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Microsoft Businesses Apple

Microsoft Unhappy With HP's iTunes Decision 1020

rbrandis writes "The general manager of Microsoft's Windows digital media division David Fester has suggested that iTunes' emerging dominance would be bad for consumers, because it would limit them to the iPod, as opposed to limiting them to Microsoft based products. In a moment of what must have been an attempt at ironic humor he said, 'Windows is about choice - you can mix and match software and music player stuff. We believe you should have the same choice when it comes to music services.'"
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Microsoft Unhappy With HP's iTunes Decision

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  • NEWS FLASH! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Aliencow ( 653119 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @10:47PM (#7958932) Homepage Journal
    Microsoft not happy that people take advantage of their own non-Microsoft monopolies!

    Why don't they sue Apple ? Hell, iTunes is bundled with OS X! Because they'll bundle a music store with media player soon enough... and try to kill iTunes completely.
  • by flynns ( 639641 ) <{moc.spggodpot} {ta} {naes}> on Monday January 12, 2004 @10:49PM (#7958944) Homepage Journal
    If HP/Apple can get iPods to chat with HP Windows boxen, can we get them to talk to Linux as well? Has this already been done?
  • MS = Choice = BAH! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by spoco2 ( 322835 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @10:53PM (#7958988)
    Crap Microsoft, Crap indeed. You are now lying through your... well, backside. MS = Choice my arse.

    Microsoft is ALL about cornering you into using MS products...

    PRIME example is their damn Movie Maker 2... quite nice program to use (I haven't used iMovie, so I can't compare), but then try and save... "Hmmm, I'd like to save to an open format that pretty much anyone can play... VCD or SVCD, or perhaps just plain MPEG would be nice." "Hmmm, I seem to ONLY be able to save to MS formats unless I have a few gig free to save out to a straight DV dump and then use someone else's program to convert to a more user friendly format, so really I'm forcing anyone who wants to watch movies I've made to have an MS compatible player"

    "Hmmm, MS can blow me, and blow me hard"
  • Betamax vs. VHS (Score:5, Interesting)

    by davejenkins ( 99111 ) <slashdot AT davejenkins DOT com> on Monday January 12, 2004 @10:54PM (#7959000) Homepage
    Yes, it is an old example, and yes, it is simplistic-- but it is still very relevant: Betamax vs. VHS.

    Sony had a superior quality format for videotape (betamax), but wouldn't share with anyone. Meanwhile, Panasonic, Philips, and others all got together and agreed on VHS format. Competition brought lower priced machines, and eventually VHS killed betamax for home use.

    Microsoft is half-right: it is about choice-- but it must ALL be available for choice: the hardware, the OS, the apps, the data format. Only true, open standards under a GPL, LGPL, or other similar "free to evolve independent of any single vendor"-type license will work in the long run.
  • No monopoly for MS (Score:2, Interesting)

    by zem_11 ( 729831 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @10:55PM (#7959010)
    Its great that users have even more of a choice with HP getting involved with iPod - heck, it may even push the price down. And the alternative is to use a Dell player and MS s/ware? Pfff ... that's not a choice.

    The point on interoperability is so true: Apple started to bridge the divide - in online music at least - with iPod/iTunes for Windows. Now HP are going to help bridge this further (and make $$'s from it of course).

    So just how many brownie points did Dell earn with the "we love the MS monopoly"?
  • Honest Question (Score:5, Interesting)

    by cmason32 ( 636063 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @10:56PM (#7959022)
    Is there anything preventing other companies from making an mp3 player that would play iTMS files? I realize that other companies can make players that play the AAC format, but is Apple preventing them from accessing the DRM?
  • by lesburn1 ( 93956 ) <leslie.burnettNO@SPAMverizon.net> on Monday January 12, 2004 @10:56PM (#7959032)
    I seem to me that any program that takes over your computer when used, and opens up browsers and pop-up windows should be called a virus.
  • After all . . . (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Mikey-San ( 582838 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:00PM (#7959072) Homepage Journal
    If you can't beat 'em, FUD 'em.

    Remember, kiddies, that Microsoft is never about competing. Otherwise, they'd still be working on IE for Mac OS X, instead of complaining that another browser beat them.

