Great moment in Guardians of the Galaxy 2---when Starlord gets handed a Zune...

On my Zune

>> ^shuac:

Very true. And while all technology products are derivative of earlier products to some degree, I think Microsoft does more bandwagon-jumping than most. Let's look at the evidence.
Java, made by Sun. "Reimagined" by Microsoft.
Console gaming, made by Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, et al. Microsoft gives us Xbox.
Online Music, pioneered by Napster, made legitimate by Apple. Microsoft gives us MSN Music.
MP3 player, pioneered by Rio, made super popular by Apple. Microsoft gives us Zune.
Internet search, pioneered by Archie in 1990, made insanely profitable by Google. Microsoft gives us MSN. And Live Search. And Bing.
Far as tablet computing goes, Microsoft actually has a much bigger history than Apple. I remember MS peddling tablets back in 2001 with XP. Trouble is, XP was never designed as a touch interface. Even as recent as 2008, Microsoft tried this strategy with the Origami.
The innovation Apple made is to take its smartphone OS (whose design is based on touch) and pull it up to the tablet rather than take a full-blown desktop OS and push it down. This is the idea Microsoft is copying with Surface and Windows 8.
Other than Kinect, which is an innovative product since it is more than merely a response to the Wii, I'm not sure Microsoft invented anything. Even its flagship Office suite is based on earlier software (WordStar, WordPerfect, dBase, Lotus 1-2-3). In fact, when Microsoft first licensed MS-DOS to IBM for a huge profit back in 1981, it was essentially QDOS, which they purchased outright from some guy for $50,000. Deal of the century.
You may say, "Well Apple didn't invent the MP3 player. Why aren't they guilty of copying too?"
They are. But Microsoft's history is rife with this sort of "me-too" thing in a way no other company's is. Let me distil my point into one sentence: How many companies are copying Microsoft's products?
To sum up: Microsoft is slim on innovation, fat on looking over the shoulders of the smart kids in class...>> ^Sarzy:
>> ^mtadd:
Microsoft never fails to innovate their name on someone else's product.

Yes, because the iPad was, of course, the first tablet ever.



Cool story bro.

No, seriously though, you do raise some interesting arguments. The only point I was trying to make is that it seems a bit reductionist to dismiss the Surface as merely an iPad clone, when it seems like Microsoft is legitimately trying to do some interesting things with it and Windows 8, rather than just jumping on the iPad bandwagon.

Very true. And while all technology products are derivative of earlier products to some degree, I think Microsoft does more bandwagon-jumping than most. Let's look at the evidence.

* Java, made by Sun. "Reimagined" by Microsoft.
* Console gaming, made by Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, et al. Microsoft gives us Xbox.
* Online Music, pioneered by Napster, made legitimate by Apple. Microsoft gives us MSN Music.
* MP3 player, pioneered by Rio, made super popular by Apple. Microsoft gives us Zune.
* Internet search, pioneered by Archie in 1990, made insanely profitable by Google. Microsoft gives us MSN. And Live Search. And Bing.

Far as tablet computing goes, Microsoft actually has a much bigger history than Apple. I remember MS peddling tablets back in 2001 with XP. Trouble is, XP was never designed as a touch interface. Even as recent as 2008, Microsoft tried this strategy with the Origami.

The innovation Apple made is to take its smartphone OS (whose design is based on touch) and pull it up to the tablet rather than take a full-blown desktop OS and push it down. This is the idea Microsoft is copying with Surface and Windows 8.

Other than Kinect, which is an innovative product since it is more than merely a response to the Wii, I'm not sure Microsoft invented anything. Even its flagship Office suite is based on earlier software (WordStar, WordPerfect, dBase, Lotus 1-2-3). In fact, when Microsoft first licensed MS-DOS to IBM for a huge profit back in 1981, it was essentially QDOS, which they purchased outright from some guy for $50,000. Deal of the century.

You may say, "Well Apple didn't invent the MP3 player. Why aren't they guilty of copying too?"

They are. But Microsoft's history is rife with this sort of "me-too" thing in a way no other company's is. Let me distil my point into one sentence: How many companies are copying Microsoft's products?

To sum up: Microsoft is slim on innovation, fat on looking over the shoulders of the smart kids in class...>> ^Sarzy:

>> ^mtadd:
Microsoft never fails to innovate their name on someone else's product.

Yes, because the iPad was, of course, the first tablet ever.

@CaptainObvious
Just like rich people won't eat beans and cornbread,
News managers (the persons who run a story, or stick a story in a drawer)
have a bias towards news they think is important to their target audience.

If this "news manager" is trying to get Bill Gates to watch the news, he's going to run a segment on the new Microsoft Zune, going to run
* Cancer survivor gets a new puppy
* Apple sauce day is tommorrow in sticklick county
* Can Ipods cause traffic accidents?

So, the protest doesn't fit on the menu.

another reason is that the definition of impartiality is difficult to understand. If 10K lefties protest, does that mean I give Michelle bachman equal time with the protest?

>> ^luxury_pie:

For me it seems like what we have seen is a new version of the "Media Center" in Windows 7.
I think they focused on that thing to be able to present a good "App"-Management system because they want to run that shit on cell phones too.
So what's actually about windows 8 is not revealed in the slightest.
I don't like neither the design nor the usability of it though.


