“Microsoft is indeed developing a digital-media player to compete with Apple’s iPod, and there’s much more to the story,” Brier Dudley reports for The Seattle Times.
“A few details trickled out last week from music companies that Microsoft is lining up to support the device. Microsoft isn’t commenting, but I was able to piece together a broader picture with some research, reporting and information from a source close to the project. What’s being developed is actually a complete line of Xbox-branded digital-media products, including a device that plays media, a software media player and an online media service,” Dudley reports.
“The project, or at least part of it, is referred to internally at Microsoft by the code name Argo — a reference to the huge warship used by the hero Jason in Greek mythology,” Dudley reports. Microsoft “is firmly behind Argo. It has committed hundreds of millions to produce and market the devices… the device is expected to go on sale by Christmas. It has Wi-Fi capability so it can connect wirelessly to home and public networks and other players.”
Dudley reports, “It’s a grand plan, but as with a few other big projects in Redmond, it may be a struggle to get it all done by the end of 2006. The project isn’t completed yet, the holidays are approaching fast and the team is under intense pressure to get everything absolutely right.”
Full article here.
Microsoft’s team is “under intense pressure to get everything absolutely right” and we all know how often Microsoft gets “everything absolutely right,” now, don’t we? So, when pigs fly or Vista ships, whichever comes first. We’re not so sure that “Argo” is being used as a reference to Jason’s ship; to us, it sounds more like this Argo than anything else.
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More like an Edsel, eh? 1st?
Shareholders in Microsoft are going to get fed up with the failures, lateness of everything and now chasing a category that is already lost.
They should rise up and deamnd that this bunch of incompetent assholes focus on markets that are not already lost.
Funny, there was an Apple automobile manufacturer in 1917 that didn’t last a year….
Kinda reminds me of Rev. Rob of Apple Auto Deals in Charlotte…..their motto is: “Apple Auto Sales – we’ll heal your credit!”
Does my post have any major contributions to MDN or the world? No, but neither does M$ vaporware… So let’s call it even.
Building upon the XBox brand is probably a wise move to help sell the devices. Unless, of course, the items fail in the marketplace and bring down the Xbox brand in the process.
Yeh-heh-hehesssss . . . this project should be finished at de same time Vista is up and running with zero problems.
Or whenever Michael Jackson decides to act black again.
Whichever comes first.
Microsoft must get at least a few things right. They are the biggest, most successful software company in the world and among the most successful companies ever. That must count for something, don’t you think? I mean you don’t get to be that successful by doing things mostly wrong….wouldn’t you say.
I doubt S.J. underestimates them as much as the MDN crowd does.
What’s funny is that just above the short lived ‘Argo’ automobile fron MDN’s link, there was an equally unsuccessful ‘Apple’ car listed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_(automobile)
not that it means anything.
So, could this project may be why Vista is again fodder for delays? This is more top MS engineers who are not working on the Windows OS…
toonie: Microsoft made most of their money by benefitting from what amounts to a tax on over 90% of all PCs sold. Even if the OEMs wanted to sell the machines without an OS, or with Linux for example, they had to pay MS a per machine OEM license for all their machines sold, or risk MS’s ire and get hit with higher costs on Windows installs. More like being coerced into paying MS for something whether you want it or not. Let’s not get into how MS screwed IBM and Apple in the past on OS issues after supposedly working in some form of cooperation. Just don’t get me started, the story is a pretty ugly one.
The war is heating up. Interesting, indeed.
“the holidays are approaching fast and the team is under intense pressure to get everything absolutely right.””
Translation: Microsoft managers are jsut trying to get it done, slashing every possible feature they can before the have to commit to production.
You’ll be able to get a Microsoft branded music player that INCLUDES an ON button by next summer. For holiday buying season they will just be blank, featureless grey boxes.
In Canada Argo means a second rate football team.
Or maybe it’s this “argot” —
ORIGIN mid 19th cent.(originally denoting the jargon or slang of criminals): from French, of unknown origin.
seriously, whats up with all the microsoft stories?
but in regards to the product, how many people are really going to be wooed by this new product? the xbox-brand is only popular with a certain target market, and i’d say it is a minority group out of the entire market possibly. so naturally the question is how many xbox-related media players can they push on people that really dont see the xbox as a favorable thing?
Microsoft doesn’t give a ratts *ss about the operating system VIsta for consumers, it’s all about pushing thier own hardware device (the X-Box) as a consumer PC in to the homes.
This is why they take such a big hit on it, selling it cheap. Same thing with Sony.
What people are predicting is that the personal home computer as we know it will be gone, there will be little use for it. Replaced either with X-Boxes or Playstations with keyboards, mice and hooked up to the television.
So Microsoft is going to leverage their X-Box to get the kiddies to buy a M$ player, of course it will be DRMEd to their eyeballs and nobody will want it.
I own an Xbox 360 and it is the biggest POS I have ever owned. I got it back in March but have had it in my home for only a month. I am on my 5th one and waiting on the 6th one to arrive. They keep breaking – not overheating but other random stupid issues mostly involving the software. I can only imagine how many of their other devices will act based on my time with the 360. Wii is on my wish list. Xbox is on my eBay seller list.
It looks like I may finally have a good oppertunity to sell my MSFT stock at a profit and buy Apple! Just my guess that there will be a bunch of boneheads who buy up MSFT stock thinking that they may have turned the corner or some other wishful thinking.
The Argo was named vaingloriously after the shipwright that built her for Jason. It was not a huge ship as this idiot says, it was probably only 60 feet long.
All sounds very appropriate for another vaporous Microsoft product launch to me.
God I hope MS employees don’t read MDN. I’d feel really responsible when they all jump out 4th floor windows…
When did Michael Jackson act black?
Competition is great for Apple consumers!
Go for it Microsoft – this can only push Apple to bring out better products faster and cheaper!
Hey, Queezzie:
Competition would be good. But Micro$oft’s modus operandi is to sell at a loss – the XBox figures appear to be near $100 per box sold – until they buy the market share to dominate. Then they’ll collect their tax just like they have on Windoze all these years — at the consumer’s expense. The very one’s for whom “competition” is supposed to be good.
Isn’t capitalism just a great system rewarding only the innovator, ceterus paribus!
Gizmodo’s reporting an ipod nano competitor may be nemaed the Pixas. Read: picks ass.
Good one, M$. I can’t wait to see the next best thing– the Dumas. Or, the Pixnos, or the Suxnuts, or the Lixas.
Yay for names! Fun!
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They are going to just let every single other company that uses their software die? Creative and all the Japanese companies? As soon as they do this shouldn’t Apple just licence iTunes to every OTHER mp3 maker and collect a royalty. Kind of like……Windoze?
“As soon as they do this shouldn’t Apple just licence iTunes to every OTHER mp3 maker and collect a royalty.”
Actually, that’s not a horrible idea…
When Pepsico bought out Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell, and Burger King, they didn’t sell Coca-Cola products anymore. Only Pepsi. Coca-Cola went into overdrive selling Coca-Cola products to restaurant chains. Their argument was, “Hey, look, you don’t want to buy soda from the guys who are funding your competition.” It was especially effective in pizza places, because Pizza Hut was seen as the 800lb Gorilla.
Pepsi lost a lot of money in restaurant sales because of this.
So it would be interesting to see Apple try to do something similar against Microsoft…
anyone taking bets on these pieces of shit being dubbed “xPods”?