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Microsoft Buyout of Ailing Sony Possible

imashoe writes "BonaFideReviews has published an interesting article stating that a Microsoft buyout of Sony is quite possible sometime in the not-so-far future. From the article: 'All this added up, you have to ask yourself. Will the next Playstation you purchase post-PS3 run a Microsoft operating system and have backwards compatibility for PS1 PS2 PS3 Xbox and Xbox360? Putting your rabid love for Sony aside, this doesn't seem as far fetched as it once did, when the Sony name wasn't covered in enough red tape to fill the Grand Canyon.'"

14 of 363 comments (clear)

  1. Rabid love by wahgnube · · Score: 4, Funny
    What "rabid love for Sony" are we talking about here? Don't we all hate Sony?

    Or is that different on Saturdays? Hmm.

    1. Re:Rabid love by Directrix1 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I would describe my attitude towards Sony as rabid love relative to my attitude toward's Microsoft.

      --
      Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
    2. Re:Rabid love by rblancarte · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Is it just me, or outside the horrible grammar and such, is this article making the mistake that Sony is ONLY the Playstation line of game consoles? If I go to Sony's web page, I see a ton of things that have little to do with gaming (directly) - Stereos, Walkmans, TVs, etc. How can these guys say that Sony is "Ailing"?

      Sony has been around way too long (60 years this May 7th) for one simple launch will kill these guys. That is like saying that Itanium would kill Intel. Just short sighted reporting.

      IMHO, what this is is nothing more than Just Another ailing Tech Site that is trying to bump up their hits by posting some crazy article that speculates some crazy stuff and then get it on a site that will generate some traffic. Hell, the name of the guy who reported this is a freaking LINK to that crappy sites front page.

      Now that I see this - this is bogus, nothing but what I said, trying to boost readership at the expense of slashdoters.

      RonB

      --
      It is human nature to take shortcuts in thinking.
  2. Rootkit support will be double plus good by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Funny

    If MS bought out Sony, the rootkits could become undetectable just like the current US gov ones built into Windows ;)

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  3. read TFA with a grain of salt by Vandil+X · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sony has held the all mighty hardware thrown for an astounding eleven years at the time of writing this.

    I'm sorry, but with an error like that in the second sentence, I'm guessing the author is not an informed source and likely not an authority on predicting future console market trends.

    --
    Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START
  4. Re:Fanboyism at its best by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 5, Informative

    why do we all have a "rabid hate" for Sony?

    DRM rootkits.

    Where have you been?

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  5. Sony is not PlayStation by The+Ape+With+No+Name · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They make all kinds of stuff, including this new handheld digital recording gizmo our department bought for doing ethnographic interviews. It is totally fly and it fills a niche (midrange price/high quality) that we couldn't do otherwise because its competing devices are 10 grand.

    If M$ buys the console part of Sony, so be it. But I doubt that even Microsoft can absorb something as big as Sony. Sure, they may have the cash on hand, but that is a really, really large operation.

    --
    Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
  6. What a load of crap by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So Microsoft are going to buy Sony, which includes Televisions, DVD Players, Walkmans, their music label, their film label, PlayStation...

    Even if this was true, I expect a purchase would be blocked by one or more governments.

  7. Re:Fanboyism at its best by wfberg · · Score: 5, Informative

    why do we all have a "rabid hate" for Sony?

    DRM rootkits.


    Also, The NeverEnding Format Wars (MemoryStick, BlueRay, etc.), PS3 Delays And High Price (Save Up Suckers), MP3 Players That Really Only Play ATRAC, Trying To Get Us To Buy MD Even Though We Told Them A Zillion Times That Tape Sucks Come On Philips Dumped Their Digital Tape Ages Ago, and last but not least Every Kind Of Hardware They Make Except For Playstation Is Being Made By Some Other Taiwanes Or Korean Company For Less Money And Higher Quality.

    They're a company in decline.

    --
    SCO employee? Check out the bounty
  8. DON'T RTFA. by xigxag · · Score: 4, Informative

    Just don't. You will want your five minutes back. You were warned.

    --
    There are two kinds of people: 1) those who start arrays with one and 1) those who start them with zero.
  9. Re:Red Ink, not red tape. by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 4, Informative
    Red ink? What "english" is this?

    Here in England (you know, home of the English language) "Red tape" is a very common term for excessive bureaucratic processes that one sometimes has to go through. I've never heard the term "Red ink" being used to describe this.

    Refer to Wikipedia for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_tape


    And you claim to be a native English speaker? Well, I guess even England has ignorant and uneducated people.

    Red ink refers to the accounting practice of recording finacial losses in red ink.

    red ink
    n.
    A financial loss in business.
    The condition of showing a fiscal deficit: a firm drowning in red ink.

    [From the use of red ink to record debits and losses in financial records.]
    (Dictionary.com)


    Please see this article for an example of use of the term in English financial journalism.

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  10. Re:Huh? by arth1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Did the writer mean red ink? Is it environmentally a good idea to put red ink in the grand canyon?

    Well, that would explain Red River then...

    Anyhow, this article is as insightful as my dog's arse. Reading your average penis cream spam is more enlighting than this. Is there a way to moderate down the submitter and approver of this drivel?

    --
    *Art

  11. Nutty idea by FishandChips · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why should Microsoft buy Sony when Sony are doing such a good job of knocking themselves out of their own key markets? The PSP3 and BlueRay sound like classic troubled products. Sony's sprawling consumer electronics arm is up against the likes of Samsung these days. And Sony's public profile has been dragged through the mud by the CD rootkit scandal. Microsoft don't ahve to do much more than stand and watch.

    In addition, there would be a serious cultural and probably political offset: the Americanos operating in the heartland of SE Asian electronics. That would go down like a lead balloon in many quarters.

    When you've got $40 billion in the bank, anything can sound like a good buy. Quite why Micrsoft should get into manufacturing cameras and alarm clocks is a bit mystifying. There are many other things they could spend more wisely on, unless Sony goes so tits up that it is sold of piecemeal and bits can be bought separately.

    --
    Las qué passoun
    tournoun pas maï
  12. Credibility by vethia · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Completely aside from the subject and content, it's hard to give this article much credibility when it reads like a remedial English paper. If a writer is attempting to express his opinion, especially in such a belligerent fasion, it behooves him to have a strong command of the English language. Reading an article filled with so many errors does not make me inclined to agree with the author; on the contrary, it makes me inclined to question his judgement and intelligence.

    If this article had been written more thoughtfully, I might have said he had some points worth considering, but as it is I find them easy to dismiss. If the author doesn't care enough to check over his own work or isn't bright enough to see the numerous glaring mistakes, I can't help but think that his analysis is equally careless.