RSSMicrosoft Not Immune to iPod Frenzy
By Ed Oswald | Published February 2, 2005, 1:10 PM
Microsoft employees aren't being true to their school. At least that's what a high level Redmond executive who chose to remain anonymous told Wired on Wednesday. According to the source, people walking around Microsoft's campus can be seen with the trademark white headphones of Apple's iPod - and it's getting under the skin of management.
"About 80 percent of Microsoft employees who have a portable music player have an iPod," the source told Wired. "It irks the management team to no end."
Apparently, even Microsoft employees are not immune to the allure of the sleek iPod, which commands 65 percent of the portable player market and its iTunes Music Store 70 percent of online music sales, according to Apple.
Management has even gone so far as to send out memos discouraging the player's use on campus, causing some employees to switch out the headphones in order to remain undercover. "These guys are really quite scared," the source said. "Even though it's Microsoft, no one is interested in what we have to offer, even our own employees."
Mary Jo Foley, author of the Microsoft Watch newsletter, says she is seeing increased mentions and of the iPod and its features on Microsoft blogs.
Microsoft employee Chris Andersen recently wrote in his web log, "I picked [the iPod] up two days ago, and since have been in process of converting our 3000+ songs from WMA to MP3. I decided that I wasn't going to ever again rip to a proprietary format. I want my music where I want it, not where Microsoft or Apple dictates."
Robert Scoble, Microsoft's appointed evangelist blogger, recently wrote a public letter to Bill Gates complaining about Microsoft's lack of cool when it comes to Windows Media. "Even I want an iPod," Scoble wrote.
Wired reports that it has gotten to the point where e-mails were being sent out alerting to new shipments of the iPod at a local Apple store. However, that effort was quickly squashed by inside proponents of Microsoft's technology.
The manager said he himself owns an iPod and doesn't hide its use, no matter how others inside Microsoft feel. "If you want me to stop using it, give me a product that works and is as easy to use," he told Wired.
Neither Apple nor Microsoft would comment on the situation.
I strongly believe this is not a true story. The information age dictates that if such a memo truly existed or an email really existed we would see evidence. Microsoft is not a hardware company, and do you think they are willing to tickle the Anti-Trust laws with all that is on their plate? Come on, a real story please.
The fact is that iTunes is a port from the Mac to run on a PC. And just like every other application that has that trait, the application is slow, underdeveloped, and of moderate use.
If it was not for the iPod, no one would have ever heard of iTunes. Nor would people stand in line to use their software. I hand it to Apple, the iPod is a Xexy device (yes, I meant to spell it that way). But, Microsoft has a cast of Thousands developing Windows and Media Software and work with hardware vendors to develop devices (corrected). I am sure that Apples development is about 20% of the Microsoft number.
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|Wired is a very reputable source. Even employees like Microsoft are like the rest of us. They have brains. And some of them choose to use the iPod. It's your perogative to make a comment like that, but understand that it's severely misguided.
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|I too have an iPod. And, as I said it is a very Xexy piece of hardware. And misguided... I guess growing up in the hardware industry and running nearly every operating system since... Misguided is saying something is a very reputable source without one single quote or an official named reference... Please don't tell me you believe everything you read and even if you do... At least acknowlede that everyone has a bias in what they write. And yes, some even push an agenda. You and I are case in point! I too read wired, and they ratings are purely oppinion. And lastly, I encourage you to check the numbers on developers for each company. Being uninformed or considering somethinga a good guess should not inflate an oppinion.
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|I'm surprised apple didn't say anything about it.
It would have been funny if they gave a statement, and it consisted of one word.
"OWNED!"
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|If you've read any of my posts as of recent you know that I am quite the Microsoft advocate. I had oogled over them for some time, but had been patiently waiting to see if Microsoft would release their own player. This past summer though, I finally couldn't wait any longer. I puchased an iPod and am quite pleased with it. My friends joked that I should have had "I am so sorry Bill." engraved in the back of it. Regardless, should MS release a viable alternative I will be more than happy jump onboard. Until that happens, I will remain quite content with the iPod.
P.S. Bill, if you are reading this, I'm sorry.
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|Well, Microsoft can't be a monopoly everywhere, can it? If apple makes a vacuum cleaner, would buying a Macintosh Vacuum be betraying Microsoft? MS just isn't in the portable player market (not enough, anyway), and can't jump on this and gain ground without a huge turn towards this area in manpower and resources.
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|You'd think if it bothered Microsoft that much, they'd offer a WMP/WMA-compatible player for really cheap in their employee store. They get Microsoft software for really cheap--so I doubt many users are running out to buy Gamecube system, Quicken, Streets USA or other competing products. The iRiver players are pretty nice, and the new Creative mini player is OK, too.
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|My SigmaTel MP3 player can play both MP3 and WMA files as well as WAV files for voice recording.
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|I have a Dell DJ (15GB) and I really love it... it plays WMA, MP3 and also is a voice recorder. The GUI is very similar to the one in the iPOD and, the funny thing, is that I have some iPod owners friends that have asked me about my Dell DJ because they are tired of the battery problems with their iPods and Apple's crappy customer service. Ha!
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|why should they make a mp3 player? they dont make much hardware, and if they ruined apple in ipod sales then apple would cease to exist. then bill would get even more monopoly crap piled on him.
oh and wma sucks, i cant stand the liscensing bullcrap
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|ALL of the portables out there are overpriced! I want to choose which format I embrace... sure I use MP3 and OGG... but I also want support for lossless codecs like FLAC or APE. My portable should also allow for recording via line in to MP3 when I want compression... and FLAC when I don't! And as I said at the start... there is NO justifying a $400 price tag on what is essentially a portable hard drive! Yet the masses continue to consume these rediculous devices.
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