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Google "ipod killer" -> 1,160,000 results.

We've seen iPod killers from Sony, iRiver, Dell, Nokia, and of course Creative.

Microsoft has been killing the iPod for years now. They need to get their other iPod killers out of the way to give their new device a piece of that tasty iPod flesh that Apple competitors have been feasting on for years.

Often other groups at Microsoft (the games group, hardware drivers group and even the Windows media group) will come and schedule time in the Mac Lab to test their software on the different hardware configurations.

Yeah, right. The Windows media group have given up on Windows Media Player for the Mac, so what are they testing?

And since when does the Microsoft games group develop anything for the Mac? Halo was ported by Westlake Interactive and MacSoft, and they dropped the Mac port of Flight Simulator decades ago. So what games are actually written at Microsoft for the Mac?

Drivers? They licensed the code for their Mac mouse drivers from Alessandro Montalcini. Maybe they do a little testing now and again, but most of it is just USB HID anyway. Do Microsoft make any other hardware for the Mac?

Internet Explorer? Oh, sorry, they dropped that too.

The whole thing smells like PR crap designed to make Microsoft look like a major developer of Mac software, when in truth all they really work on these days is Office.

Do you know what is really going on in the world? (Beyond your bedroom door?)

In the console world (and the article is referring to console games) game sales in 2003 were broken down like this:

action (27.1%)
sports (17.6 %)
racing (15.7%)
role-playing games (8.7%)
fighting games (6.9%)
family entertainment (4.7%)
shooter games (4.6%)

Contrary to what you might guess by reading Slashdot, the world is not full of RPG playing geeks drooling over the latest mmorpg. Two of the most maligned genres (sports and racing) make up 33% of sales. That's a lot of games- and a lot of people. PC game sales are only about 1/3 of console game sales (and falling).

I just had 5 people come over to my house last night, and we played games for a while. Did they ask to play Morrowind? Or Zelda? Or KotOR? No...we played Basketball, Tennis and Golf.

Those games work in a social environment- there were guys and girls, some with experience on the games, some without. But we all had fun playing, and everyone liked the games. (I will go on record saying that Top Spin is one of the best party games ever).

It's fine that you like RPGs, and maybe you think they are the best things ever. But please realize that a large part of the world disagrees with you.

I wrote the following recently in my blog:

I've been thinking lately about the iPod phenomenon. In many ways, it seems to repeating past patterns similar to the competition of Microsoft versus Apple.

Steve Jobs is loath to share Apple technology and partnerships with anyone else. Despite embracing Open Source in the form of the BSD kernel for OS X and adopting other GPL projects such as KDE for the Safari browser, Apple does not seem interested in reciprocating.

Currently, the iPod and the Mini iPod are the darlings of digital cognoscenti. With good reason, it is a slick product with good fundamental design. I would wager even its elevated price even makes it appealing in some perverse way as well. However, lifting the lid, just a little bit, may reveal some trouble down the road.

The recent news about Real making an overture to Apple to open up its proprietary cloaked DRM AAC format has revealed some of Apple's thinking. While Real's overture was in some ways rather pathetic, it did point out a growing problem that will be interesting to see Apple navigate.

The problem as I see it is that Apple by retaining sole control and manufacture of the iPod and the DRM AAC format it is ultimately in danger or winning the battle but losing the war in almost exactly the same way they lost the OS war with Microsoft.

Of course, I am referring to the difference in how Microsoft is pursuing the same market. In contrast to Apple, Microsoft has licenced the WMA/WMV codec far and wide to third party hardware and software manufacturers. The current WMA codec has fared very well in codec shootouts and has several unique capabilities. For example, while Apple has just in the past few days introduced a lossless compression option to their codec, WMA has had this option for nearly two years. In addition, WMA also supports multi-channel which as had limited application in such releases as Peter Gabriel's recent UP release. More obscurely, Microsoft gobbled up Pacific Microsonics and their HDCD technology in an acquisition several years ago.

What really has momentum is the rapidly expanding universe of diverse hardware products supporting WMA. From DVD players to hundreds of portable players there is support for WMA. This includes such applications as the PhatNoise car audio system that uses a removable hard drive for audio storage. The recent adoption by the DVD Forum of the WMV format in the next DVD standard is a real watershed event. This guarantees that WMA/WMV files will be supported in all future DVD players! On top of this, I have heard that future direct to digital movie theaters will employ WMV technology. Finally, I recently read that the new VOOM HD Satellite service will be using WMV for broadcasting their standard definition channels. See announcements. A recent editorial by Paul Thurrott at Wininfo.com talks about the upcoming new version of the Windows Media Players will incorporate the ability for leasing music rather than outright ownership. This would allow an individual to access as much music as he wants for a fixed fee and be able to play it on portable players, etc. Paul has taken heat for some of his pronouncements but I think he may be right in describing this as a paradigm shift.

So, Microsoft, by widely disseminating the WMA/WMV technology and setting licensing costs very cheaply it has once again positioned itself to possibly own the standard of audio/video distribution just as it currently owns the desktop computing standard.

Apple, by contrast, could find that while it owned the early lead in music distribution ultimately is relegated to single digit market share once again. It is fascinating to observe that this is inherently a Steve Jobs blind spot which repeats itself over and over again.

The future will indeed be televised.

• Jobs's Disappointing Macworld Keynote Address Makes Even Gates Look
  
  Lost amid all the hubbub of CES was the start of Macworld Conference & Expo, which opened Tuesday with an unexciting Steve Jobs keynote.
  
  
• Will Apple Users Strike Back?
  
  Apple might have to face music of another kind in a class-action lawsuit that will likely be filed this month against the company in California.
  
  
• Microsoft: Get the Facts About Linux
  
  Microsoft, the industry's 800-pound gorilla, has just launched an advertising campaign aimed directly at Linux's OSS solution.
  

Dumbass...