by , 10:25 AM EDT, September 28th, 2005

Microsoft is selling an increasing number of copies of Office for Mac, according to Scott Erickson, director of product management and marketing at Microsoft's Mac Business Unit. Mr. Erickson told the Los Angeles Times (via the Daily Herald) that, "We've sold more copies of Office 2004 in the first three months than we did in the first six months of the last launch of Office for Mac."

Increased Mac sales for Microsoft are a by-product of Apple's renewed fortunes with the Mac platform, in a demonstration that even when Apple wins Mac market share, Microsoft also benefits. This fact was the focus of the Times' article, which looked at the importance of the 200-person Mac Business Unit inside the world's largest software company.

"We don't see Apple as a rival," Mr. Erickson said, "we see it as another vendor."

Apple's share of new computer sales has risen sharply in the last 12 months, in part because of the success of the company's other platform, iPod. The more Macs Apple sells, the more copies of Office Microsoft sells.

[Note that the article was originally published by the LA Times on September 6th, 2005, with the Daily Herald picking it up in syndication today. For some, this will therefore be "old news," but we found the information to be interesting enough to warrant posting. - Editor]