It really reminds me of a Zune/Media Center baby...

>> ^Yogi:

This was honestly one of the funniest ones these guys have done. I would love Bill being NUTS about this kinda thing.
"Guess what kids...You're getting ZUNES for Christmas!"
"FUCK YOU DAD!!!"


To which I would say "Thanks dad, means I don't have to use f*cking iTunes, that software is utter shit!"

(Actually, I see very little use in a standalone media player these days over just using your phone, but there you go. But I have recently been forced to use iTunes thanks to doing apps for the iPad and it is an abomination)

This was honestly one of the funniest ones these guys have done. I would love Bill being NUTS about this kinda thing.

"Guess what kids...You're getting ZUNES for Christmas!"

"FUCK YOU DAD!!!"

Bone nobody complains about the fact the movies cost money (they do, Netflix charges you/month).

This is a small overlap of American lawmakers not going after Net Neutrality. While Netflix creates a lot of usage there are prices for everything on the net. WoW (or any MMO and ultimately every game) costs money, Videosift costs money, Amazon, Comcast, "x", "z", etc... We're already paying through the nose.

Your Grandma might disagree with the "fabricated" .63 cents if she knew how little ISPs pay in regards to bandwidth. It's a joke. What ISP doesn't already have a hard cap? Comcast (and before that, XMission) has always had a fairly high cap. Congestion on the large scale are from inept engineers and planners. If your area block should only have 35 users at 240 GB/month and it gets congested because they let 40 people into the block, that isn't "our" problem. It's poor management with bad design and engineering; no one wants to build infrastructure.

If it was solely P2P stuff I might agree, but your talking about paid, "doubly so", Internet usage fees. Guess where all the "extra" (money for Blizzard, Microsoft - for Gold & Zune, Netflix, and many, many, more) money goes. To the ISPs. Bandwidth IS dirt cheap for them and will continue to be the same as long as the tech goes up at "x^2".

The fault is entirely at the ISPs feet. If they don't innovate they find themselves not offering "the best product". Legislating away your problems is like the U.S. Congress and Senate.

Anyway... I said my two cents before, but these kind of moves are horrifically laughable when you know how fast you'd go "uncapped" and the bandwidth available (in our area, Salt Lake City, heavy fiber optic lines; which again I payed for as a taxpayer).

I got my mother a Zune for xmas and the other day had to phonecall her through it.

In retrospect, the Zune was a terrible idea.

Hah, the female reporters last name is "Macintosh".

But anyway, I'm glad that Apple has opened the door for a lot of other companies to develop new technologies. And just the same as when every computer or tech manufacturer started making all their products the ugly colors of the first-gen iMac's, there will be a flood of these things soon enough.

But as long as they're running windows, it'll probably suffer the same fate as the Zune.

>> ^shuac:
>> ^jdbates:
I hate microsoft because of snake oil salesmen like him, They are the roman empire of the business world, the romans didnt innovate, they incorporated other culures ideas. For him to dis the iphone like that shows his lack of vision, which I feel accurately represents their company.

Agreed. Let's go down the list.

Apple's GUI (courtesy of Xerox) and OS/2 begat Windows

Playstation begat X-Box

Wordstar/Word Perfect begat Word

Lotus 1-2-3 begat Excel

iPod begat Zune

Google search begat Live Search and now Bing

Mac OSX begat Vista

Sun Javascript begat MS Javashit

Netscape Navigator begat Internet Explorer

Prodigy and AOL begat MSN

iTunes begat MSN Music

Apple Stores begat Microsoft Stores

Now, I'm not going to try to claim that no other company has derivative products in their lineup because that would be silly. After all, Apple didn't invent the mp3 player, that would be Diamond Multimedia. However, what I will say is that Microsoft has a vast preponderance of derivative products.
What did Microsoft ever actually innovate? Clippy, Microsoft Bob, and that fuckin' Search Assistant Dog.

How dare you use factual data to try and make Microsoft look like a bunch of thieves. You're not giving them the credit they deserve! They took each and every one of those product you listed, and made it worst. Now that's f*cking difficult.

>> ^jdbates:
I hate microsoft because of snake oil salesmen like him, They are the roman empire of the business world, the romans didnt innovate, they incorporated other culures ideas. For him to dis the iphone like that shows his lack of vision, which I feel accurately represents their company.


Agreed. Let's go down the list.

Apple's GUI (courtesy of Xerox) and OS/2 begat Windows

Playstation begat X-Box

Wordstar/Word Perfect begat Word

Lotus 1-2-3 begat Excel

iPod begat Zune

Google search begat Live Search and now Bing

Mac OSX begat Vista

Sun Javascript begat MS Javashit

Netscape Navigator begat Internet Explorer

Prodigy and AOL begat MSN

iTunes begat MSN Music

Apple Stores begat Microsoft Stores

Now, I'm not going to try to claim that no other company has derivative products in their lineup because that would be silly. After all, Apple didn't invent the mp3 player, that would be Diamond Multimedia. However, what I will say is that Microsoft has a vast preponderance of derivative products.

What did Microsoft ever actually innovate? Clippy, Microsoft Bob, and that fuckin' Search Assistant Dog.

I'm surprised they even got their Zune working to play the song.