My first thought about Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser saying the half the music on iPod is stolen, is "you're just jealous." Honestly, as the link below suggests, many people HAVE downloaded "stolen" music, but many of them have a lot of their own music they have ripped for iPod play. Steve Ballmer allegedly echoed Glaser's sentiments by stating that "The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'." May I remind both Rob and Steve that *IF* they had a decent iPod killer, there would also be "stolen" music on their players. It has nothing to do with the iPod. The problem really lies in the shift of a MAJOR music paradigm. It is mostly a matter of format. People generally rip their own albums because they want the ultra-mobility, style, and easy listening that the iPod offers. The fact that Apple has sold so many songs means that something is working. Just because the average is 25 songs to an iPod purchased legally, doesn't mean that many people still don't have an iPod, and simply buy songs for listening on their PC or Mac. This is another case of a CEO spouting off without doing his research or having the gusto to back up what he says, perhaps in the form of a REAL music store or a REAL mp3 playing device. Until then, I don't want to hear about it. Stolen music is a bigger problem than just iPod users. I thought everyone knew that by now.iPods foster stealing music, apparently.
My first thought about Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser saying the half the music on iPod is stolen, is "you're just jealous." Honestly, as the link below suggests, many people HAVE downloaded "stolen" music, but many of them have a lot of their own music they have ripped for iPod play. Steve Ballmer allegedly echoed Glaser's sentiments by stating that "The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'." May I remind both Rob and Steve that *IF* they had a decent iPod killer, there would also be "stolen" music on their players. It has nothing to do with the iPod. The problem really lies in the shift of a MAJOR music paradigm. It is mostly a matter of format. People generally rip their own albums because they want the ultra-mobility, style, and easy listening that the iPod offers. The fact that Apple has sold so many songs means that something is working. Just because the average is 25 songs to an iPod purchased legally, doesn't mean that many people still don't have an iPod, and simply buy songs for listening on their PC or Mac. This is another case of a CEO spouting off without doing his research or having the gusto to back up what he says, perhaps in the form of a REAL music store or a REAL mp3 playing device. Until then, I don't want to hear about it. Stolen music is a bigger problem than just iPod users. I thought everyone knew that by now.Microsoft releases Mac-specific keyboard and mouse
It's not all that common that we're able to link to our sister site, TUAW, in reference to Microsoft news. But today we can do just that. Microsoft has released a keyboard and mouse combination specifically for Macs, right down to the brushed silver / grey color, and lack of a Windows key. While I think most people can agree that Microsoft's current generation of PC hardware - specifically user input devices - is top-notch, it's still a little bit perplexing that Microsoft would go so far as to actually release Mac only hardware. Their keyboards and mice have long been compatible with Macs, and currently have markings for both Windows and OS X on new keyboards. To be clear, I'm not against the Mac-specific hardware, just a little confused as to the need for it. But, there you go.
Sony launching 'PlayStation' branded luxury goods
The always entertaining Mike Elgan points to a Japanese site that purportedly has news of Sony launching a new 'PlayStation' brand of luxury goods, such as wine glasses, corkscrews, photo frames and even sweaters. While we haven't been able to confirm this, it's a rumor that's not all that difficult to believe given some of the crazy messages that have been coming out of Sony about the premium price point of the upcoming PlayStation 3 console. But PlayStation as a luxury brand? To be honest, even Xbox is a better brand name for that type of product line. Xbox implies something mysterious, something new. PlayStation implies a toy my one-year-old would play with.
iMicrosoft?
Is Microsoft chasing Apple? A lot of Microsoft's latest releases suggest they are. But this is news to no one, everyone knows that Apple tops the charts by a long shot, and that Microsoft wants a piece of the pie. With URGE, Microsoft (and MTV) have a store like iTunes; with their product for music production codenamed Monaco, Microsoft is going after GarageBand; and with Vista, Microsoft is chasing a lot of the shiny features of OS X, especially widgets. In the end, I wonder IF Microsoft can catch with Apple. I think it's possible, but they definitely have a long uphill climb ahead of them. One thing I like about Microsoft's PlaysForSure mp3 player strategy is that many different devices work with the same store, not just one, like the iPod and iTunes. I have heard a bunch of dialog in the blogosphere that Microsoft would do well to include iPod support. I agree, since everyone already has an iPod. In fact, to me it is non-negotiable. If you freeze out the competition because of a stupid brand grudge, you are cheating yourself out of potential customers who don't really care where they get their music, so long as it works with their player. I would have to raise my hand on that one. I personally am not a huge fan of iTunes. I don't like the interface and some of the quirks. Microsoft's motto seems to be, "not quite." Fuse the PlaysForSure initiative, iPod support, and a much better performing version of WMP 11, and you have something there. Until then, don't bother.
