allowed on Macs in all its forms, an analyst said Thursday.

The licensing agreement for Vista, Microsoft’s newest operating system, bans using the consumer versions of Vista on so-called virtualization engines, which are able to run a non-Apple operating system on Mac computers. Microsoft does allow the more expensive commercial versions of Vista onto virtualization programs.

The move is surprising because despite their rivalry, Microsoft and Apple have historically cooperated regarding Microsoft software running on Macs (see Macworld Brings Enemies Closer). Microsoft has an Office for Mac version of its suite of business application that even includes a spreadsheet— something even Apple’s iWork suite doesn’t have. Looks like the truce wasn’t meant to last.

“Yes, they cooperate at some level. But at a deeper level they’re more competitive with each other,” said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who covers both Microsoft and Apple.

Microsoft shares fell $0.03 to $29.32 in recent trading. Apple shares were up $0.17 to $89.37.

Money seems likely to be at the root of Microsoft’s decision. The Home Basic version of Vista costs $199, and the Home Premium edition is priced at $239. In contrast, the Business version sells for $299 and the Ultimate edition costs $399.

“So they’re basically raising the price of putting Vista onto Macs by $100,” Mr. Munster said. “They’re basically trying to do two things: milk the high-margin Apple customers and have a higher barrier of entry to Vista.”

Some users report that they are able to run Vista on Apple machines with the help of Apple’s Boot Camp software, which was originally written for Windows XP, but neither Apple nor Microsoft seems to claim that Boot Camp fully supports Vista.

Customer Protection

Microsoft said it’s just trying to keep customers safe.

“For production machines and everyday usage, virtualization is a fairly new technology, and one that we think is not yet mature enough from a security perspective for broad consumer adoption,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Microsoft Vista team member Scott Woodgate added in an Associated Press report that virtualization engines can allow malicious programs to run alongside an operating system. Users of the commercial version of Vista may be more technically savvy than home users, or at least have an IT expert around who can help with such problems, Mr. Woodgate said.

But Mr. Munster said business users aren’t necessarily more knowledgeable about technology. In addition, the savviest users may prefer to use cheaper versions of Vista.

Besides money, another issue could be the low likelihood of Mac users wanting Vista anyway.

Based on Mr. Munster’s discussions with Apple executives, he said, “Apple thinks people won’t run Windows very often.” Apple fans may want to use Vista as a “safety net” in case certain applications can’t run on the Mac operating system, he added.