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Microsoft Unhappy With HP's iTunes Decision

rbrandis writes "The general manager of Microsoft's Windows digital media division David Fester has suggested that iTunes' emerging dominance would be bad for consumers, because it would limit them to the iPod, as opposed to limiting them to Microsoft based products. In a moment of what must have been an attempt at ironic humor he said, 'Windows is about choice - you can mix and match software and music player stuff. We believe you should have the same choice when it comes to music services.'"

49 of 1,020 comments (clear)

  1. choice? by stefanmi · · Score: 4, Funny

    ROFL! Talk about naked FUD. Choice, choice, choice. Yeah, that's the Microsoft Way, isn't it? NOT. What hypocrisy!

    1. Re:choice? by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Funny

      Microsoft offers choices...

      - Your free web-based e-mail account can end in either msn.com or hotmail.com... your choice!
      - You can browse the web with either Internet Explorer or MSN Explorer... your choice!
      - You can read your e-mail with Outlook Express or Outlook... your choice!
      - You can use Windows XP Home or Windows XP Pro... your choice!
      - You can use WMA files with any music player that has paid the appropriate fees to Microsoft, plenty of choices available in the market!
      - You can get WMA files from any music service that has paid the appropriate fees to Microsoft, plenty of choices available in the market!

    2. Re:choice? by Malcontent · · Score: 4, Funny

      The only thing worse then an evil bastard is a whining evil bastard.

      --

      War is necrophilia.

    3. Re:choice? by sdcharle · · Score: 5, Funny

      Wow, I could sure go for a Coke now.

  2. Terribly, terribly grateful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I am ever so grateful that once again Microsoft is looking after my best interests. We can all sleep well.

    1. Re:Terribly, terribly grateful by webslacker · · Score: 4, Funny

      It was awfully, awfully kind of you to say so.

  3. David Fester? by R33MSpec · · Score: 1, Funny

    Shave the hair off and you'd swear it was Uncle Fester!

  4. HP kills DRM (yay Carly) by corebreech · · Score: 4, Funny

    It has always been questionable as to whether they would get DRM to work in the first place. Now along comes HP, trying to make what are essentially incompatible DRM systems work together, and still protect content. The closest analogy I can think of is trying to have make a marriage work with two spouses at the same time.

    Anybody who has installed any kind of media player on Windows knows what I'm talking about... it's almost impossible to assign specific file types to Window's Media Player, QuickTime, RealPlayer, Winamp, etc., without all of these applications trying to steal the right to handle these file types out from one another. Now the same thing is going to happen, but with DRM in the mix?

    It's going to be a zoo. Nobody is going to stand still for this, especially when people start losing the right to access content they've already payed for.

    And just wait till this shit starts happening to everybody's porn collection. People will be running amok in the streets.

  5. Re:choice by ZackSchil · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wait.. what? I would fill up the gas in my car if my sister wasn't a lesbian.

  6. Re:i do have a choice by Cornelius+the+Great · · Score: 5, Funny

    "We believe you should have the same choice when it comes to music services."

    Does anyone else cringe when you see/hear the words "choice" and "Microsoft" in the same sentence?

    --
    Sigs are for losers
  7. Re:Bad for consumers? by glenebob · · Score: 5, Funny

    You must be new... that's what it has ALWAYS meant.

  8. Choice! by chunkwhite86 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Windows is about choice - you can mix and match software and music player stuff. We believe you should have the same choice when it comes to music services.

    Do not laugh at our choice. Microsoft is all many choices. We have so much choice it is silly. You must not listen to the apple! We will crush the infidels with all the choice that we are having!

    Sincerely, Microsoft Information Minister

    --
    I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
  9. Re:....just out of curiosity by FatRatBastard · · Score: 4, Funny

    "HP Windows boxen" (when did that become plural for boxes?)

    About the same time "moosen" became the plural of moose (as in "I see a flock of moosen").

    (props to Brian Regan)

  10. this and that by sstory · · Score: 5, Funny
    Windows IS about Choice.
    Also,
    Slavery is Freedom
    and
    War is Peace

    If I remember my Orwell right.

  11. Somebody has to say this too... by jigyasubalak · · Score: 5, Funny

    You can have any color as long as it is black!
    - Henry Ford

    --
    The best planning can be done after the project completes.
  12. Had to say it... by chunkwhite86 · · Score: 3, Funny


    All your choice are belong to us!

    --
    I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
  13. Lewis Black by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    "If it weren't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college."

  14. every zealot's wet dream! by Stevyn · · Score: 5, Funny

    Microsoft said they were about choice! Now the linux zealots can all flame them on slashdot and go to sleep happy. The apple users can chime in their love for ipods and itunes. The windows fanboys can chime in how wma is surperior and that it will take over and crush apple and linux. Once the rubble has settled the 1862 ogg users can tout a new media format world order and reign for the next 1000 years. Good times a commin'!

