Microsoft confirms 'iPod Killer'

Yeah, right. Good luck dethroning a phenomena this imbedded in language itself.

"Zune." Just rolls off the tongue and feels so warm and fuzzy. They have the Worst marketing.
______________________________

SEATTLE (Reuters) -- Microsoft Corp. said Friday it plans to release a new music and entertainment player and accompanying software under the "Zune" brand this year, in a belated attempt to challenge the dominance of Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod player.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/21/technology/microsoft.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

...to prop up my iPod.

:rofl:

...one that left secret messages of where to meet him in his songs...I saw the headline and my imagination went haywire.

Microsoft gets cheezier and cheezier.

I was working once with a Microsoft Software consultant who was so wired it took him a few minutes each morning to plug himself "in" - headphones, tablet PC, PDA, etc etc etc. A few times he tripped over himself while standing up from his desk because of all of the wires. He really was just like the guy in the PC vs MAC commercials today. Plus he liked to drastically over-engineer software solutions. He is no longer with the company.

Helps drive innovation. Well, it'll make Apple innovate anyway.

Gates admits he completely missed the significance of the Internet and therefore MS ended up playing catchup. Of course they ended up getting sued and losing because of their efforts on the Internet. Wouldn't surprise me if they end up getting sued over Zune and how it interfaces with Windows to the detriment of other applications and appliances.

Windows was the ripoff of Apple's OS 6.x, 7.x (who ripped it off Xerox). Windows has halways lagged in the user experience this Zune will do nothing more. Apple has the "coolness" factor with the iPods and that will be hard to beat.

Edit: iTunes already works for Windows so case closed.

Xerox off. I used to use Xerox workstations back in the mid-80's and when I saw Windows 3.X I knew they ripped it off. Too bad Xerox didn't have the guts to go for the PC market.

JG

$1 million in Apple during the development of Lisa? Long after the fact, Xerox tried to sue Apple but the case was dismissed.

If Apple hadn't used the technology, it probably would have been abandoned. Xerox wasn't interested in products outside their core business.

Xerox didn't suffer any damage, them made over 300 million on their investment in Apple.

Sour grapes from Xerox, but they made a profit.

Apple's fuck up was not suing Gates when Windows v1 hit the market.

They waited far too long.

Gates, a deal for continued development of a Mac version of Office, and more importantly access to Windows API's. That last concession was the biggest. Now that Apple has gone Intel, they can start eating away at MS's software dominance. Remember too that MS wanted Apple to "Kill the baby", the baby being QuickTime. It just happened that during this time the DoJ case against MS was ramping up. That gave Apple leverage. Most likely Jobs was able to convince Gates that allowing Apple to survive could help them fight the Anti Trust battle. Apple showed "good faith" by not competing head on against MS. What MS got was guerrilla warfare from Apple. Apple has 4.5% of the computer market, but they have the lions share of mindspace. They have won the hearts and minds. Attractive products, and superior marketing has stolen MS's thunder. They look young progressive and hip, and MS looks old conservative and corrupt.




The seed money was 150 million in non voting shares. Gates made good money from that investment. Apple was at $10 per share. It is now over $60 per share after splitting twice since then.

Buoyed by ever increasing shipments of Macintosh computers, Apple has quieted its Intel transition detractors by posting double-digit market share increases. Two market research firms have pegged Apple’s growth at over 15 percent with one giving them a 16 percent increase.

With Mac shipments rising from 655,000 to 760,000 year-over-year for the second quarter, Apple’s U.S. market jumped from 4.4 percent in 2005 to 4.8 percent in 2006 — a double-digital growth of 16 percent, according to market research firm IDC.

IDC credits increases in Apple’s retail sector of 50 percent, as well as growth of 60 percent in its portable market for the steep increases.

“The strong growth reflects a successful transition to Intel-based systems – a critical transition for the company that sets the stage for future growth,” said Richard Shim, senior analyst with IDC’s Personal Computing program

http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/07/20/marketshare/index.php

I don't see MS's player doing much without them pulling anti competitive stunts like they did in the past.

Market share sucks as a measurement of what people are actually using. I used my Powerbook for four years, so I was only counted as part of the market share in 2001 when I got my PB. But I was still using it in 2002, 03, 04, and 05. I didn't buy a windows box and so I was basically uncounted those years.

One of the companies I freelance for takes stats on hits to their websites. Almost 40% of their hits are obviously not Windows and another 14 or so percent are completely ambiguous. They do web stuff, and get clients from all over. By their estimates, Macs have about 35% of the user base, with *ux hitting about 23% and Win getting the rest. No majorities anymore....