Microsoft Subpoenaed once again
AMD is getting all subpoena happy lately, and trying to prove that
Intel has a monopoly. Microsoft is among those subpoenaed to appear in court. Others such as Best Buy, Circuit City and
the like are also being subpoenaed (try to spell that five times fast) as well. What game is AMD playing? Is this the
"fighting dirty" that they had to resort to because good old fashioned American competition wasn't doing
it for them? Microsoft is apparently not very bothered by this, and they shouldn't be, Windows runs on both
architectures, Intel and AMD. Oh, this just in, Windows apparently runs on Apple hardware now too, but I bet you knew
that. Perhaps Intel's foray into the orchard has AMD all up in arms. So, here's a clue, create an AMD Mac. It's a
thought.Codename: Monaco
Microsoft is plotting and planning a new program to rival Apple's GarageBand music creations software, according to
Mary Jo Foley of Microsoft Watch. It
is all very hush hush right now, as you might imagine, but I am glad Microsoft is thinking about how to be a player in
certain markets which I consider to be important to the average Joe.With shows like American Idol and the like, so many people are now getting into music or have been inspired to create music as of late. Personally, I don't see a lot of viable, consumer-friendly music creation software out there to help all these budding artists become who they want to be. To keep in the vein of the "magic of software" I think Microsoft needs to create more applications like this one.
VMware offers free bootcamp alternative
It was announced a while ago that VMware
server was free as a downloadable beta. Being the busy guy that I am, I haven't had a chance to play with it until last
night. I have to tell you that I was pleasantly surprised that it worked so well and easily as it did. You can create
virtual machines with it, which is something you couldn't do with the VMware player. Installing a virtual copy of
windows XP pro was extremely easy as well. I haven't tried it yet, but I hope to soon create a virtual machine using
Mac OS X to see if it works. why it wouldn't I don't know so long as it is the x86 version built for the Intel mac.
This offers a viable option for those who really don't want to reboot every time they want to get into their computer's
alter-ego.Forrester: the Microsoft brand is not trusted
DesignTechnica has a brief article summing up a study done by Forrester Research last year called the 2005 Technology Brand Scorecard. The
research company surveyed 4,732 households to determine which brands are well trusted and have "brand
potential", indicating an ability to increase their business. Unfortunately, Microsoft scored 20th out of 22
technology companies for trust, and was the only company to receive a negative brand potential score. The negative
brand potential score appears to indicate that while many people use Microsoft products, a high percentage would
happily leave them behind if a viable alternative was presented. Get the full rundown from DesignTechnica.
Google's new market
Today Google dives into a brand new market, romance. Why Microsoft hasn't even thought of this in a real
way, I don't know. Sure they have MSN personals, but who even pays attention to those. The thing that I admire about
Google's new Romance service is that Google realizes that geeks need love too. Google even allows geeks to upload
multiple profiles all in one shot to save time. This is the first such service I have seen on the web that truly caters
to search-savvy folks looking for love. I know it sounds a little weird, but honestly it makes sense. Google wants a
piece of the online dating action. Their contextual dating service offers a great way to go on dates and get relevant
text ads at the same time. In a way it's almost comforting, seeing the same ads I see in Gmail, and have next to my
personal blog while dating. I am married, but my wife and I are thinking of trying out contextual dating, just to
experience this brilliant technology. Click here to visit Google Romance,
then click here to submit a report about your Google Romance
experience, and let Google know how it went. You may not really get the full effect of this service until you submit a report, only then it makes total sense. Also, do you know
what today is?Ballmer's kids brainwashed against Google, iPods
Wow, I mean just, wow. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was interviewed by Telis Demos for an article published
yesterday on CNN Money. In it, Ballmer volunteers that he has "brainwashed" his children to not use
Google or iPods. The crazy thing here is that the word was his own! I have to say that I simply feel sorry for his children. I just don't believe that they actually avoid using Google - who in their right mind does? Google's the only search engine that is so consistently good enough that it's name has actually become a verb for searching on the web. Nobody ever MSN'd anything. So basically, Ballmer has kids that have to sneak around using Google when he's not around, and lie about it to his face. Hell, I bet they even have iPods, and have switched the headphones to black ones so that he doesn't notice, like the 80% of Microsoft employees with digital audio players do as well.