    If microsoft did this once a month, IT productivity would go up 10%.

  15. Re:Easier to let it be by cooley · · Score: 2, Funny

    You mean like when Henry Ford said "You can get the Model T in any color you want, as long as you want black".

    --
    Just then the floating disembodied head of Colonel Sanders started yelling Everything You Know Is Wrong!-Weird Al
  16. naked FUD? by martin-boundary · · Score: 5, Funny

    Cripes, when did this happen? I'm out of it for a little bit, and Microsoft becomes a spamming outfit! Naked FUD, Enlarge your CHOICE, end-user license SECRETS, listen to music FROM YOUR HOME...

  17. Re:ch01c3 by Deraj+DeZine · · Score: 3, Funny

    Has anyone made a joke about siphoning the gas to her?

    --
    True story.
  18. Re:i do have a choice by NanoGator · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Does anyone else cringe when you see/hear the words "choice" and "Microsoft" in the same sentence? "

    I might if I were low on karma. :)

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  19. bizarro world by spanklin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does this mean that Microsoft is now beleaguered?

  20. Microsoft's superior Windows Media Audio format by PetoskeyGuy · · Score: 2, Funny

    The quote originated on Connected Home Magazine. The news editor is Paul Thurott. Paul also runs www.winsupersite.com and www.winnetmag.com/windowspaulthurrott/ as well as a few other MS Fanatic sites.

    From one of the sites... ...Paul is also the author of WinInfo Daily UPDATE, the Windows Informant, a daily news and information newsletter for Windows users, and the News Editor for Windows & .NET Magazine, where he writes a weekly editorial for the popular Windows & .NET Magazine UPDATE newsletter and a monthly news column called Need to Know for the print magazine. Paul is also the News Editor for Connected Home Magazine, ...

    So we know it's biased already - no need to re-state to obvious.

  21. Microsoft sucks, but don't forget... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    SCO are still a bunch of litigious bastards!

  22. Re:is Windows Media Player a virus by chunkwhite86 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I seem to me that any program that takes over your computer when used, and opens up browsers and pop-up windows should be called a virus.

    It's not a bug - it's a feature!

    --
    I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
  23. Re:n002 fl45h!!!!!!111 by LinuxGeek · · Score: 3, Funny
    Now it's my understanding that pdf is a shortened form of the word pedofile. Is this incorrect? It always worried me when I was younger that corporations would only give me product information in pdf format...

    Younger!?! Please don't tell us that you are old and still this stupid.

    It never occured to me to associate pdf files with Michael Jackson.
    --

    Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. - Mark Twain
  24. Re:n002 fl45h!!!!!!111 by mhesseltine · · Score: 3, Funny

    The correct abbreviation for pedofile[sic] is "pedo" (as you will see very quickly if you happen to stumble upon alt.sex.stories). PDF is "portable document format".

    --
    gnaughty [sourceforge.net] - easy free porn

    The correct abbreviation for pedophile coming from someone who's pimping his own porn gathering software. Now I've seen it all.

    --
    Overrated / Underrated : Moderation :: Anonymous Coward : Posting
  25. Uncle Fester by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Choice..snicker, almost blew coffee all over my PowerBook. Funny little man...

    Have a nice day all,

    Me

  26. Re:....just out of curiosity by germanbird · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't iPods already work with Windows?

    Well, they did, but Microsoft will have a critical patch out soon to fix that problem.

  27. where do these funny points come from? by Boss+Sauce · · Score: 2, Funny

    makes no sense

    1. Re:where do these funny points come from? by Justin205 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Little elves in the sky. Very tiny ones. They sprinke the funnyness all over, and it land on every post, but only sticks to the funny ones. Same with the Insightful Angels, Interesting Sprites, Informative Fairies, Troll (what else) Trolls, Flamebait Devils and Redundant Redundant Redundant Orcs.

      --
      "Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you."
  28. Re:Betamax vs. VHS by Jayzz · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm sick of this Betamax vs. VHS analogy. Not because I've heard milion times, nor because it's simply not true (Betamax was not better), but because this has been pointed out almost every time it's mentioned, yet I'm still reading the same crap again and again. This makes me understand why people spread FUD. Once misinformation gets into the mass, there is no way you can completely clear it up.

  29. Re:MS = Choice = BAH! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Except then you have too much choice!?

    How do you know which one is better?

    mp4? Sorenson? MJPEG? Microsoft makes its easy, one choice!

