Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft To Construct iPod/DS/PSP Killer
Karsten writes "According to The Mercury News Microsoft is developing a PSP/DS/GBA/iPod-killer. J. Allard is leading the project." J. Allard is the man behind the Xbox, and from looking at the article it sounds like it's at least a year before this device, if it hits daylight, would be coming.
Dammit, can't they make a Windows killer?
This guy's the limit!
Hold your breath while waiting, and it will be a people killer too!
I've said it before and I'll say it again--for the love of god, please stop printing mindless headlines of the form "[insert company name here] is [planning/making] a [insert industry-wide leading product name here] killer."
My work here is dung.
Not to troll but .. I'm sorry, its from Microsoft .. its surely going to have an Intel chip (Mobile EXTREEEEEEEEME Hunger Eddition) and run WindowsCE(meNT) loaded with more DRM than you thought possible from a mobile .. the only thing this is going to "kill" is batteries ...
This article should have been released April 1st.
kk
thx
This won't work, but we should all know that already know that. You can't just stick all the available technology into something and hope it all works out, this will end up being as big as origami with about 2 hours of battery life. I like things to be seperate, which is why I have an MP3 player, and a DS (and a camera and phone and whatever else they'll probably try and throw in it) I like things to be excellent at the one thing that they do, not just "acceptable" at everything under the sun
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
ok, why is everything an ipod killer these days? I've seen everything from cell phones to game consoles labelled an ipod killer.
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
They won't be able to screw up power supply issues by using standard batteries.
Moderation in All Things... Especially Moderation - gurutc
May the new EverythingPortable-killer be as financially successful (*cough*4billion*cough*) as the first X-Box!
:P
Cheers!
Look at xbox 360, mainly in japan. I don't see it killing even PS2, even more Revolution or PS3. I don't see MSN search killing google. I don't see windows security better than Linux/Mac. Or I am blind, or microsoft hype machine is a lot of dry icq giving somke to press.
in the tools section. It's called sledgehammer and is guaranteed to kill all of those devices in one shot.
Timo's Audio Software http://www.esseraudio.com
...dust off all your jokes about how big the Xbox is!
Seriously though, with Xbox and Xbox Live MS has shown that they are capable of doing interesting, cool things with both consoles and gaming generally. I'll be interested to see what they come up with.
Game dev and music blog
Yeah, seriously. Can we (the Slashdot community) officially retire the term 'killer' and replace it with 'competitor'? It is possible for multiple manufacturers and products to exist in a market space simultaneously. Competition is good! We don't need or want new products to kill anything.
I don't think I want an X-shaped console with a glowing green screen. I got enough objects in my pants that glow green in the dark.
I'm not a MS fanboy, but I do have very good experiences with Microsoft over my lifetime. I've had some terrible problems, too, but nothing that has affected me in a bad way. I believe Microsoft's Windows has been a big reason why PCs are so cheap -- a common operating system that was easy to use has helped to bring more people to computers. I think we'd be in the 80s still if it wasn't for Windows 3.0 -- Apple had no chance given their closed hardware.
My experience with MS in handhelds is terrible. I've owned about 30 PDAs in my life (I tend to use them for 3-4 months and then sell them to friends or family or give them away). All my Newtons were my favorite (from the original MessagePad through the 2100). I feel terrible that I sold all my Newtons years ago -- I think I'd still be using the beasts today.
Microsoft doesn't know how to downsize anything. The big complaints about Windows from the geek crowd is more appropriate for Microsoft in the small-PC crowd. I had a Microsoft car radio once -- Worst. Thing. Ever. My current PDA is Microsoft based and it works very well wirelessly -- yet I have to reboot it about 10 times a day to get it to run fast.
I have no faith in Microsoft in terms of an iPod killer. The X-Box is mostly a fluke to me -- a lot of money spent, very little profit made -- which means the item is NOT a success in terms of market viability. For me, the best products are those that make a profit, giving the manufacturer real reason to keep upgrading and supporting it.
If the Microsoft 'iPod' killer is another spend-a-ton-and-earn-none fluke, it won't last. Microsoft needs a happy customer, and a happy customer pays a happy profit. Without that incentive, Microsoft will be fighting battles on too many fronts, and we know what happens to the imperialists that have done that in the past.
If you'd bother to RTFA you'd know that the device in question is in fact a full-spectrum multi-wavelength high-energy data scrambler that will actually melt the circuits of any iPod/DS/GBA/PSP or Pacemaker within 100 meters. Can't wait to hear about the military applications.