This is the article where Ballmer drops hints about Microsoft's potential response to the iPod.
Apple joins BAPCo, Windows benchmarking consortium
Jordan over at DownloadSquad is killing us with his
Microsoft scoops this week; the latest is that Apple Computer has joined an organization called
BAPCo, which is a consortium with the purpose of benchmarking Windows configurations. Interestingly, this most
likely indicates that Apple is interested in knowing how their hardware stacks up against other PC maker's hardware in
the industry.
It's not certain that Apple wants to get into the Windows PC hardware business, but it's also definitely not certain that they don't. When you make arguably the best computing hardware available on the market and there's a chance to make your hardware compatible with the operating system that 95% of the computing market uses, it would be very hard not to consider moving in that direction. Even if Apple does not officially move in that direction, all the excitement over getting Windows XP to boot on an iMac proves that even if it is not sanctioned, it will happen.
Maybe Apple simply wants to be involved in the fun.
Not exactly the British are coming
Look out Apple, the Windows people are
coming. Those Microsoft groupies who would enslave the free world, the scum on your proverbial shoes is coming. Call it
a Trojan horse, call it whatever you want, but the sexiness that is the Mac will now be available to us XP users. The
contest is over, hack-a-day reports on this landmark
achievement and you can find the files and instructions to actually perform this feat here. I know that Apple people don't care if Windows users like the mac or not,
unless it affects the bottom line (who wouldn't), but for Windows users, we finally get the best of both worlds, slick
apple hardware, and a more widely accepted windows platform, and the venerable Mac OS X as well. What more could you
ask for? The announcements that Vista (and now XP) will run on an Intel mac have me almost thinking about buying one for the very first time. I have thought about buying a mac before, but more in a PC mag centerfold, ooooh that's hot, never with any serious thought behind it. Mac doesn't live in my world, until now. One question though for those of you who use both mac and Windows regularly, what do you do about the right mouse button for windows on an Intel mac, especially on a laptop? I'm busting out my red coat this afternoon and hitching my get-along to Bessie, my trusted steed. Giddyap ya old milksap!
Google Does Stuff Writely
Google is acquiring Writely. The Unofficial Google
Blog covers it nicely here. For anyone who
doesn't know, Writely is an excellently written Web 2.0 application that functions as an online word processor. I think
in some ways the simplicity of it makes it easier to use than Microsoft Word, especially for less savvy
users.
What I find interesting about this is Google's total focus on web-based offerings, and Microsoft's total desktop approach. While this doesn't surprise me in the least, I am not sure that both approaches have no disadvantages. My feeling is that eventually through acquisitions like this one Google is building an online suite of apps to completely dethrone Microsoft's Office and other programs. You may have heard that Google is already working on a calendar app.
Some Climb on Rocks
Microsoft is just a big kid trying to make a
little kid cry (not that it will work). I really don't see what value it has in yelling about OpenOffice.org being 10 years
out-of-date. What is with Microsoft trying to kill Linux and open-source so vehemently? Have they not looked at their market share lately? I vote for focusing on outpacing the competition with real results (something revolutionary) instead of trash talking. I don't think they have that much to worry about, at least not yet. I guess it follows the old saying that goes something like: "If you can't beat them join them, and if you don't want to join them then at least trash talk them, but if you do end up beating them, why not trash talk them anyway, what does it hurt, right?" Well, I suppose that isn't so old because I just made it up, but I think that pretty much says it all right there.
Comparing Presentation Styles of Gates and Jobs
Picking up on the theme of the difference
between Microsoft's design ethic and Apple's, here's an analysis of the difference in
the presentation styles of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. It's very interesting in that it outlines for me what I'm
really starting to reject, which is information overload. As with its software, Apple's presentations tend towards simplicity; single words or phrases. Microsoft's is a barrage of bullet points and concepts, ostensibly intended to appear impressive. Unfortunately, more often than not I find I simply turn off with that much information coming at me.
All is not lost, however. As Jensen Harris has been reporting on his blog regularly, a huge amount of thought is going into the user interface of Office 2007, with one of the main goals to be reducing the amount of options and buttons the user has to look at. For one, I can't wait. Information overload is happening in our inboxes and RSS readers, but it's also happening on our screens and in our presentations. Let's reign it in!