    Take your toys and go home, I say. We don't want you here.
  • by ironicsky ( 569792 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:01PM (#7959082) Journal
    Microsoft if worried about Apple gaining a monopoly on MP3 players... So what is microsoft then? an entry level company trying to gain a footstep in the industry? Microsoft is just worried that people will stop using their substandard equipment and software to use something superior.

    Thats one reason why I dont have an Ipod now is the lack of WMA support. My Creative MP3 player will play pretty much anything I tell it too.. Including microsofts limited wma files.

    Once apple gains a foot hold more or less it will be better for the consumer

    If I had a choice of 10 crappy products or one good product on the market I'd take the 1 good product

  • by zbaron ( 649094 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:07PM (#7959152)
    Over time we will see the industry decide what will be used as a standard for the distribution of digital audio, I guess Dell and friends just don't want the "industry standard" to turn out to be MPEG-4/AAC.
  • by superpulpsicle ( 533373 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:10PM (#7959171)
    This is why the press has to learn not to ever interview MS employees. Their answers are completely retarded 90% of the time, no matter how high up the ladder they are.

    Didn't they ask Bill Gates what was the future of PCs in the mid 90s and he failed to mention the internet. iPod might be overrated, but Microsoft is really really overrated.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:10PM (#7959177)
    I don't think MS is b*tching because it has anything to do with choice or their own music service as that will surely just be another thing for them to waste money in as have all their other projects that provide no real profit...

    No I think this is MS looking ahead to DRM and their next OS platform...will it still be adopted as the RIAA hopes if there are other more "standard" systems out there not under their control? Suddenly people will realize they don't need to buy an entire new OS/platform to be DRM compliant...they are worried iTunes will become a standard...something that will prevent them from force feeding us their own standard in their next OS.
  • by Soko ( 17987 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:16PM (#7959237) Homepage
    I think you're right. According to Carly,

    "The next big thing isn't the next gizmo or killer app or hot box. Customers want all this to work together and they want a seamless approach. We're very much going to make sure that the Microsoft and Apple worlds work together. That's part of the power we bring to this thing."

    meaning HP is treating Microsoft as just another supplier, where Dell can't.

    So, IMHO, because HPs CEO has more balls ;^D than Dell's CEO, they're willing to go against "industry standards", namely anything Microsoft tries to cram down thier throats, and give customers what they want.

    Yay competition!

    Soko
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:19PM (#7959268)
    Also, it appears that Real Networks [eetimes.com] is switching to AAC.
  • Other AAC Players (Score:3, Interesting)

    by The Herbaliser ( 660976 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:24PM (#7959316)
    Although I'm having trouble figuring out whether they'll work with the iTunes DRM. Anyone know? Clearly, if they don't now, newer models will (since there's lots of software that is compatible with the iTunes DRM, so it would just be a matter of time).
  • WHO is David Fester? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Crypto Gnome ( 651401 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:29PM (#7959361) Homepage Journal
    "We are going to produce a patch that should be up within a week," said Microsoft's David Fester, group product manager for Internet Explorer. "We'll put up that patch as quick as we can."

    Internet Explorer Bug Makes a Return Visit [wired.com]

    In 1998 he was the management flunky most directly responsible for all those MSIE bugs.

    "On the one hand, they say they're pursuing standards, but they're implementing and pushing proprietary technology with their development community," Microsoft product manager David Fester said. "Microsoft has pledged 100 percent standards support for some time. The truth is in the pudding and the products."

    Pot, Kettle Black (netscape, microsoft , standards, name-calling) [com.com]

    Wednesday's Windows Media announcements are specific to XP, said David Fester, general manager of Microsoft's Windows Digital Media division. "These are companies that are doing things specifically around XP," he said. "As you know, our Windows Media effort is broader than just XP."

    Windows Media announced for MAC/Linux/Solaris (not) [com.com]

    "This is unprecedented, but we realized we need to work together [with Netscape] for the common good. We decided we should not propose separate standards for privacy software." David Fester, Microsoft, June 97

    More Outright Lies from David Fester [tprc.org]

    Tell me again why I want to listen to *anything* this man has to say.
  • by the eric conspiracy ( 20178 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:31PM (#7959379)
    could someone please explain why microsoft is generally anti-choice?

    Because they cram their OS down the throats of computer sellers. It is not easy to buy a desktop without MS installed, nearly impossible to buy a laptop without MS installed.

    Because they cram all of Office down your throat when all you want is MS Word.

    windows is built to give people the opportunity to choose whatever they want to do.