Making you think you're crazy is a billion dollar industry.
and how will they call it? Terminator?
if I could change the world, it would have a reset button
is batteries, judging by my Pocket PC's black hole of power.
Moderation in All Things... Especially Moderation - gurutc
This should be a happy occasion!
;)
Think about it...just another platform to port Linux to
Yet Another Killer. Does anybody believe these guys anymore?
FreeBSD: The Power to Serve!
Apple has a such dominance into car and other aftermarket item integration, it's going to make it impossible for other vendors unless they can make use of that existing infrastructure.
The iPod has been extremely successful for Apple and it continues to gain market share. Microsoft is giving competitors an additional year to gain popularity, so I doubt very highly that Microsoft will be able to grab a decent chunk of the pie. It will be yet another failed all-in-one device. Unless of course it can cool my beverage, warm my feet, and allow me to play GTA while scuba diving in Bermuda.
vaporware
So, they gonna construct a Steve Ballmer replica?
Microsoft jumped into the console wars at the right time to grab a foothold. I'm not sure they'll pull off the same coup with handheld entertainment. iPods are so entrenched that the mainstream media doesn't seem to be aware that any other players exist. The PSP has had moderate success, but then we're talking about the handheld product from the console juggernaut.
MS making an attempt at the handheld market was inevitable, though. Sooner or later they had to do it.
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
And I thought the PSP had too many features...
For all intents and purposes, the PSP should have killed the DS from a technical viewpoint. Fortunately, ingenuity in the gaming industry can still make up for somewhat lesser tech. Nintendo has rules the handheld market since 1989, and I don't really see that changing anytime soon. Besides, Microsoft, at best, will come up with a Windows-running, $400 handheld with a 3-hour battery lift. I'll pass.
Once again, people in the high-tech industry don't seem to understand why the iPod is so successful - it's because it's extremely easy to use, beautifully designed, and it does a handful of things that people really, really want, really, really well. Period.
People are getting damn tired of electronics companies trying to cram every single capability into a hand-held device. When you do that, you invariably get something that's mediocre at EVERYTHING it does, and it fails. The first company to create a combination PDA/games player/music player/cell phone/pager/GPS/digital camera/laser pointer/nose hair trimmer/vibrator, all for only $499!... is almost certainly going to fail in the marketplace.
I doubt they will be able to create an iPod killer because that would mean they had to change the behaviour of hundreds of thousands of people.
A behaviour is exceptionally hard to change, especially if it is based on an already well working service.
"And Microsoft has some of its most seasoned talent from the division that created its popular Xbox 360 working on it."
so it will be released is next to insignificant quantities, overheat horribly, be reacalled within weeks, and be replaced with a [insert handheld name] v2.0
"{09f911029d74e35b/==\d84156c5635688c0}"
Make a home console that doesn't have issues.
Ubuntu- Linux for human beings.
Someday there might well be a product that comes around that is more hip than the iPod. I'm pretty sure about two things, 1) It won't try to cram a bazillion features into an ugly product (Oragami?) and 2) Microsoft probably won't be responsible.
Yeah, I guess I'm funny like that.
Considering the XBOX has lost 4 billion dollars for Microsoft over the past four years and they don't have market dominance, I wouldn't be at all afraid of anything J Allard is going to be bringing to the table. p.s. I own an XBOX, I'm just saying that his track record making "killer" devices is somewhat spotty.
Oh, a lesson in history from Mr. I'm my own grandpa.
I don't want a brick that's large enough to play video/games on. I want a music player that's small enough to fit in a pocket and be generally unobtrusive.
Microsoft is developing a PSP/DS/GBA/iPod-killer
I'd be tempted to get excited about this, if they would simply add "cell phone", "refrigerator", and "automobile" to the list of things this product kills.
That's the kind of hype I could actually get behind!!!
Guess these guys are incapable of learning from past mistakes. The size and form factor of the device is one thing I am sure that Microsoft will get right. The problem will be in the GUI. Gaming devices require a different GUI to MP3 players to work successfully. Compromises get you nowhere. Apple has learned that lesson as has Nintendo with their GBA, ec. I remain unconvinced that battery life, robustness, different user requirements of the various devices can be successfully married. Wish these guys luck though - would certainly make an interesting addition to the market.
Microsoft might not be producing any real 'killer' products (well, not until the 3rd iteration from history), but if they start throwing themselves at the competition, then the competition is gonna start freaking out and producing an even better product, one would hope. So stop dissing Microsoft for having a go.
Will it also spread Worms, Viruses and get infected by Trojans?
