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stoid

macrumors 601
Original poster
Uh-oh, they're at it again. Microsoft is trying to make the iPod's lack of WMA support a must have by ONCE AGAIN forcing their (inadaquate) standards on the public. :mad: :mad:

C-net Article

edit: I just realized how ridiculous/ironic this quote is at the end!

"I'm glad to see Microsoft is taking some steps forward to help be a mediator between the hardware and software guys," said one senior executive at a digital media hardware company. "I think it's a step forward."

Microsoft taking a step forward being a step forward, now that's deep! :rolleyes: Actually, it seems that whenever Microsoft takes a step forward the industry as a whole is moved backward. *cough* IE standards *cough* Windows instability and viruses *cough* now WMA *cough cough*
 
stoid said:
Uh-oh, they're at it again. Microsoft is trying to make the iPod's lack of WMA support a must have by ONCE AGAIN forcing their (inadaquate) standards on the public. :mad: :mad:

C-net Article

edit: I just realized how ridiculous/ironic this quote is at the end!



Microsoft taking a step forward being a step forward, now that's deep! :rolleyes: Actually, it seems that whenever Microsoft takes a step forward the industry as a whole is moved backward. *cough* IE standards *cough* Windows instability and viruses *cough* now WMA *cough cough*

The article is pointless, ipod have the ability to play WMA, just they choose not to activate the feature.

https://www.macrumors.com/pages/2004/02/20040220102320.shtml
 
Someday it's all gonna fall down on Microsoft. All this **** will blow up in their face at once. I thought it'd be during the IE fiasco but they made their way through that. Hell, no one I've ever talked to personally on the internet or in person has EVER liked the quality of WMA. And the only people whom I assume use it are people who don't know any better and just use WMP to rip their music because "it's there."

Probably the downfall of MS will be a virus that deletes user data that will be unstoppable unless MS looses it's legacy control over apps. Because I doubt any congress can stop them with Bill's piggy bank looming overhead.
 
Brilliant marketing. You've got to hand it Microsoft. It's all they really do well, but man alive, they are really good at it.

If they only made good products.

Anyway, this won't work. Consumers, honest to goodness consumers who walk into CompUSA and buy a new computer every five years won't have the faintest clue what "plays for sure" means. The middle of the bell curve purchasers never educate themselves well enough to know better.

My parents still think they need to keep the screen saver on to prevent burn in.

Only honest to goodness innovation is going to beat Apple this time. The bundling with Windows is an interesting move, but I bet MS is testing the waters with this news leak first since the EU will come crashing down on this idea fast.
 
"They want to show that the Apple universe is a little one, and Microsoft is a big one," said one digital media executive familiar with the plans who asked not to be named.

What is the point of that quote, especially if you aren't going to give your name. That's like blantantly trying to be a ****head. Get your head outta your arse man....
 
i hate MS more day by day. :mad:
so many terrorist and assasins..why can't somebody hire one to get rid of bill gates? :p

i'm not suggesting anything though. :D
 
Well, this is great! Now when I buy my song from ITMS is "plays for sure" on these devices, right?

What, is doesn't?

What does "plays for sure" mean then?

Ohh, I see it means that if I buy a song, and ensure that I play it on hardware that was build to play that format, then it will play.

And that is different from iPod/ITMS how? :rolleyes:
 
stcanard said:
Well, this is great! Now when I buy my song from ITMS is "plays for sure" on these devices, right?

What, is doesn't?

What does "plays for sure" mean then?

Ohh, I see it means that if I buy a song, and ensure that I play it on hardware that was build to play that format, then it will play.

And that is different from iPod/ITMS how? :rolleyes:

It's not at all. Really if you look at it closely, Apple could be a monopoly. They control all software and hardware. You can't load OS X on an intel machine.

With Windows though, don't like Intel Processors? Then get an AMD. There is some flexibility there.

