It seems that the Microsoft relationship with Parallels is becoming multi-dimensional.
A number of former Microsoft employees work for Parallels since the early days when the company was known as SWsoft.
Among them, since this January, there is also Mark Zbikowski, former Microsoft Architect who led the development effort in MS-DOS and Windows NT.
And now the two are linked by a major OEM agreement which brings key Microsoft products (Express Studio, Visual Studio, Office 2007 and Windows XP or Vista) to the Mac OS community through Parallels Desktop.
Microsoft had the opportunity to deliver this package, dubbed Expression Professional Subscription, by itself but preferred to dismiss Virtual PC for Mac OS in August 2006.
The new bundle will be available through Microsoft website starting from June at the price of $999.