"Ipod Killer" has become a codeword for "Won't sell". Maybe they shouold call it an Xbox killer, those seem to be more successful :)
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
1 - Obtain list of most popular gadgets. 2 - Tout latest MS product as "[names of all said gadgets]-Killer." 3 - Ignore collective groan of entire human race. 4 - Profit..?
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Despite any pretences this thing is going to be 3 years late, the size of a shoebox, and it will be a slightly reconfigured WinVista PDA. It's primary function will be to "deliver" windows DRM. The ability to play some games will be secondary. MS will shore it up with an inexhaustible slush fund much like the xbox in order to subsidise the infiltration of windows DRM into common home appliances.
(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
"ok, why is everything an ipod killer these days? I've seen everything from cell phones to game consoles labelled an ipod killer."
Open Source Software will be Proprietary's killer.
So this is to go with Microsofts Linux/OSX/BSD/AIX killer and Microsofts PS3/Revolution Killer and Microsofts Oracle/MySQL/PostgreSQL/PeopleSoft/Dbase Killer?
Sure a lot of killing going on.... supposedly.
eom
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3609953966 5548298
Also, they should be sure to implement a fold-out cutting blade, screwdriver, corkscrew, can opener, toothpick and nail file so it can kill swiss army knives as well.
This is the product the global marketplace has been waiting for.
My Sharp SL-C3000 Zaurus does whatever Microsoft wants to do in a handheld already, therefore whatever MS comes up with is all hype and bollocks.
I'm drunk at the moment and even I could tell you that.
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
Wait a minute... didn't the Origami already get announced?
Exhibit no 2213 is housed in the west wing of the museum. This is a late (very late) 2007 Ipod Killer made by a now defunct company from Redmond that some people on the tour may remember. Like many of our other 3000 exhibits it suffered from being late to market, overhyped and having a battery life of approximately 27 seconds. The user interface also attracted severe criticism, based as it was on their then popular desktop operating system, that I believe was called "Panes XP" or something.
Move along please, there's always plenty to see in the Ipod Killer Museum. New Exhibits are arriving all the time!
I have an RCA MP3 player from around 2002(I think? it was a gift) that has very little capacity, runs on AAA batteries and is basically the little MP3 player that couldn't. In order to make it really worth carrying around spare AAA batteries, you would have to purchase an SD card to expand the available storage, unless you have 4 songs that you absolutely love to hear over and over again. THAT kind of MP3 player is what the iPod was up against when it came out as an MP3 player with a harddrive.
Gee, let me think... $100 for a 32mb (maybe) MP3 player, and then another chunk of change for SD cards to listen to more than 20 minutes of decent sound quality music and changing AAA batteries every day, or $200-300 for an iPod with gigabytes of storage, a rechargeable battery and a great navigation menu that displays the name of the artist and song.
General Public: Hm, let me think about that one, and while I think about it, let me look at the designs of the "other" MP3 players vs the iPod..
/sarcasm a little help making the decision may be necessary.../end sarcasm
at a time when everyone else was creeping into the market and peeking through the doorway to see if there were enough people on the other side in the portable MP3 player market to make it worthwhile to go in, Apple busted down the door and slapped the iPod into the hands of 20-30 year olds and blew the roof off the market. And now everyone is playing catch-up, claiming their latest and greatest will dethrone the iPod.
I'm sorry, but Apple already stormed the market with a great design, the best software for the job, and a legal method of getting the MP3s to the people. Just give up and start selling accessories for iPods and try to make a profit off of things that change color with the beat of the music.
...Microsoft bought the rights to Gizmondo, didn't they?
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
When was the last time Microsoft successfully created any X-killer?
They killed Netscape... anything after that?
Of course any portable game system MS makes would be hyped as a DS/GBA/PSP killer; those are the competing products in that category. The MS marketing department would have to be pretty braindead NOT to claim that their as-yet-unreleased system is better than the stuff that's currently on the market.
That leaves "iPod killer" as the only questionable assertion. Well, here's how I read it: the system will have either a hard drive or a decent amount of flash memory. This would be great on a portable for all sorts of reasons (e.g., you could download the games to the system rather than carrying around 50 tiny cartridges). A WMA/MP3 player would only be one fairly simple app on such a system, so they may as well stick it in there and add another tick on the checklist.
Will it be a better MP3 player than an iPod? No, but who cares? The PS2 is a pretty terrible DVD player (low quality, clunky controls, noisy as heck), but it was that feature that convinced me to buy it over a GameCube.
And about the only thing the PSP seems to be killing is... the PSP.
If Microsoft wishes to do the same thing as Sony, making a "gaming" handheld that does everything but actually play games, they'll get the same results.