  30. I agree with Microsoft by Cyberllama · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's a bad idea -- not because it somehow promotes an Apple monopoloy, but because no one wants WMA playback on thier ipod.

  31. Re:i do have a choice by ruiner13 · · Score: 3, Funny
    "We believe you should have the same choice when it comes to music services."

    Does anyone else cringe when you see/hear the words "choice" and "Microsoft" in the same sentence?"

    Now where exactly does it say microsoft in that sentence?

    --

    today is spelling optional day.

  32. Microsoft's unhappy? by IllogicalStudent · · Score: 2, Funny

    I thought the Slashdot populace was feeling warmer and fuzzier than usual. One man's sorrow is another man's joy, indeed.

    --
    But Maaa! Everyone else has a .sig !
  33. MICROSOFT IS NOT A MONOPLOY. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    It's just a /. rant.
    An industry leader, yes, but not a constrictor.

    May lightning strike me down if I' *|b147a [No Carrier]

  34. Gollum! by finelinebob · · Score: 5, Funny


    MS: Where would you be without me? (gollum gollum). I saved us. It was me. We monopolized because of me!

    HP: Not anymore.

    MS: What did you say?

    HP: Apple looks after us now. We don't need you.

    MS: What?

    HP: Leave now and never come back.

    MS: No!

    HP: Leave now and never come back!

    MS: Arrrgh!

    HP: LEAVE NOW AND NEVER COME BACK!

    [HP is panting and looking around and realises MS is gone.]

    HP: We told him to go away! And away he goes Preciousss. Gone, gone, gone, HP is free!

  35. Re:NEWS FLASH! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you buy Mac OS X and don't want iTunes, simple. Drag the iTunes app to the trash and it is gone. No registry mess, just a clean simple removal. Try that with Internet Explorer. I'm betting you can't.

    I just trashed Internet Explorer, now I'm sending this message from the public library while I reinstall Windoze. Doh! ;-)

  36. Re:i do have a choice by hype7 · · Score: 5, Funny
    "We believe you should have the same choice when it comes to music services."


    Microsoft keeps using that word... I do not think it means what they think it means.

    -- james
  37. Re:NEWS FLASH! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny
    I'm still quite irritated with Apple for choosing to remove the Internet PrefPane, and wish more people would e-mail Apple about this.

    They would, but they are unable since removing their Mail.app.
  38. Announcing Microsoft Choice(tm) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Microsoft today announced its new software user enablement scheme called Choice(tm). Computers equipped with Microsoft Choice(tm) will be able to use any software that the user chooses, as long as the software has been certified for use with Microsoft Choice(tm) systems. Microsoft Choice(tm) Certified software is certified to not impede or harm any Microsoft Initiatives, now and in the future. In this way Microsoft ensures that Microsoft Choice(tm) users experience Only The Best (tm) software that the world has to offer.

    Currently, Microsoft Choice(tm) certification is offered to Microsoft Premium Select developer partners as well as all Tier 1 hardware vendors. Note that all Microsoft Choice(tm) certified software is subject to the standard Microsoft non-compete EULA, as amended.

  39. Re:i do have a choice by Yokaze · · Score: 4, Funny
    Just with a different emphasis, it makes perfectly sense:

    "We believe you should have the same choice when it comes to music services."
    --
    "Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
  40. The difference between Apple and Microsoft? by CountBrass · · Score: 2, Funny

    Apple calls their MP3 player the iPod.

    Microsoft calls their MP3 player the much snappier "Mobile Entertainment Device".

    'nuff said.

    --
    Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
  41. I'm suprised at the lack of backlash... by bucket74 · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...to this statement in the article:

    "The company will be working with Apple to add support for Microsoft's superior Windows Media Audio (WMA) format to the iPod by mid-year."

    As an iPod user I am now furious that Apple has been oppressing me with an inferior audio format for so long. Dude, I shoulda' got a Dell.

  42. Crybabies by medazinol · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm so sick of MS being such a crybaby. Looks guys, face reality, there are some very good competitors out there who would like to make some money in a market that you don't dominate, yet. So, cry a bit, try to buy something you can rush to market, lock it in to Windows so your user base DOESNT have a choice and the others will come up with something new and the whole merry go round can start all over again. Get over it.

  43. Re:i do have a choice by cygnus · · Score: 2, Funny
    He means that with a Microsoft OS you can choose where to buy your processor, where to buy your motherboard, your video card, etc, etc.
    verywell! i choose to buy them all from Apple!

    ...but for some reason it won't boot. maybe Sun? :)

    --
    Just raise the taxes on crack.
  44. Re:i do have a choice by neuro.slug · · Score: 2, Funny

    In Soviet Russia, there were these propoganda ads telling the public how much choice they had when they went to the store. -- n