Anyways, what makes me mad about this article was that whole "Apple is tiny and therefore insignificant, Microsoft is huge and thus godly!" That's garabage. Apple may be 2% of the world, but sure as hell ain't going anywhere, everyday new converts join us. We may never be a large computer company, but hell who cares, we don't have to worry about virus' attacks, incompatibility issues, or a shotty OS. We are a thorn in Micorsoft's side...good enough.

Mike
 
"They want to show that the Apple universe is a little one, and Microsoft is a big one"
What the hell kind of--. Ok, I suppose that Apple's 70%+ share of the online music industry is small by comparison to Microsoft's... :rolleyes:
 
stcanard said:
Ohh, I see it means that if I buy a song, and ensure that I play it on hardware that was build to play that format, then it will play.

And that is different from iPod/ITMS how? :rolleyes:
Well, that on the Wintel side you get your choice of crappy-to-merely-adequate hardware to play your WMAs purchased from your choice of crappy-to-merely-adequate music stores organized on your choice of crappy-to-decent music player software, I guess. But in the end, they're still trying to force everyone to use WMA, no matter where it's coming from and what it's playing on.

I'll take the iPod + iTunes combo, thank you, even if that "locks" me into the iTMS for purchases. I think I can cope with not being able to buy my tracks at WalMart and Napster.
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
Does Microsoft know about this? If they don't, then Apple could very well pull a huge surprise on them. If they do, then they run the risk of their program backfiring when Apple enables WMA play on iPods.

Haha! Man wouldn't that be a great way to burn them. I would like to think that they know something about that, since they are in the business and all. But it really wouldn't surprise me if they had no idea that could be done.
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
Does Microsoft know about this? If they don't, then Apple could very well pull a huge surprise on them. If they do, then they run the risk of their program backfiring when Apple enables WMA play on iPods.

Umm yes, which ever company made the chip had to lisence WMA format from Mircrosoft to use it.
 
superbovine said:
Umm yes, which ever company made the chip had to lisence WMA format from Mircrosoft to use it.
Um, not necessarily...MS may have needed to approve use of a WMA decoder, yet not have been notified that Apple is using that chip in their iPod music player, because the chip maker would be the one that told MS (if they told MS at all).
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
Um, not necessarily...MS may have needed to approve use of a WMA decoder, yet not have been notified that Apple is using that chip in their iPod music player, because the chip maker would be the one that told MS (if they told MS at all).

It doesn't work that way. They would have to reverse engineer the WMA format to put it on the chip otherwise they would been sued from microsoft. The easiest way would be to just license the thing from microsoft.

looking at the company website you see that in fact they working with microsoft.

http://portalplayer.com/alliances/technology_providers.htm


Cornice

Cypress

Eastman Kodak Company

Fraunhofer

Hitachi

ImpulseSoft

LinearTechnology Corporation

Microsoft®

Octiv

OmniVision Technologies

RealNetworks®

Royal Philips Electronics

SanDisk Corporation

Sony Corporation

Synaptics®

Toshiba America Consumer Products, UC

VoiceAge Corporation

Wolfson

 
Brother Michael said:
It's not at all. Really if you look at it closely, Apple could be a monopoly. They control all software and hardware. You can't load OS X on an intel machine.

With Windows though, don't like Intel Processors? Then get an AMD. There is some flexibility there.

Anyways, what makes me mad about this article was that whole "Apple is tiny and therefore insignificant, Microsoft is huge and thus godly!" That's garabage. Apple may be 2% of the world, but sure as hell ain't going anywhere, everyday new converts join us. We may never be a large computer company, but hell who cares, we don't have to worry about virus' attacks, incompatibility issues, or a shotty OS. We are a thorn in Micorsoft's side...good enough.

Mike


Lol, I don't know where you hard core mac guys get this virus **** and shotty OS stuff but in reality I use a PC everyday and have never had thoes problems. Probably because I'm not a ****ing idiot. Are you trying to say, if you are a ****ing idiot and can't keep your computer clean then change to a mac?
 
