“Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software maker, as early as 2003 considered a partnership with Apple Inc. or creating its own digital music player to rival Apple’s dominant iPod,” Dina Bass and Bob Van Voris report for Bloomberg.
Bass and Van Voris report, “Microsoft, displeased with hardware partners Creative Technology Ltd. and Dell Inc. that made players using Microsoft’s Windows Media software, talked about building its own device, according to an e-mail exchange between Windows chief Jim Allchin and media software executive Amir Majidimehr. The correspondence, introduced into evidence in a civil antitrust trial against Microsoft in Des Moines, Iowa, was made public today.”
“Allchin, who started the exchange in an e-mail entitled ‘sucking on media players,’ also suggested he talk to Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs to get the iPod to work with Microsoft’s media software for fear the iPod would ‘drive people away from Windows Media Player.’ Microsoft introduced its Zune music player in November,” Bass and Van Voris report.
“‘My goodness it’s terrible,’ Allchin wrote about one of Creative’s devices. ‘What I don’t understand though is I was told the new Creative Labs device would be comparable to Apple. That is so not the case,'” Bass and Van Voris report. “Majidimehr replied ‘Now you feel our pain.” He said Microsoft was providing cash incentives to get the partners to improve devices. If that doesn’t work ‘it is time for us to roll up our sleeves and do our own hardware,’ he wrote.”
Bass and Van Voris report, “Microsoft sold ‘hundreds of thousands’ of Zune devices during Christmas, according to Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division President Robbie Bach. Apple sold 21.1 million iPods last quarter.”
Full article here.
At least Allchin doesn’t need to change the subject of his future emails, as the re-badged Toshiba GigaBeat, which they call “Zune,” fits the billing of Microsoft “sucking on media players” perfectly.
Microsoft just doesn’t get it. They do not have the attention-to-detail, the taste, the hunger to strive for perfection, or the proper personnel in the correct creative environment necessary to produce user experiences anywhere near what Apple offers. Microsoft Windows is woefully behind the Mac, still, after some 22 years of trying to be “just like a Mac.” The Zune software next to iTunes is a laugher. The Zune next to an iPod is a joke. The Zune next to an iPhone’s iPod is just plain sad. At their best, Microsoft is a cesspool of mediocrity.
Why is Microsoft’s mission to make cheesy copies of Apple products and market them to the ignorant? How can Microsoft’s management and employees be proud of “their work” or are they just proud of how much they reap from suckers who don’t know any better?
In the future, when Microsoft execs trumpet their partnerships (remember URGE, Napster, etc.?), keep in mind that they’ll probably be emailing each other about how much their partners suck when they really ought to be looking in the mirror.
Related articles:
Windows chief Allchin 2004 email: I’d buy a Mac if I didn’t work for Microsoft – December 11, 2006
The Motley Fool: Apple makes Microsoft’s Zune a paperweight – January 10, 2007
PC World writer’s advice for Microsoft: ‘Stop making crap’ – July 27, 2006
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