Posted on 04/07/2007 10:15:16 AM PDT by aft_lizard
April 06, 2007 (IDG News Service) -- Following digital music pioneer Apple Inc.'s lead, Microsoft Corp. said it will soon sell digital music online without digital rights management (DRM) protection.
Microsoft's apparent change of heart on selling DRM-free music came in response to Apple's deal earlier in the week to sell unprotected content from recording company EMI Group PLC. The company previously claimed that DRM was necessary for current and emerging digital media business models.
"The EMI announcement on Monday was not exclusive to Apple," said Katy Asher, a Microsoft spokeswoman on the Zune team, in an e-mail to the IDG News Service today. She said Microsoft has been talking with EMI and other record labels "for some time now" about offering unprotected music on its Zune players in an effort to meet the needs of its customers.
(Excerpt) Read more at computerworld.com ...
Heres one for you podheads to jump on.
Microsoft is going to offer DRM-free content only with the greatest reluctance. MS has focused their entire current and next generations (Vista, Zune) of products on DRM.
They’re screwed.
I highly doubt they are screwed, in there first month 20 million Vista OS’s were sold, more than Apple does in a year and a half.
It will take more than EMI, but this is a hopeful hole in the dike. Yes, not exactly what MS is betting on:
“In February, Apple CEO and founder Steve Jobs stirred up controversy when he called for an end to DRM in an open letter to the industry published on Apple’s Web site. At the time, Microsoft responded harshly to Jobs’ statement — a Zune spokesman called it naive and irresponsible...”
Do you have breakdown of Vista by separate sale and bundled w/PC sales?
*crickets*
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Does it matter? No. A sale is a sale, whether it’s pre-installed or off the shelf, the only difference is microsoft get’s less money for licensing fees per sale for pre-installed versions than off the shelf purchases.
Lies... damned lies... and statistics.
This is only true because they have all their oem clints by the short hairs.
What percentage of that is non-oem sales?
Of course it matters.
The figures you quote is in support of your argument of VISTA's "popularity".
A specious argument. People are "forced" to pay for it, then dump it and load XP on the new computers.
Thats a non-argument. I mean how many sales does Apple OS-X have that are off the shelf(not as much as there pre-installed, guaranteed)?
The matter is that Microsoft gets money everytime an OEM is installed and sold, which is there bread and butter far more than off the shelf.
In terms of sales dollars, no, doesn’t matter.
In terms of trying to guage user reaction to Vista it matters whether it was specifically chosen, whether it’s kept on the machine, whether it’s dumbed down or liked as is, and so on.
I’ve thought it would be adopted quicker than predicted, but it’s hard to tell based only on new PC sales. Corporate mass purchasers for example and whether they keep Vista or not.
Then that would require you to prove that it is being dumped. Also you 100% totally missed the argument point, I mean absolutely missed it. He said Microsoft is screwed while my retort is that with 20 million versions sold they arent screwed, meaning they received money for every single copy sold, not as a matter of popularity but financially.
Well the corporate mass buyers tend to trail the general public in adoption rates as they have to wait until there software compatibility is guaranteed. As far as adoption, removal, like dislike etc for the average consumer that would be interesting to find out, but it’s only really useful if it can be gauged against past releases of OS’s. Generally upon first release you hear tons of FUD about os’s anyways so to me it’s more important to know what the general public thinks 6 months or a year down the road.
Here is an article I found dated 3 days ago that might help explain some stuff to you guys.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130395/article.html
Strong Demand for Windows Vista Reported
Best Buy and Circuit City both say there is strong interest in the Windows Vista operating system in their retail stores.
Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service
Wednesday, April 04, 2007 12:00 PM GMT-08:00
Best Buy Co. Inc. and Circuit City Stores Inc. Wednesday both reported high demand for Windows Vista in their retail stores, though this demand had a different effect on each company’s business.
In separate earnings statements, the two retail companies said that PCs with Vista preinstalled have been selling well since the Jan. 30 release of the new OS. However, while this drove sales of PCs and computer services up 10 percent at Best Buy, Circuit City was affected negatively because it did not keep enough Vista PCs in stock to meet customer demand.
Best Buy said sales of Vista helped it gain market share in laptop and desktop computer sales. The company reported positive results for its fiscal fourth quarter, with profit that rose more than 18 percent year over year.
Circuit City, on the other hand, reported a US$12.2 million loss for the quarter, and admitted sales were less than expected. The company acknowledged in a news statement it was negatively affected by “volatility” around the Vista sales transition due to the fact it kept its Vista PC inventory “lean” and so could not fulfill customer demand.
News from retailers drove Microsoft stock (MSFT) up more than 3 percent on Wednesday at midday Eastern Daylight Time. The opening price was $28; by 12:35 p.m. EDT stock was trading for $28.73.
Reports from retailers come on the heels of comments Microsoft made last week that Vista sales in its first month of release were more than double the sales its predecessor Windows XP racked up in twice the time. The company said it sold more than 20 million Vista licenses in its first month, compared to selling 17 million licenses of XP in its first two months of release.
These figures appear to point to a successful launch for Vista, as Microsoft’s prediction that Vista would outsell XP considerably in the early days of its release is coming true. One factor to keep in mind, however, is that Vista had more time to build up customer demand, as it came more than five years after XP’s Oct. 25, 2001 release. Windows XP made its debut a little more than three years after its predecessor, Windows 98, and just about a year before an interim client OS release, Windows ME.
There also are more computer users now than there were five years ago, and Windows XP’s release came just after the industry was reeling from the dot-com industry bust, which negatively affected PC sales.
Yes, that’s more useful information, IMHO.
It’s hard to guage or measure precisely, but sales of Vista by itself gives us a better idea than using PC sales.
You might remember when Windows 98 was released and the lines to purchase it, just the OS.
I doubt we’ll see that phenomena again, but that was a definite indicator of user demand and acceptance.
You’re also right about corporate customers lagging the curve. When the apps kick in, we’ll see. And after that, when the new app version require Vista, the MS train catches hold. Resisting then requires a major major decision, not likely to happen in the near future anyway.
Apple does have a chance, however, of faster market share growth on the consumer side. That can change much quicker.
Still, the demise of MS is truthfully a long ways off, even if Vista bombs.
Don’t try logic....he doesn’t understand it.
Does anyone know if XP is available still?
Where I work, our client group is testing Vista but judging by how long it took us to go from Windows 2000 to Windows XP, it will be at least a year or so before the average user sees Vista.
It is. In my department, we recently purchased new machines that shipped with Vista. Our IT department removed Vista and installed XP.
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