Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) does not want Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL) Mac owners to run the Windows Vista operating system on those machines, reversing a decision made just this week. In the "virtualization" world, Microsoft's current Windows XP computer operating system can be run inside of a "virtual software" environment on current Apple MacIntosh computers so that Apple fans can use those stylish Apple systems with Apple software but can still access the Windows environment for certain things (like work email or running Windows-only applications).

That arrangement works pretty well for the Windows XP operating system on current (or even older) Mac computers, but Microsoft has now said that it will only allow the bare-bones Windows Vista "Basic" operating system to be used in this virtual Apple Mac environment. Vista versions such as the "Premium" or "Ultimate" won't be allowed to be used with "virtualization" software at all on Apple systems.

However, with Apple systems now using Intel CPUs, installing Windows Vista alongside the Apple Mac operating system without this kind of "emulation" is no problem. Basically, Microsoft does not want customers using the nicer versions of Windows Vista on older Apple Mac machines made before Steve Jobs decided to use Intel chips in all Apple Mac systems.

Will this hurt the adoption of Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system growth? Probably not, but this move signals that Microsoft would like most Windows Vista customers to use non-Apple machines, like the commodity PCs from vendors like Dell, HP and Acer. Surprised? I'm not.

[Disclosure: I own MSFT shares as of 6-22-07]