MICROSOFT GETTING A SLICE OF APPLE.

Byline: John Markoff The New York Times

In a stunning alliance that could alter the map of the computer industry and help ensure the survival of Apple Computer Inc., the company announced a financial and business partnership Wednesday with its archrival, Microsoft Corp.

Microsoft, whose personal computer operating system software has long been the dominant alternative to Apple's Macintosh software, agreed Wednesday to invest $150 million for a nonvoting minority stake in Apple. The companies - whose advocates in the PC industry and user communities are divided into almost cultlike camps - also agreed to cooperate on several sales and technology fronts.

Some of the Macintosh faithful felt so betrayed that they booed and catcalled when Apple's co-founder and acting leader, Steve Jobs, announced the Microsoft deal at the MacWorld trade show in Boston.

And yet, as both companies explained the deal and as Apple announced a new board with members from other key companies, the day's developments made clear how interdependent many parts of the computer industry have become.

In the long run, Microsoft might have conceivably benefited from the demise of Apple if it meant that the one of every 10 PC users who employ Macintosh computers finally capitulated and adopted Microsoft's Windows operating system.

But in the nearer term, which is what Wednesday's deal emphasized, Microsoft cannot afford to let Apple die. Even while Microsoft's Windows over the years has relegated Apple's Macintosh software to a niche market, Microsoft is also the largest seller of word processing, spreadsheet and other programs for Macintosh computers. The Macintosh market, in other words, is too big for Microsoft to lose.

And many other companies have an interest in Apple remaining in business because it represents an alternative to the Microsoft monolith - even if part of the help comes from Microsoft itself.

``Apple is important, and this is good for the computer industry,'' said Eric Schmidt, chairman and chief executive of Novell Corp., which sells the leading brand of software for business computer networks but is facing increasing pressure from Microsoft.

And in perhaps the day's most striking strange-bedfellows example, Apple announced a new board that included Larry Ellison, chairman of the database software company Oracle, who is a personal rival and public critic of Microsoft's chief executive, Bill Gates.

But Ellison is also a friend of Jobs. And Jobs, who did not clinch the deal with Microsoft until 11 p.m. PST Tuesday, just hours before going on stage in Boston to announce it, structured the agreement in a way that gives Apple continued autonomy as it tries to recover from a plunging market share and $1.7 billion in losses over the last seven quarters.

As a giant video screen beamed in the live image of Gates from Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Wash., Jobs chided those in the audience who responded with catcalls while explaining the Microsoft deal.

``We want to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose,'' Jobs said. ``We better treat Microsoft with a little gratitude.''

For Apple, there would seem to be little to lose by cooperating with Microsoft as long as Apple remains autonomous. And antitrust experts predicted the government would have no problems with the deal because it gives Microsoft only a small stake in Apple and no voice in the boardroom.