MrJohnson said:
Lol, I don't know where you hard core mac guys get this virus **** and shotty OS stuff but in reality I use a PC everyday and have never had thoes problems. Probably because I'm not a ****ing idiot. Are you trying to say, if you are a ****ing idiot and can't keep your computer clean then change to a mac?
With my PC I have a FireWall, Virus Scanner, Spyware blocker, Spyware scanner, and need to constantly work on it to make sure it works right. Even then it gives me issues. And no, I don't do stupid things like download pr0n or open weird attachments from people I don't know. And yes, I know what I'm doing.

On my Mac I have the firewall enabled (sometimes), and repair permissions once in awhile. I don't need to work on it much. Most of the time it just works.

Both are secure. One I work hard to make sure it's in good shape. The other, like I said, just works. That is the beauty of the Mac OS. That, and no registry. I could go from there, but I have a feeling I'm wasting my breath (fingers) on someone who refers to us as you guys and has to be bleeped so much.

Back on subject, this is one of the many reasons why I hate M$.

Apple = we want to be the best.
Microsoft = we want to be the market leader. Even if our product is inferior. Resistance is futile.

Edit: BTW... yes, if you're an idiot a Mac is perfect for you. Same as if you're lazy. Or if you just want to, you know, do what you want to do without all the hassle. If Windows isn't a hassle for you, you must not be using it right.

Feel free to use that.
 
solvs said:
With my PC I have a FireWall, Virus Scanner, Spyware blocker, Spyware scanner, and need to constantly work on it to make sure it works right. Even then it gives me issues. And no, I don't do stupid things like download pr0n or open weird attachments from people I don't know. And yes, I know what I'm doing.

On my Mac I have the firewall enabled (sometimes), and repair permissions once in awhile. I don't need to work on it much. Most of the time it just works.

Both are secure. One I work hard to make sure it's in good shape. The other, like I said, just works. That is the beauty of the Mac OS. That, and no registry. I could go from there, but I have a feeling I'm wasting my breath (fingers) on someone who refers to us as you guys and has to be bleeped so much.

Back on subject, this is one of the many reasons why I hate M$.

Apple = we want to be the best.
Microsoft = we want to be the market leader. Even if our product is inferior. Resistance is futile.

Edit: BTW... yes, if you're an idiot a Mac is perfect for you. Same as if you're lazy. Or if you just want to, you know, do what you want to do without all the hassle. If Windows isn't a hassle for you, you must not be using it right.

Feel free to use that.
solvs:
What a great post - it highlights all the reasons I prefer the Mac OS to Windows. It also explains why Microsoft products can be so flaky/buggy yet still succeed. BTW, I also use common sense when it comes to email attachments - people have (stupidly) in the past tried to send me Windows viruses on my Mac's email account.
 
MrJohnson said:
Lol, I don't know where you hard core mac guys get this virus **** and shotty OS stuff but in reality I use a PC everyday and have never had thoes problems. Probably because I'm not a ****ing idiot. Are you trying to say, if you are a ****ing idiot and can't keep your computer clean then change to a mac?

90% of all Windows users fit in that category of idiots. They continue to deal with problems. A bunch only do basic tasks like Word, email, chat, and web browsing. They don't even take advantage of the things that Windows does better than Macs (Games, software selection and rare applications). I use to be a hard core Windows guy and agree with what you say. If you know what your doing then you never get those problems. Part of it is luck when Microsoft doesn't have a patch available yet for a known problem or you have to connect to the network to get the patch with a unpatched PC.
 
BornAgainMac said:
90% of all Windows users fit in that category of idiots. They continue to deal with problems. A bunch only do basic tasks like Word, email, chat, and web browsing. They don't even take advantage of the things that Windows does better than Macs (Games, software selection and rare applications). I use to be a hard core Windows guy and agree with what you say. If you know what your doing then you never get those problems. Part of it is luck when Microsoft doesn't have a patch available yet for a known problem or you have to connect to the network to get the patch with a unpatched PC.

The problem comes when they get the mac and it all just works that they then want to play games :D
 
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