Granted, they may make a better movie player than the PSP (depending on the specifics), but Microsoft is already losing the format wars with Apple over music formats (much like Sony) and if they aim for squeezing the "latest and greatest" in graphics and sound technology into the gaming function, it certainly isn't going to be as small as the iPod (like Sony). And, finally, like Sony, there'll be little more than "portable" (i. e. watered-down) versions of console games (read "Halo Lite").
Steve Ballmer is overheard saying: "I'm going to f-ing kill Apple/Nintendo/Sony." while smashing chairs.
80 CC D8 AF AE D3 AB 54 B7 2E CE 67 C7
I take it this thing is going to be bald, but try to convince me it isn't with its nice leather case, Converse shoes, and indie music.
I'm not scared of anonymous cowards.
I can't see Microsoft veering away from that aspect, this will be x86 based, unless they're planning on using Windows Mobile running on a next generation StrongARM + third party 3D graphics accellerator (ATI Imageon?).
In a year's time the PSP's hardware will have gone through at least one process shrink - it'll be cheaper and it will have a longer battery life.
It will be extremely hard for Microsoft to enter this market, never mind compete. They've got the resources, but unless they can somehow make it play XBox1 games it'll just be ignored. I suppose they could try the classic 'price it $150 under cost' technique.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3609953966 5548298&q=microsoft+ipod
(google video)
This is one of the best parodies i've seen in a while.
So, its going to combine an iPod (retail price ~$300) and a PSP (reatail price ~$200). /me clutches my DS
There is no way this thing will be able to reatil for less than ~$400.00. At that price point (for a handheld) they've priced themselves out of reach for all but the most hardcore, affluent gamers.
And I thought $150.00 was a bit much.
(Speaking of the DS, I need to buy Tetris tomorrow...)
I'll believe it when I see it (even then...)
If they pull it off in a way that the worldwide public will really like it, then it can be a good thing if it provides decent competition... (without monopolization, of course).
But seriously, my only worry is how the portable's over-heating-giant-power-dongle-on-a-cord (borrowed from the 360) will fit in my iPod wristband...
A Passionate Independent Musician
I like my DS being separate to my phone because, I can play it and not worry about killing my battery and not being able to receive calls.
I can listen to songs on my mp3 player as I sight-see, and not have to worry that I'm going to kill the battery before I get to the big sights I want to take photos off.
If a business man is on the tube, he likes his blackberry an iPod to be separate because he won't miss any email after listening to music on his commute.
Unless your device can run for over a day - whilst doing everything - continually - then I don't want the stress of balancing battery needs. Portable devices are about reducing stress, "all-in-one" devices don't do that, no matter how many times you write "killer" in the title.
http://skeptobot.blogspot.com/ - A site for the Renaissance man and woman
Did MS forget the mobile phone?
Or is MS stopping it's mobile phone activities?
Grundgesetz * 23. Mai 1949 - 30. November 2007 - http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/
>before thie device
thie?
> if it hits daylight
Things don't "hit" daylight, they "see" it. Good grief. Sometime's it semes like ane fukwit can submitt story's to Slash-dot!
Sledgehammer. Big as fuck. Go 'round *every* itunes store.
Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious
Yanno what? From now on, let's just keep a handy supply of large trout on hand, and use them to beat anyone who uses the phrase 'iPod killer' to death.
Unpleasantries.
The PSP isn't killing anything other than itself. Its too big and bulky and only accepts proprietary memory sticks and UMDs.... I see whay more people with an iPod than ith a PSP. And you can watch movies on an iPod without buying limited usefullness UMDs which are anything but "Universal" Movie Discs.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
If MSFT would focus on building quality software that lasted for years, instead of trying to push people into product activation forced upgrades they wouldn't need to try and intrude into the home entertainment market.
MSFT reminds me of a manure spreader. Desperately flinging shit in the air every direction trying to find something that sticks. Instead of producing quality software, supporting it, and making their upgrade path intelligent and predictable. But nooooo. They have to try and kill Google and Apple's iPod instead of forging their own success stories. Pathetic.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
"Early Adopters Experiencing More Bugs?"
Prophetic?
The XBoyStationPod^2 will literally crush its competition with its incalculable bulk.
Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.
This new thingy is going to kill the iPod just like Microsoft killed SPAM - they're going to redefine 'kill'. I suppose they'll put an EKG on an iPod and declare it dead.
I pity the foo that isn't metasyntactic
Monopolies are legal, but they used to be controlled, when the law was actually enforced and "conservative" judges weren't appointed to short-circuit it.