    What if I want to uninstall Internet Explorer?

    look at windows media player - it plays EVERYTHING.

    It plays stuff so long as it doesn't run into DRM issues.

    apple on the other hand forces people to do certain things

    Apple has the same problems MS has. The issue is that there are other choices than MS and Apple. Choices that give you REAL freedom.

  • by Coryoth ( 254751 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:35PM (#7959396) Homepage Journal
    "Industry standard choices" means WMA, WMV, MPEG-2, MPEG-4.

    Non-industry standards are Vorbis, FLAC, among others.


    Well, either Vorbis is a standard because it's an effective and open standard, or you're talking about "Industry Standard" in terms of what gets most popularly used, which is, I assume, what you mean.

    Welcome to Apple's plan: AAC will be an industry standard by that measure very soon. Especially if they keep having sponsired song giveaways on iTMS. Industry standards can (and will) change.

    Jedidiah.
  • Re:choice? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by whittrash ( 693570 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:35PM (#7959398) Journal
    This come from the Iraqi information minister? The Windows people are just shitting their pants because this will mean HP will beat them to market, they will have cooler designs and a better infrastructure in place when the battle for music dominance begins. This is a wedge into their tight little monopoly and they are freaking out. I am sure Apple will find a way to screw this up though.
  • by 1 inch punch ( 319701 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:41PM (#7959447)
    This is 1984, all over again. Only this time, the roles are reversed.

    This is affirmed by the fact that the 1984 ad that was played during MWSF had an iPod digitally grafted on to the woman throwing the hammer.

    Apple is now the dominant manufacturer of portable music playback devices and has assumed the role of IBM. The licensing of the iPod and iTMS is a move straight out of the IBM playbook 20 years ago.
  • by tenzig_112 ( 213387 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:50PM (#7959507) Homepage
    Three months ago I saw this parody article, and now it's come true. Some the quotes in it are now downright prescient:

    Under Anti-Trust Pressure, Apple Releases iTunes for Windows [ridiculopathy.com]
  • Re:Betamax vs. VHS (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Josuah ( 26407 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @12:02AM (#7959583) Homepage
    Sony had a superior quality format for videotape (betamax), but wouldn't share with anyone. Meanwhile, Panasonic, Philips, and others all got together and agreed on VHS format. Competition brought lower priced machines, and eventually VHS killed betamax for home use.

    So, seems like Apple is aware of this and thus sharing with quite a few people: Pepsi, Windows, HP, etc. And they certainly haven't been timid about signing up as many celebrities as they can to promote the iPod and the iTMS. It would've been kind of hard for a movie star to walk around with their betamax player, but the iPod is the new Air Jordan.
  • by drskrud ( 684409 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @12:06AM (#7959613) Homepage
    So why can't portable music players be able to play more than one form of digital music? Is it so impossible to have a player that can play both WMA and AAC? Why? Is it possible for companies to make a player that not only can play multiple audio formats but also have the ability to add a codec so you can play additional ones? That's something I'd like to see... by a player... and play any format...
  • Re:NEWS FLASH! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by 6.023e23 ( 738640 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @12:07AM (#7959615)
    Of course, it speaks volumes that Microsoft is sufficiently concerned about the Apple/HP agreement that they bother to fire up the FUD Cannon(tm) so soon. Seems to me that having this agreement come out on the heels of the IBM desktop migration announcement might be turning up the heat in Redmond...

    We can only hope.
  • by thelaw ( 100964 ) <spam@ceras[ ].org ['tes' in gap]> on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @12:07AM (#7959616) Homepage
    so what, exactly, is unethical about moving jobs overseas? and is this statement supposed to cast doubt on the wisdom of going with iTunes?

    jon
  • Have you counted? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by harlows_monkeys ( 106428 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @12:10AM (#7959646) Homepage
    Go to BestBuy or CircuitCity or any electronics store, and count. There is at most one player that plays iTunes music: iPod. There will be several players from several different companies that play WMA.

    In this case, Microsoft is right. Of all the DRM'ed music formats, Apple's verison of AAC offers the least choice to the consumer.

  • by jbischof ( 139557 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @12:37AM (#7959840) Journal
    I mean compare Apple and Windows. Apple supports a very small select group of software and hardware. With windows you can choose from just about any device on the market. Why do you think so many drivers come with the OS and so much legacy support has to stick around. Apple designs all their products, so making sure they are fully supported and work well is easy.

