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The current version will remain available to download, but in future Windows Media playback on Macs will be in the hands of the Flip4Mac WMV Player, which Microsoft is distributing. The player provides codecs that provide Windows Media content support within OS X's QuickTime environment.

'We have no plans to provide future updates or product support for Windows Media Player for Mac,' Adam Anderson, Microsoft public relations manager, confirmed.

He said the decision had been made on business grounds and that Microsoft has other priorities.

Earlier this week Microsoft and Apple

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announced that they had signed a new five-year agreement that guarantees the immediate future of the Mac version of the Office business software suite. However, it seems that Microsoft is no longer interested in maintaining Mac products where there is no financial incentive to do so, having also ditched the OS X version of Internet Explorer towards the end of last year.

The decision not to provide Mac users with the latest version of Windows Media Player means they will be excluded from access to devices and services that employ Microsoft digital rights management (DRM) technologies. These include most portable music players and digital music services and in all likelihood most of the new video delivery services that will emerge over the next two years. Apple's decision not to license its own DRM technology means that Mac users are likely to remain wholly dependent on iTunes for paid-for online content.

A new version of Flip4Mac's WMV Player was released yesterday to fix a problem with playback in QuickTime 7.04. The software is a free download from www.macupdate.com.