Monopolies are damaging because they can leverage their overwhelming advantage (=money) into new markets, conquering one product segment after another, erecting barriers to entry to new competitors, and most importantly, monopolies can prevent new technologies from dislodging their old tech by using extortion in all sorts of ways (in the classic case, "put Linux in your boxen, in any way, and say good-bye to your Windows discount, hell, good-bye to your Windows boxen).
Microsoft is building "killer" after "killer", using their infinite cash from their Office and Windows monopolies to simply underprice their products in new businesses like game machines and portable media players until their competitors, who don't have monopoly cash, fold. Then, classically, they raise their prices in their new monopoly, then use the cash to move into a new monopoly. This is why we busted the trusts after the Guilded Age. Inevitably, one company will own everything. Microsoft wants a media tax worldwide, wants a piece of every media streamed and stored. Then they'll inevitably move into media creation; hell, that's what they're doing in video games. Vertical lock.
More Innovation Through Impersonation. I think Microsoft's addiction to markets is the issue here. They want the search market, they want the MP3 player market, they want this they want that. They end up with a lot of products that are fair, some that are great, and all of this diversification siphons attention away from perfecting things like Windows. They want it all. I hope they persue it all, frankly. Maybe they'll start making cars, toilet paper, TV's. The more money they can waste the better. They will not get the search market under the name "Microsoft" because people equate that with MSN. They won't kill the iPod because Apple already gives the client away and has a player that is practically ubiquitous. C'mon, Microsoft, keep dumping money into stuff other than Windows so you can lose that market too!
Let's call it the "Vapor!"
:)
What do you think?
J. Allard, eh? So does this mean that this handheld will also fit his vision of an 'open chips and cards' console? I can see it now, the Microsoft X-Brick... Weighs twice as much as the original X-box controller, is half as ergonomic, and also doubles as a portable space heater. Why can't they hire someone who actually has an ounce of common sense when it comes to design when they do these things?
Oh, shit, Miscrosoft is releasing Windows for these platforms, aren't they?
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Sure, no wifi, but the rest of it rocks.
Yet another blogger begging for an audience.
Apple's core competency seems to be design. Their hardware and software products in general are aesthetically pleasing, easy to operate, and fun to use.
Could it be that MS, in trying to be all things to all people, has lost sight of its core competency?
Is leveraging their Windows/Office hegemony Microsoft's true core competency? If not that, what? It used to be marketing, but that's not true any more. What is the core competency of a company that has been riding on the dominance of its desktop OS and office software for over a decade?
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Yeah, I know /. is more a blog than a newspaper, but some more neutrality would be nice.
Anything that's more than a year away from market simply can't be an anything killer, yet. At least a prototype should be ready before anyone judges whether it'll be a killer product or tank.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
... is that it was made by Microsoft marketing. They know what their problems are, and they essentially admit they haven't a chance in hell of fixing them. That's why they'll never develop an iPod killer, much less an iPod/DS/PSP killer.
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
I can't wait to inflict some penguin love on that thing!
I stull can't get live.com, their google-killer to work. At least I get to wait a year until I can't get their iPod killer to work.
Oh well. Back to trying to get windoze to work.
Why do I get the impression that if Microsoft invented sex then your genitals would simply exlode if you became aroused?
Need Mercedes parts ?
It's the MS Sledge-Hammer (XP?)
It'll also kill cell phones, PDA's, and errant fingers and toes.
--- I wish I could hear the soundtrack to my life. That way I'd know when to duck.
I only wish I could have been the first to say: 'HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA'
The pendulum is not swinging their direction. If you ask me, people are more interested in simple, well made devices that do one thing well, and in that light no one device is going to 'kill' all of the bits they claim they're taking on.
Sick of iPod-killer stories. Not gonna happen.
Everybody's got an iPod killer. Still it lives on.
-Uberhund
But first they need to make a flesh coating and send it back in time. "Are you Jonathan Ive?"
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
I can see it now: Bigger than a PSP, Unstable as Windows CE, One Eighth the battery life of an ipod, And of course all the usual delights of using a windows device.
Prediction: The real iPhone killer is going to be sex robots from Japan. Think about it.
it's going to enhance your life, change the way you interact with your surroundings, and/or emotionally alter your productivity possibilities.
Dude, he's mostly slamming MS.
"I've had some terrible problems"
"My experience with MS in handhelds is terrible."
"Microsoft doesn't know how to downsize anything."
"I have to reboot it about 10 times a day to get it to run fast."
"I have no faith in Microsoft in terms of an iPod killer."
"Worst. Thing. Ever."
And you think this guy is a MS shill??