    Now I do think that they are unfairly trying to force people to use IE and Windows Media Player, but that doesn't mean you can't install and use something else.

  • by jkabbe ( 631234 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @12:38AM (#7959848)
    And as to why HP would continue to sell PC's if they are losing money, there are a few possibilities:

    1) they may hope to make money in the future (I am sure of this :)

    2) they may make enough on peripheral sales with PC's to offset the loss on the PC

    for instance, if they lose $1 per PC sold by on one out of every 3 PC's sold they sell a peripheral making them $4 then they have a motivation to keep selling PCs

    3) to be considered a serious tech player they need to sell PCs

    just some thoughts I had....
  • Re:choice? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Lehk228 ( 705449 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @12:47AM (#7959891) Journal
    Are you forgetting any CD player? iTunes lets you burn your music to CD, so the limited support for protected AAC isn't that big a deal
  • Re:choice? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by alex_ant ( 535895 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @12:47AM (#7959896) Homepage Journal
  • Two (Score:2, Interesting)

    by hawaiian717 ( 559933 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @12:52AM (#7959936) Homepage
    1. Mac OS X
    2. Mac OS Classic
  • Ohh no! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by miffo.swe ( 547642 ) <daniel.hedblom@g ... ODom minus punct> on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @12:58AM (#7959970) Homepage Journal
    Everyone isnt using windows for everything! How terrible!

    This is all about MS history biting them in the ass. Their previous records of ass fucking every possible partner has gotten into the heads of people. You cant trust MS and thus you team up with ABM.
  • Irony! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Tony ( 765 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @01:18AM (#7960068) Journal
    WTF are you talking about? The OS doesn't support devices or software. Hardware vendors produce drivers; that is why Microsoft is able to (legitimately) claim that 70% of all MS-Windows failures are due to bad drivers. It is the hardware vendors that produce the drivers to the OS, not the other way 'round.

    Same with software. Software is targetted *toward* an OS; the operating system is (hardly) never written towards an application.

    Microsoft has made a company from destroying competition, yet (ironically) a lot of software is targetted toward the MS-Windows operating system.

    This is due mostly to Microsoft's early control of the hardware distribution chain. By controlling the software that was installed when there was very little choice, they have managed to lock out other software from being included today. Since that control translated to 90% desktop market share, other software companies felt they were safe targetting the MS-Windows platform.

    Apple does not have a history of driving other software companies out of business by bundling their own software with their OS; Microsoft does have that reputation. So your comments are extremely ironic, and display a certain ignorance of history.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @01:26AM (#7960113)
    Show me a team that doesn't want to win, whose rhetoric doesn't include 'kill kill conquer prevail' and I'll show you a losing team.

    Go ahead and blather about their locker room talk over at Microsoft. There isn't another company in the world (except, maybe, loser companies) that doesn't have the same goals.
  • by shadowmatter ( 734276 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @01:40AM (#7960177)
    It's not really that simple, as a little rewording shows:

    "Geeks want everyone to use Linux distros, obviously developed by geeks*.

    Microsoft wants us to use Windows, developed by Microsoft.

    Last time I looked my dad's laptop, roommate's PC, boss' PDA, etc etc etc all have a Microsoft OS, not a Linux OS.

    It's a simple choice."

    A product choice should not always be based on inertia. Since the MP3 player market since is so young, there isn't much inertia to begin with. Try quality, price, support, and other merits first.

    * I apologize to those of you who have contributed to a Linux distro, but are not geeks. I didn't mean you, honestly ;)
  • Re:choice (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Trillan ( 597339 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @01:53AM (#7960242) Homepage Journal

    It also integrates with the Sony Clie and many other Palms with the help of MarkSpace's Missing Sync product.

  • Re:Honest Question (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jaysones ( 138378 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @01:59AM (#7960278)
    No, in fact the recently released RealPlayer 10 will play iTunes purchased music [arstechnica.com].
  • by NortWind ( 575520 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @02:02AM (#7960293)
    You can't be a winning company in the long haul by worrying too hard about the next quarter, and being willing to abuse your customers in order to make that quarter look good. MS is busy thinking about ways to make personal computing more expensive to the customers, and more profitable to themselves. In order to get ever-higher returns, they need to have ever-tighter lock-ins. Some are going to chafe eventually. I believe that cutting back on users' choises will hurt MS in the end, although I have to admit it is working just fine for them now.
  • Re:Irony! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jbischof ( 139557 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @02:18AM (#7960365) Journal
    It doesn't matter who writes the driver for my digital camera, it still works on windows, like most digital cameras. If you want to be able to use the most hardware and run the most apps then use Windows.

