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I wouldn’t go that far. As has been pointed out by others on the thread MS didn’t threaten to pull Office until after Apple dragged them into the suit, and given the time between the agreement and the shipping of Mac Office 98 it’s clear it was already in development before the settlement happened. I agree pulling Office would have seriously injured Apple, heck I’ve even said it in this thread. But you can’t really say that Apple used it’s winning position in the suit to keep Office since the threat to pull Office didn’t happen until after Apple brought MS into the suit

The real gain Apple got on that front wasn’t the continued development of Mac Office, it was the public statement (with legal enforcement) that Mac Office would continue to exist for a few years, enough for probably two versions (as it is I think 3 came out during the agreement window).

I don’t think there was an face saving, I don’t think anyone needed any face saving. This deal basically ended the feud that had existed since the GUI suit and did so in a way that made everybody money, nobody was losing face so nobody needed to save it. It looks like an Apple win to me, their market share stopped eroding (not just because of this deal but it helped) and put them in a position for the building of this decade. And MS made a bunch of money so clearly they won too. I’m not much of a follower of The Church of The Donald (Trump) but in his first book he does have one brilliant observation: deals only happen when both sides think it’s a win for them. The past decade demonstrates that indeed this deal was a win for both sides.

But you can’t really say that Apple used it’s winning position in the suit to keep Office since the threat to pull Office didn’t happen until after Apple brought MS into the suit

Apple saw Microsoft doing wrong and enforced its legal rights. Apple settled allowing Microsoft to save face under the threat of losing Office. It would have been a pyrrhic victory to win the suit and then lose more than the judgment because of the loss of Office.

deals only happen when both sides think it’s a win for them

Or when one side has the other over a barrel. Apple had the upper hand in the suit, but Microsoft had the trump card in the larger picture.