Because it's made by good ol' MS, it will be riddled with battery sucking DRM. Oh, and my giant OGG collection will be useless, as will my mp3s I'd imagine. Even then I'd have to find a way to get it to sync with linux, because it definitely won't act like an external HDD or a piece of flash memory. Then I'd have to get windohs media player to run, because that would probably be the only way to get music (probably converted to .wma on the way) ON to the unit. So all in all, it will be a great fiasco with VMWare or a native install of XP. Even still, I'd rather just have the option of sticking a 1gb SD card in my card reader, loading it up with what I desire, putting it in my mp3 player (THAT ONLY PLAYS MUSIC!) and then going. I don't care if my hand held game console doesn't play music. If I want to listen to music, I'll use a device souly made for that purpose and get a better experience anyways. Gaming devices and media devices shouldn't be stuck in the same unit. It hinders performance, battery life, and possibly proper use because it's just more crap to go wrong with it.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to kill them all, sir."
I can't wait! Anybody want to buy a used iPod? This just sounds so much better.
I've heard that the first game that will be released on this platform is Duke Nukeem Forever
I should be a product consultant.
Make what the mac people are crying for.
The device must be the same, exact form factor as the current gen ipod.
Make it out of aluminum or titanium with a matte or beadblasted finish.
The screen should be the entire front of the device.
It's only user input; the touchscreen and perhaps a single scroll wheel. NO MORE. Think about inertial input in a second release. MAYBE.
Put a video and headphone jack on it.
Put 802.11 on it and stop being a bitch to the media industries.
Make it with open programmable interface and a real OS.
The only user interface and application options should be just what the ipod has - a video player, audio player, and basic little apps like the ipod has.
Let the market fill in the gaps.
Sell millions. When you do, buy me a ferrari, ok thanks?
..don't panic
Of course, somebody at Microsoft already figured out how to kill the iPod over a year ago:a 8932
http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2004/12/19.html#
It's so simple-
1) start a blog
2) pay out the *ss for big name music stars and podcasters to design it.
How could the top brass have ignored this foolproof plan for so long?
If I don't put anything here, will anyone recognize me anymore?
I guess MS has to announce something new in order to grab headlines after seeing how poorly the POS known as Origami was received.
Its a serious question, it seems like there is some kind of bad algo generating these topic titles!
its a fucking warzone, everything is killing everything else. How about "Microsoft to construct iPod/DS/PSP hybrid"???
You feel sleepy. Close your eyes. The opinions stated above are yours. You cannot imagine why you ever felt otherwise.
"Why do I get the impression that if Microsoft invented sex then your genitals would simply exlode if you became aroused?"
While with Open Source Genitals, the ball driver has to be reverse-engineered before it can be used. Then you don't have all the features that closed Genitals have like "fire and forget", and "quick release". In the mean time you have to spend weeks fiddling with it till everything clicks.
--
The "are you a script" word for today is "releases".
but I heard they're modeling it like the 1985 Walkman, only bulkier, heavier and a TON more buttons.
Seriously, let's just call it the "Xpod". That way we can be sure it'll fail in Japan.
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
I think they're working on a replacement called Strider HoneyMonkey. At first I thought it was just Arwen's pet-name for Aragon, but apparently not.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Microsoft announced today it will be creating a TV/Phone/Electricity/Food/Desk/Soda/Car/Lawmower/A nnoying Baby/Lamp/Watch/Shoe/Cheap Labor/Headphone/Pen/Umbrella/Pocket Knife/McDonalds/Train/Tire/Sock/Hat Killer device.
I've mounted a battery to your XBox, now use these straps to put it on your back and voila, iPod killer all the way. Oh, here, hold this 14" LCD monitor, and erm put the mouse on the screen, now click "Start", "Programs"... I mean "All Programs" yes, uh no wait, start over. Click on the background. Now right-click on the Start button, then Explore. Where are your mp3's?... *sniff* *sniff* Whoah Hell your butt is on fire *spank* *spank* *spank* it's almost out sir *spank* *spank* *spank* OK, are you OK? Take your pants off... (CENSORED...)
If they want to kill so much stuff, why not just make a gun?
Come on now, the XBOX was supposed to kill the PS2 and that didn't happen, the XBOX 360 hasn't even been able to kill its rivals and they aren't even available yet. Kill the PSP and IPOD with one device, please a Microsoft device will have so much bloat it will need dual core processors just to run the portable OS, so that it can multitask MP3 playing while editing Word files and playing a game of Halo. Because Microsoft can't make something that won't let them show an example of some exectutive editing a Word file while doing something else.