    Microsoft, however, might have used monopolistic tactics to promote their OS and other apps. I suppose it is (ironically, as you claim) because of these tactics that Windows is the more widely used OS and therefore the one more software writers target. MS, of course, exposes and documents their API and DDI so that more applications and devices can use windows and help it propogate.

    All I am trying to say is that Apple, in general, has fewer devices and programs that can run on it. It seems like nearly all the hardware you can use on an Apple is sold by Apple themselves.

  • Re:Other AAC Players (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MoneyT ( 548795 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @02:32AM (#7960428) Journal
    Except here we have this whole article about HP and Apple teaming up for HPs new player and unless I'm reading the press release wrong, HPs player is not the same thing as an iPod. It's based on the technology (read DRM) and be compatible with the iTMS. I think in the case of the iPod, that Apple will be more open to clones, as long as they can retain the edge of being one step ahead of everyone else. Plus, while they do make money off iPod, Apple is still a computer company, so anything which gets their tech and their name out there, is going to bring people one step closer to maybe buying a mac the next time arround. As an anecdotal bit of evidence to this, I have a friend who swore up and down she would never buy a mac. Then when iTunes was released, I convinced her to download it and give it a try. In 2 days, she was hooked on it. This year, she got an iPod, and loves it. And then she saw the stuff on Garageband and some of the other stuff Apple is putting out and she's almost sure that her next computer will be a mac.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @02:42AM (#7960467)
    You can't have'em all Microsoft! Apple took the risk and launched the iTunes service before you did and now that it became somewhat successful you're all pissed that it weren't MS, right?

    Microsoft is never more dangerous than when they are losing to a competitor and everyone knows it. Look what they did to Netscape, fer chrissakes. Netscape went from 85% market share, to a stripped carcass in the dumpster behind AOL HQ. Took a while, but it happened.

    I'm just wondering when Microsoft will adapt that tactic to fight off the iPod, and start giving away WMA-based digital music players... boxed with copies of Windows, perhaps? Or available for ordering on their site, for just the cost of shipping. Prolly get away with it, too, if the fucking Republicans stay in power.
  • by GrnArmadillo ( 697378 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @02:45AM (#7960481)
    Not that MS wouldn't repeat the same party line, but I coulda sworn I saw a very similar if not identical quote when iTunes for Windows came out a few months back. It just jumped out at me (then and now) for the sheer absurdity of MS arguing FOR choice....
  • by JPriest ( 547211 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @02:46AM (#7960487) Homepage
    The iPod is nearly the only success story in paid music, why would HP select anything else?
  • by hankmask ( 592129 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @04:42AM (#7960935)
    Don't count Sony out. They will launched their own online music store in the spring and will be using their own codec ATRAC. Might not mean anything to the US markets but if you ride the train in Japan you see everyone with MD players.
  • Asking about where to get fairplay returns a "currently under development and not able to buy" webpage. I also find it extremely hard to believe that you can simply license fairplay from veridisc and then use it to play apple AAC's. If I had to guess each fairplay system you order is custom to the relative customer.

    Err.. they license the tech but maybe each person has a unique key to decode their particular DRM content. Otherwise one of the major MP3 player manufactures would license fairplay and tout their player as being able to play AAC's and WMA's.
  • by kf6auf ( 719514 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @05:20AM (#7961037)
    "We expect competition and it's good for customers. Over time, however, customers will want industry standard choices.'' Translation: We will force "industry-standardized" choices down their throats no matter what the competition tries to feed them. It seems that Dell is becoming more and more of Microsoft's puppet. On another note, isn't the fact that HP is coming out with something to work with iTunes proof that this statement was made by an ignorant fool: "General manager of Microsoft's Windows digital media division David Fester has suggested that iTunes' emerging dominance would be bad for consumers, because it would limit them to the iPod."
  • Re:choice (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Alan Partridge ( 516639 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @06:19AM (#7961165) Journal
    Well, quite - I use iTunes on my Mac in conjunction with Aeroplayer on my Palm Tungsten T2 - sure my 512MB SD card doesn't have iPod rivalling capacity, but I only walk 2 miles to work so it's not like I've got time to listen to THAT much stuff anyway. I use iTunes the old fashioned way - non-DRM, high bit rate, MP3 style.

