4 posts tagged “microsoft”
In February, Apple CEO and founder Steve Jobs stirred up controversy when he called for an end to DRM in an open letter to the industry published on Apple's Web site. At the time, Microsoft responded harshly to Jobs' statement -- a Zune spokesman called it naive and irresponsible -- but now the company seems to have literally changed its tune.
A whole line of cruise ships that run entirely on a high-availability version of the Windows OS. Who says Windows can't handle mission critical tasks? Fantastic!
 And car manufacturers want to begin building Windows into various aspects of new models? Let's see how well "I'm sorry officer, you see - Windows thought that last stop sign was a virus, so it launched Windows Auto Defender, but the registry hasn't been updated in a while since Microsoft AutoActivation rejected my 64-character Microsoft Auto License code, so my car sped twice as fast to get home before Microsoft AutoShutDown would kick in and lock my wheels in place" excuses will work.
What, Microsoft doesn't cover the purchase of a Mac or two as a company perk? For shame! How are their employees supposed to get anything done during the day, let alone at home?
Originally published at 1FPS : David Chartier. You can comment here or there.
Originally published at 1FPS. You can comment here or there.
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Andy Ihnatko :: Avoid the loony Zune
Brilliant, scathing review of what is quite possibly the worst effort ever forged in competition with the iPod. I'm sorry, but it's beautifully ironic that this blunder comes from Microsoft.
Notably, Andy blasts the Zune over what seem to be the major, fundamental problems with it:
- A Microsoft product is reportedly having widespread setup and compatibility problems with their own OS
- The store employs a retarded 'point' system for making purchases, revealing that the company uses the same adjective when considering how they feel towards their customers
- The Wi-Fi is horribly crippled and tramples any other rights systems that might be assigned to media files. Creative Commons and just-plain-free content still get wrapped in time-bombed DRM. It was certainly a neat idea on the drawing board - but that doesn't mean it works in the field
- Perhaps most importantly: Microsoft agreed to pay a tax on every unit sold to the record industry. I agree with Andy here: this point, and this point alone, is a good enough reason to avoid the Zune. The statistics that the industry, Steve Ballmer and everyone else used about the supposedly low number of purchased-songs-per-iPod are bullshit, largely in part because they completely ignore the still-healthy sales of CDs and how many of those are simply ripped - legitimately - to iPods and other DAPs (digital music players). Interestingly, this is one of the points the industry has been most vocal with, while it is also one of the most hollow and misguiding
In the end, we might not have to worry about the Zune anyway. We just posted on TUAW that it's sitting at #84 on Amazon's electronics list, and I'm willing to bet that's only because of all the non-Pogue and non-Mossberg second-tier techies having to buy one for review. In that light, I would love to see what Amazon's return numbers are.