It's like putting internet and IM on a cell phone. Trying to type words on a number keypad is depressingly inefficient. Think about what goes through your mind when you're chatting with a friend and he's using a cell phone. It takes forever to type a message and you're word limit is rediculously low. Cell phones do internet and IM badly, which is why it's not very popular. Then Blackberry comes along and improves things with the keyboard.
enjoy.
0 011721857
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=431377269
You can also watch movies on the PSP without buying a UMD, assuming you've got a big enough Memory Stick and a DVD ripper.
Is a DVD ripper legal for residential end users to obtain and use in those countries where the PSP is sold? See DMCA, AFTA, national implementations of EUCD...
Excellent point. The Windows/Office dominance is actually an albatross around their necks, in that it has allowed them to create this massive infrastructure to perpetuate the Windows/Office paradigm. They can't engage in creative destruction, because to do so would imperil their primary revenue stream.
Perhaps all those proposals we heard a few years back about splitting up MS really do make some sense. If MS voluntarily split itself into three or four different companies and made the Windows/Office component strictly a licensing arm, they could potentially turn their slide around. However, I find the probability of them splitting the company to be about equal to Ralph Nader being elected President.
When MS reaches the Pit of Dispair that IBM reached in the 1990s, we'll see them innovating. Either that, or they'll slide on for a decade or two before being gobbled up by 37signals. ;-)
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
most people prefer to buy their own dvds and do the ripping themselves. an optional $60 purchase
Virtually all major studio DVDs are encrypted with CSS. Sixty dollars is generally not enough to fly to a DMCA-free jurisdiction, rip one's DVDs, and fly back.
What the PSP needs is a Writable UMD drive for a PC
The PC has the next best thing: a rewritable Memory Stick PRO Duo drive. However, with this setup, you can only record from television; you can't transcode any CSS-encrypted DVD under applicable law in the United States, the United Kingdom, or Australia. Among developed countries where English is the national language, this pretty much leaves Canada and New Zealand.
Game Gear and Atari Lynx failed in part because the amount of play time from 12 alkaline batteries was abominable compared to that of the original Game Boy. Wonderswan failed in the United States because it was never advertised in the United States nor sold in national chains.
I knew Microsoft was going to be releasing a portable system to compete with the Sony PSP and Ninshito DS. They will release it, and when they do, GOOODBYE NINSHITO!!!!!!
WOOT! WOOT!
...and like the GP32, which could already play DivX movies when the Gameboy Advance was new, the GP2X will only be known to a handful of people. Regular people won't shell out 200 bucks for a portable and serious gamers will buy a PSP instead (because that' where all the big brand games are)... It's not likely that the GP* will ever be big in the West. Quite sad, I always thought that Gamepark's offerings were exciting, although prohibitively expensive (at least for a student).
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Lets just state the facts here. Nothing from Redmond is going to 'kill' the iPod. Aint gonna happen.
- I voted for Nintendo and against Bush
and that's my wallet and bank account with every new gadget! :)
Made by the same people that brought you XBox...
There is a name for handheld objects that can light things on fire. We call them grenades.
are the ones that are NOT advertised that way. The iPod was never sold as a 'killer' of some other MP3 player. For that matter, the PC itself was not sold that way. Each of these things was promoted based on its own merits -- and not on how it compared to other things. What is it with our hyper-competitive culture now that always has to find 'The only one'?
I love bash.org...
http://bash.org/?431786
---- I am certain of only one thing : I know nothing else.
Hey, yet another product that will overheat itself and melt in a pool of it's own malificence.
There seem to be those who won't be satisified with any hand-held device priced at several hundred dollars until said product provides the same service as for which one might be required to spend several hundred dollars per hour, room and minibar not included. ...it seems, though, that it is all functionally equivalent to just using your hand.
A whole lot of comments, not a lot of real knowledge. Why not watch the video, as it addresses some of the more troll-like responses. You can view it in Media Player at: mms://wm.microsoft.com/ms/uifx/asp_net_atlas.wmv
Posted to the wrong thread. That is what I get for having two Slashdot tabs open at the same time.
Why does it have always have to be a "killer"? It's just a competitive product. Each time something is labeled "killer", it usually doesn't even fare well in the market(maybe not in features). I think it's preposterous to label something "killer". I understand that it is the objective of it but it nevers happens, it competes, yes, but does it really ever kill something completely(please don't go naming examples, for Tux's sake!). Why label it killer(again, even if it is the objective) if the product isn't even finalized? I figure it's just to build the hype...
