Although Microsoft has pledged to keep supporting their popular Office suite, it seems that they are slowly pulling out all of their other boats of the Apple waters.

First to go was Internet Explorer, for which support and availability has been terminated just a few months ago, although development on it had ended a long, long time ago. Next is the Windows Media Player, which has also been cut and replaced by a third party solution, approved by Microsoft. This comes as little surprise as the Macintosh version of WMP was very aged and unreliable, to say the least.

Windows Media support will now come from Flip4Mac which develops Windows Media Components for QuickTime, a plugin that enables the viewing WMP files in QuickTime and QuickTime enable applications.

"The Windows Media Components for QuickTime, powered by Telestream's Flip4MacTM technology provide this important capability and live up to Telestream's reputation for outstanding media solutions," Windows Media Division director Kevin Unangst said.

Offering its blessing for a third party to become the supporter of Windows Media playback on Macs is a strange and surprising move from Microsoft. But it ties in with reports that key developers are being relocated from the Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit to other departments and projects. It seems the pug is being pulled on everything except Office and MSN Messenger, which are only being kept because of their appeal to the corporate segment.

"If there is a MacBU scaleback, it adds new perspective to yesterday's Microsoft Mac commitment. Soon, Office and Messenger may be the only Mac products offered by Microsoft, because of their appeal to bigger businesses," commented Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox. "A consumer exit could mean the end of the low-cost Student & Teacher Edition, too, particularly with Apple offering iWork."

At the moment it is unclear for how long support will be coming from Flip4Mac and if this will be updated to include support for the "Janus" digital rights management framework.