When Apple Computer announced Monday it was switching to Intel-based processors, one of the first to express support was Roz Ho, general manager of Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit.

The Mac BU has already started work on developing products to back up that attitude of support, according to a Microsoft spokesperson. Some of the primary projects are the next versions of Office for Mac and Virtual PC for Mac.

Microsoft's Mac team is also busy putting finishing touches on updates to current versions, the company spokesperson said. These include Entourage improvements for Exchange users, new Tiger functionality, and a fresh version of Messenger for Mac due to be released in a few months.

In order to create software that can accommodate the platform shift, the Mac BU has been collaborating with Apple engineers on Xcode to create universal binaries of future versions of Office, so that it will run natively on Apple's future hardware.

Xcode, now in version 2.0, was created as a way for developers to craft Mac OS X applications and take advantage of Apple technology as it got released. Xcode 2.0 puts the operating system together with Unix as well as with a number of development technologies.

Historically, the Mac BU hasn't been known to use Xcode, but the platform shift will give the unit more exposure to and experience with the development tool suite.

We seriously think MS knows exactly what will happen here and is trying to rally all the support they can. Who will be the winner here at the end of the day? This time hands down it is the consumer!