Now given MS doesn't have the greatest track record on their first offering into a new competitive area in the tech market, but dominating the DS and PSP and iPod and even Cell phone industry would be pretty damned easy if you ask me.
Just do these 6 things:
1. Make it out of real metal and indestructible. Brushed Aluminum, or even Titanium, or Stainless steel. Real Glass for a cover.
2. Make the battery last and charge over a standard USB connection.
3. Give it plenty of capacity. (hopefully with no moving parts).
4. Make an interface that doesn't completely blow. I like the Sony Ericsson interface, kinda, but it's a tad slow.
5. Avoid load times on anything. Lose all the crappy shortcuts to features people almost never use.
6. Avoid all DRM. Just use mp3s (or even ogg!), and divx (or xvid!). Fuck aac, wmv, all those.
If you do those 6 things, everyone will buy it and use it. I'll be first in line.
Eventually somebody WILL make these, and sony/ms/apple/etc. can all kiss their non competing product lines completely good bye.
Again though, I seriously doubt MS will do it, as they are so married to wmv, and all their other own crappy ideas that nobody but porn spammers really like to use ever.
rhY
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
Right now, the 60GB 5G iPod can be had for ~$399...it does Video (and fairly decent video at that) and doubles as a digital photo wallet (with a $25 digital camera connector)...not to mention, there's currently a project to port RockBox to the iPod...
There aren't many that even offer a 60GB option...none that are signifigantly lower in price, and have one or more of the following problems...they have poor build quality (I know this is opinion), poor firmware (also opinion), low battery life (compared to the 60GB Video), B&W screen, no video support, or no digital camera connectivity.
Ah yes, billgatesInc. 'innovating' again.
from looking at the article it sounds like it's at least a year before this device, if it hits daylight, would be coming.
/. frontpage bandwidth such uselessness. Or maybe a create a section http://vaporware.slashdot.org/ for these kinds of submissions.
...
/. automatically converts http://vaporware.slashdot.org/ to HTML, and clicking the URL directs you to the /. frontpage. Oh, the irony...
Then how about we wait a year, if ever, before wasting
Heh, after having previewed the above submission, I see that
Flying is easy, just throw yourself at the ground and miss. -Douglas Adams
See, that's what I dislike about Microsoft ... they're always out to kill. I'd appreciate it if other devices or apps die not because they were in any way excluded but because people just didn't prefer them.
if its that orgami thing good luck ms geting people to waste 700 bucks on that.. only thing it'll kill is itself when noone buys it. if im goign to waste taht much i'd rather get a much faster much better laptop. with a much wider screen.
Yeah. What I should have said was "a few people at Microsoft clearly have a clue about why the iPod succeeded, but they'll have a hard time getting past the majority of marketers there."
This video demonstrates that at least one person in Microsoft believes that their standard bury-the-customer-in-feature-lists approach (which works well selling complex software suites) isn't well-suited to portable music players. This person clearly feels that Apple's minimalist approach would never get past a Microsoft marketing review, which is why Microsoft will not be able to displace the iPod.
Can't you hear the marketing people at MS watching this video and saying, "Yes! That's what we need to do!"
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
the handheld market has never supported more than one system for a very long time. the home console market usually has a couple competitors that are succeeding... this current generation, when we can easily say that there are three 'successes' (if you can consider the ps2 and xbox, which are both hemmoraging money for their prospective companies to be "successes") is really an amazing fluke: before sony entered, it was always just sega and nintendo. now that sony is a competitor, sega's out, microsoft is in, and only one of them is making any actual profit.
/fan-girl mode off.
now, the handheld market has always been different. there have been several attempts, but nintendo has always owned it. and once again, the only competitors that have even come close.. are sega (with their game gear, which failed because there weren't enough really good games, it ate battery life, and the graphic capabilities took precedent over gameplay) and sony (with their psp, which, in my opinion, fails for the same reasons the game gear failed: not enough games I actually want, eats battery, glitz over gameplay.)
let microsoft try. I have serious doubt that anyone will ever dethrone nintendo from the handheld market. they've been doing it the longest, and they've done it the best.
Why does a multibillion dollar company have to spend all of it's time chasing everyone else's ideas. Where is the creativity. How about making something new, something we need or solving a problem with software. This is just plain annoying.
"Never say Never."
Wow so much killing going on Allard should be arrested!
"Microsoft is designing a product that combines video games, music and video in one handheld device"
Now, I don't own a PSP (Nintendo born and bred) but isn't the PSP a 'handheld device combining games, music and video' - how is this new? What can they possibly offer to drag me away, kicking and screaming, from my beloved GBA that I cannot already get in a PSP?