Apple's worldwide market share is estimated to be at 3.7%. Also you can not use a website as measurement of market share. Since a majority of Windows based machines are used in a corporate environment, they may not ever visist your website due to restrictions set by corporate policy. Also the Windows operating system is found on many devices outside desktops such as PDAs, cell phones, Point of Sale Terminals, HVAC controls, industrial controls, etc.

upgrade, it won't be compatible with any OS except Windows and they'll have shitty music.

being a bad boy or girl.

just sub in apple heh. sorry for all the cult worshipers of ipods but compressed music is shitty.

If you don't like compressed music, store your files in Apple Lossless form.
Or be a real man and just store the Raw Bits.

And iPods work with a wide variety of hosts.

Tesha

Their Apple Lossless format is fully supported and usable systemwide on the iPod and in iTunes. You obviously have no experience using the product, so why the insults? Not very becoming at all.

if i were going to use something lossless, i'd go for one of those. they are more compatible than the apple format, and are industry standards for audio recording/production programs.

Yeah right. Who's the overpaid dope that named that?
Some hack from McCann? Or FutureBrand?
Or was it swat committee at Microsoft?
Maybe they used their own thesaurus to cut and paste a few words together.
Zune ???? Yeah Apple must be trembling.... in laughter

I know some guys that started a "branding" company that went on to be pretty successful (I won't say which one). I remember sitting around with them drinking and such and discussing names. It was hilarious. They sat around and got drunk and came up with names that they would charge many tens of thousands of dollars to clients to produce. I have to admit that they did do a great deal of due dilligence and research to get a usable name, but at the end of the day, it was all off the cuff. The best names are "neologics". A neologic is a new or made up word like "Zune". If a neologic is used for a new brand, the branding company has to make sure that if the name will be used in foreign speaking countries, it doesn't offend. The last thing a branding company wants is a client that comes back to them and informs them that their new name for a car or a toaster means or sounds like "child molestor" in Mandarin or some other language.

Manufactured brand names that mean nothing.... how boring.
I bet they'll put a "swoosh" into the logo too. Crapola !

If Microsoft had any guts they would have named it 'MIKE"
and given it a healthy whallop of personality.
Music never came out of some bland box of pudding called "ZUNE"
Music is PASSION... And THAT's something Microsft will never understand

:)

Zune...Wii...iPOD? Some roll off the tongue better in OTHER languages than some others I suspect

But I remember when Japanese words like 'AH-tari' and 'sushi' and 'wassup-abi' seemed strange...these names are on based on simple phonetics.

It was a name that would be one syllable and easy to pronouce. It may have also wanted to imply connectivity and sharing and teamwork.

easy to pronounce...in any number of different languages and not just English, I suspect.

...will they be know as the "Children of Zune"? And would this make Gates the "God Emperor of Zune"?

(Sorry, It's been a long day) :silly:

Will Morrissey sell out to the dark side?

*promptly sprays monitor with soda from laughing*

it would explain a lot... especially why i go through monitors so fast

...to be written over this. Zune?

with slave labor as the iPod Is?

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32644

Apple Computer is getting into a deep PR mess over the antics of one of its its Chinese partners.

After denying that it was running a sweatshop that would be familiar to Charles Dickens, Apple's Ipod manufacturer, Foxconn has finally admitted that it broken Chinese labour laws.

Apparently it was forcing its employees to work about 80 extra hours each month.

It a land where labour rules are a little lax, even this is considered taking the Michael a bit.

Chinese workers can be forced to work up to 36 hours extra a month without Inspector Knacker of the Peking Yard raising an eyebrow, but Foxconn's 80 hours is well over this maximum.

Their whole economy is based on it. The reason that the GOP has no problem with China is that their corporate masters want the same thing over here.

I'm not excusing Apple. Any American company that imports from China is guilty of supporting slavery.

Wal-Mart is the king of China's support.

I'd like an Ipod - can they be used as external USB hard drives? I believe they can, but don't know for sure. I owned a MAC video machine back in the 90's - it really was cool.

I'm probably going to get a MAC after my move this fall - for my own use. I work for an HP reseller, and our customers all use Windoze or Linux or HP/UX - these are people who use computers to help run their businesses - some even use OpenVMS - the best O/S ever written (yup, I'm a VMS bigot, so sue me).

I really haven't seen the MAC penetration into the apps that enable businesses to generate ROI from computers except in the graphic arts biz - and even there, windoze has caught up.

It is no longer 'best', just 'good enough' and windoze has been 'good enough' for years.

But I do love the recent Mac commercials....