    And I like it!
  • by MacDaffy ( 28231 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @06:31AM (#7961195)
    I mean compare Apple and Windows. Apple supports a very small select group of software and hardware. With windows you can choose from just about any device on the market. Why do you think so many drivers come with the OS and so much legacy support has to stick around. Apple designs all their products, so making sure they are fully supported and work well is easy.
    Sounds like you've lost track of the direction the industry's been taking the last several years. First of all, you can use standard memory, monitors, disk drives, media and peripherals in a Mac. Apple invented IEEE 1394 (Firewire) and popularized USB by including it in the iMac in 1997. Apple led the way in establishing 802.11b as the wireless standard and doubtless had a hand in the promulgation of 802.11g. Centrino is a late entry to the game.

    Secondly, the entire PC industry is trending toward "legacy-free" connections. Namely, Firewire and USB. Floppies, serial ports, parallel ports, ISA--all these are being wrung out of the computing marketplace. And what was the prototype for this movement? Again, the iMac.

    Third, Apple has adopted Open Source software. This allows users the chance to make changes they deem necessary at a much more fundamental level than is possible with Microsoft.

    My basic peeve with Microsoft is that they actively diminish the computing experience in service to their own ends. Their website looks better with their products. Media plays more smoothly with their software. Crucial features in the Windows versions of their products are missing from the Macintosh version. They corrupt standards in service to their bottom line (e.g. Kerberos, SMB, Java) or freeze out popular standards for the sake of their agenda (e.g. MP3). They don't tend to compete by being the best; they compete by leveling things to the lowest common denominator--which happens to be Windows.

    Sure, Apple is proprietary. You pasted the reason in the last sentence of your post. But don't think for a moment that Microsoft isn't as proprietary as it thinks it needs to be.
  • Re:NEWS FLASH! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by TVC15 ( 518429 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @09:24AM (#7961768)
    Thats odd. I have the exact opposite reaction to iTMS. I have an iPod to play the non-DRM AAC files I rip from my CDs. But won't buy from the music store until they provide .ogg files. My assumption is that if/when the iPod supports ogg, I can simply re-rip my CDs but the AAC files from the music store would be stuck (unless Apple allowed one to trade AAC format for .ogg, but I dont see that happening). The conversion from AAC->CD->OGG is just too painful to contemplate. (Effort and loss)
  • What's the big deal? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by macthulhu ( 603399 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @09:47AM (#7961915)
    It seems simple to me. If you like ITMS and iTunes or the iPod, Apple and HP will have those available to you. If you don't like them... Don't buy them. Vote with your dollars. Microsoft is mad because Apple finally figured out how to let everyone know they beat Microsoft to the punch. Whether you like Apple or not, it's about freakin' time they started getting some press with the products they release. I happen to like the service and the gear, so I can only try to reassure you that it's worth the money, and I have yet to have their DRM get in the way of anything I want to do. It sounds to me like Microsoft is feeling the burn from people exploring choices other than them. In that statement, I mean to include not only Apple products, but also OSS. I thought they were all about innovation driving market share?
  • Re:NEWS FLASH! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Durandal64 ( 658649 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @11:19AM (#7962547)
    DRM is a part of the MPEG-4 spec. Apple isn't Microsofting the standard, if that's what you're implying.
  • by smadnessness ( 702008 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @11:40AM (#7962762)
    He means that with a Microsoft OS you can choose where to buy your processor, where to buy your motherboard, your video card, etc, etc. With Apple, there is just the one vendor since Apple killed off the cloners, and if you want to use the hardware, you pay whatever Apple wants to charge for it.

    And look what happens when you buy all your hardware from random sources and piece it all together... you get so many machines that lock up for no reason at all. This is not the way Apple wants it. We don't pay Apple for superior hardware, we pay for a machine that works, and works rather flawlessly. (and looks damn fine while doing so.)
  • by dcaulton ( 621302 ) on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @02:39PM (#7964549)
    Not quite. Apple wants everyone to use Fairplay-encrypted-AAC, developed by and only available to apple.

You don't have to know how the computer works, just how to work the computer.

Working...