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of the Zune that there's a fundamental difference between how Apple
created the IPod and Microsoft created the Zune. Apple sat down and
thought about how people listen to music and how they could make that
experience better. They looked at other mp3 players on the market and
wondered what those devices lacked that interfered with that. At least
that's my sense of it.
On the other hand Microsoft seems to have gone forth and thought, how
can we make something that will kill take market share aware from Apple
and finally kill the IPod. They then extended the thought that
networking was the key. It's obvious that they didn't really think
about how people would use that networking. It's obvious that they
didn't think about how networking would improve the experience of
listening to music. They thought about their own business and how the
Zune might help their business, not how the Zune would help people.
The IPod is popular because it's elegant and simple. I can go to the
store and buy a music player with more features at a lower price than
any IPod on the market and yet the IPod is still in control of 70% of
the market for portable music players. Why? It's because the IPod
isn't about features, it's about music. It's about creating the
shortest path between two points. Sure I can get a player with an FM
radio, the ability to make voice recordings, and now even one that
allows me share files over a network in some excruciatingly limited
way. But is it really any better than what I have now which plays
music just fine, is easy to use, and just plain works? Nope.
can we make something that will kill take market share aware from Apple
and finally kill the IPod. They then extended the thought that
networking was the key. It's obvious that they didn't really think
about how people would use that networking. It's obvious that they
didn't think about how networking would improve the experience of
listening to music. They thought about their own business and how the
Zune might help their business, not how the Zune would help people.
The IPod is popular because it's elegant and simple. I can go to the
store and buy a music player with more features at a lower price than
any IPod on the market and yet the IPod is still in control of 70% of
the market for portable music players. Why? It's because the IPod
isn't about features, it's about music. It's about creating the
shortest path between two points. Sure I can get a player with an FM
radio, the ability to make voice recordings, and now even one that
allows me share files over a network in some excruciatingly limited
way. But is it really any better than what I have now which plays
music just fine, is easy to use, and just plain works? Nope.
Anonymous
November 18 2006, 03:36:23 UTC 5 years ago
True.
Yeah. Monster Microsoft doesn't care much about us ants.Nice article.
-Hthth (http://raven.vortex.is/)
Anonymous
November 29 2006, 05:17:16 UTC 5 years ago
Anonymous
December 3 2006, 13:44:12 UTC 5 years ago
Awesome
You are absolutely right. Initially I was worried that the Zune was dubbed an iPod Killer, but it sucks completely. It either comes in brown, off white or black, so it seems as though whoever was thinking of colours was -a) sitting on the toilet
b) jerking off
c) burning a joint.
That would accomodate for the crappy colour scheme. As for features, nobody would bother to share music even if they could anyhow, it is too slow. It would be faster to drive over to a friends place and dump their music on your iPod through Firewire or USB 2. if you want to listen to a radio, you can buy attachments for the iPod, or just buy a $25 radio earphone. There is no compelling reason to switch from the iPod to something that Microsoft is trying desparately to cash in on. I think Microsoft should stick to making crappy operating systems and shitty office software. At least then they will continue to sell the market at large.
Anonymous
December 5 2006, 00:04:58 UTC 5 years ago
Zune is the Overture of the Vistapocalypse
In the end, Microsoft will probably sell around 50 Zunes. MS CEO Steve Ballmer will be arrested for biting a mother on her face in a department store while her son and daughter inspect the offerings at the iPod display. Ballmer will claim the report of the attack was a "gross exaggeration, spread by Microsoft's infinite enemies; I just brushed by her, looking for the Zune display" before settling out of court.Defects will plague the players and Microsoft will end up in a law suit with all its media vendors who will charge that Microsoft was refusing to pay royalties after placing a 1/800th of a second of silence at the end of the songs they were selling through Zune and claiming they were all "new, original and innovative works copyrighted Microsoft. Duh."
After 8 months of litigation, the suit will be settled out of court after CEO Ballmer bites through one of the tires on the Sony attorney's Lexus in the court parking lot and is shot with a tranquilizer round by the Washington State Department of Animal Control. Zune will be pulled off the shelves in June 2007.
Analysts will point out, however, that after the law suits, media companies were so shocked to find nastier lawyers working for MS than they ever employed, MS was unable to contract any content for the Zune service at all. MS will be forced to start its own media company to produce downloadable monster movies of CEO Ballmer stalking and eating his neighbors' pets.
Analysts, newspaper columnists, national security consultants and religious leaders will accurately predict the devastating Vistapocalypse that will attend the release of Vista in 2007. Microsoft, sure of its success, will make an unprecedented media move buying all of the available commercial air time on the SuperBowl 2008 broadcast to demonstrate Vista's "advanced features" during commercial breaks starring William Shatner and CEO Ballmer as 'Spock' aboard the new "Starship Vista."
The spots will air live and will have to be improvised by Shatner when Ballmer's bright red Federation officer's jersey becomes hopelessly tangled around his head. "The new Aero screen saver is guaranteed to neutralize erectile dysfunction, hair loss and flatuence, right Science Officer Ballmer?" Shatner will announce, beaming from his familiar captain's chair, while muffled shrieks emanate from the crimson-shrouded head of the shirtless Ballmer, thrashing senselessly, struggling to pull the jersey down over his head.
By the third quarter, newscasters will announce during breaks in the action that Vista had been cracked by terrorist groups, had already taken over all the Vista desktops in the western world and were using them to drain corporate bank accounts and send wire transfers to Al Qaeda. Ballmer, interviewed by sportcasters on the scene, will be by then hopelessly entangled in the red jersey with his arms suspended over his shoulders.
Unable to answer their questions with anything more than a strangled scream, Ballmer runs from the TV cameras and head-butts the Astrodome until he is unconscious.
The next day, President Bush will declare, "Now I know what the 'blue screens of death' were about. These people are like Al Qaeda and their collaborators in the Democratic Party," and orders the Justice Department to bring terrorism charges against the company.
MS attemtps to deflect the charges by changing its address to a vacant lot in Spokane and ordering its employees to hide their eyes behind their hands while at work on the Redmond campus. CEO Ballmer flees justice and is caught in a dragnet some months later by British Columbia animal control officers, answering a call about an insane pet-eating bear running amock Fort Nelson in northern British Columbia.
There, CEO Ballmer will be shot dead after fatally chewing through the neck of one officer and nearly severing his head from his shoulders. MS finally will collapse as thousands of employees leave, disgusted by the ethics of company convicted of abusive business practices and accused of shoddy engineering, racketeering, terrorism and finally, in the last straw, cannibalism.