Still, if Ken Olson had allowed VMS to be ported to Intel (I saw it running on a Rainbow back in the mid 80'
s) we would not have Windows to deal with today, as Dave Cutler might have stayed with DEC and not have writen WindowsNT.

History - we who do not learn from it are DOOMED to repeat it.

'nuff said.

The "offical" term that the BBC World Service mentioned was Podslurping. Many companies are banning them becuase even without iTunes installed you can plug it into any machine and it can be used as an external hard drive (or memory stick for Nanos). I have used my 60GB Video as an external HD with my machines.

It holds royalty free music, images, and jumpbacks that I use for video editing on the road.

Quiet and doesn't require any power outside of the firewire connection.

Ay yay yay. Microsoft. That these fuckwads are on the forefront of the reactionary battle against free culture is ridiculous, truly.

1 GB audio/media player from Circuit City for $40 -- it has a LCD display, holds many tunes (probably ~500) and has a mic hole which records pretty well.

The strangest thing was that none of the clerks knew they had it: we found it on the company website and went to the store -- had to look at all the iPODs and Shuffles (they keep everything behind the counter). But with some perseverance and lots of patience, they finally found it.

Takes one AAA battery.

Sounds great.

Works great.

Somehow, I don't think I'm missing anything (or am I?)...

Oh... there's no one in a black turtleneck telling me how "insanely great" this is...

Tut-tut

Zucks

Cheers
Drifter

to foster as a benefactor in his philanthropic endeavors worldwide.

The lackluster assault by Zune (hideous name) on IPod points directly to a run by
microsoft at Apple's market share. Perhaps a contributing factor to Gate's
sudden resignation as CEO of his own company

I don't believe that this reflects badly on Gates.

Microsoft is just a crappy, crappy company that is only dominant on the desktop because people are slaven to their OS whims.

problems w/macs explorer browser.. finis!

been--a damn ggod thief.

okay, i was wishing i guess.

dp

They'll take the iPod's software, add a few software classes and code to slow it down, which will make it Microsoft, then try to force retailers to only accept their product, then when Apple takes the one good idea that Microsoft had but couldn't bring to full fruition and makes it work, MS will haul them into court and sue them.

TlalocW

i'll stick with my ipod.*












*my husband works for Apple in the interest of full disclosure.:)

Could even be vaporware. Wouldn't be the first time M$ had a press release like that just to FUD the market.

People can say what they want about Macs, but Apple is a prestigious moniker on a product.

Who would plan a purchase of what is often an impulse buy on any shit that Microsoft makes?

If Sony (also a prestigious brand) couldn't take down Apple's mp3 success, what the Hell can Microsoft do?

It's like if GM announced that they were going to take down Honda based on the quality of their product.

I think that Microsoft stockholders need to say a collective "what the fuck are you doing?" over this.

Good luck, Redmond. You'll need it.

that they will have a software fix out to correct this hole in their Zune software within a couple weeks. Meanwhile MS has announced an anti-virus package for this Zune software to be out later this year........ :grr:

device.

I bet those M$ bastards will find a way to swipe Apple's patented click-wheel technology.

:rofl: NOT.

I have had mine for about 4 months and love it. About the only drawback is the lack of accessories compared to iPod.

I got a 40 gig non-video version for about 200 bucks less than the iPod equivalent. 200 bucks cheaper + not having to deal with iTunes = happiness.

Mine is perfect
The best player out there that most dont even know of

money to throw away

don't let it near your computer

"The announcement comes after weeks of rumors and speculation about such an offering. Microsoft has already touted the products to record companies."

so there you go, you see where M$ has targeted this, to: "record companies" - by that they mean to say outmoded corporate behemoths unworthy of having anything to do with our musical experience. To hell with the military industrial entertainment complex.

- My daughter - who had been using an iPod - got one of the new SanDisk Sansa 4 gb last month. She loves it and says it leaves iPod in the dust.

SanDisk Review: http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/

play different file types. In other words, they make it non-proprietary, so you can put on and take off anything you want. Nobody's really made one that can play all the different music file types out there (or the majority or them). However the most important thing is NO DRM!!!

As implied by the term "protected WMA" being thrown about on the wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Zune)

I'm no friend of Apple, but it seems they have MS beat with this one.

zoned out and bored,
armies of god bent intend.
rockets of the lord,
barmy old men who lend.
Hiding behind earphones,
pretending to defend,
foredefeated war tones,
corporate space owned zuned and zoned, intend.

Overpopulated rats eating eachother,
screaming a story over, war blairingly,
story upon story layered in veiled lies of
apparent appearance.

... "innovation" from the morons who thought the internet wasn't important. Yawn.