Slashdot Mirror
Zune Business Dev Executive Moves On
An anonymous reader slipped us a link to the Seattle PI article discussing Bryan Lee's departure from Microsoft. The former business development VP for the Zune has parted ways with the company for personal reasons now that 'Zune was launched and on track'. This means that J. Allard will be stepping up into fill the void. Allard was instrumental in bringing the first Xbox console to market, and was the VP in charge of technical matters for the Zune. An analyst with Gartner is quoted as saying this move means not all is well in the land of Zune, but a rumour on the CrunchGear site indicates that Microsoft is planning on stepping things up later this year with a Zune cellphone. A smartphone designed to compete with Apple in that market it would seem, despite whatever problems may be going on, the company is still rather fond of the strange little brown device.
This might be the wrong name, but he sounds like a guy I talked about with my (occasionally gullible ...) mom about a month ago.
... the Xbox has been a loss for five years now. That doesn't sound like it's much of a success for MS yet."
... it's going to pay off eventually."
"Oh, [UbuntuDupe], did you hear the story about this genius they have at Microsoft and all this brilliant ideas?"
"Like what?"
"Well, he was the mastermind behind the Xbox!"
"Um
"But
"I'm sure. Anything else?"
"Well, um, they say he was also the head of the Zune project."
"...? The Zune is a basically a butt of everyone's jokes now and has sold very poorly."
"Well, they also said he has a new brilliant idea for an upcoming product."
"But it hasn't been released yet?"
"No..."
***
Btw, for those of your unfamiliar with American business, leaving "for personal reasons" is code for "We're dumping you, you miserable failure, but we'll sugarcoat it to salvage your dignity."
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
I'm actually somewhat looking forward to seeing what they offer in a smartphone. It really can't hurt to have more options out there. I've really been somewhat on the lookout for a decently open phone with fair storage, music playing capabilities and wifi. The more phones like this on the market the better off we all are IMO.
...but does anyone else find it a bit scary how you can read news like this on your Wii at night, then wake up the next morning to see it on Slashdot? I'm not complaining or anything, but it seems like Nintendo's news selection is amazingly in tune with the news on Slashdot.
;)
Or does the news on Slashdot have something to do with all the Slashdotters with their brand new Wiis? Hmmm....
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
like ethics, morality and a sense of dignity
If the tag sticks, the little brown device is dead on arrival.
When his defense asked, "Which computer has Jon Johansen trespassed upon?" the answer was: "His own."
After all my Ubuntu Desktop is brown.
My little Linux and tech blog
And seeing as a lot of cell phones out there (Blackjack, Q, anything running Windows Mobile) are essentially windows devices already made by windows vendors ... Microsoft is not new to the cell phone game. If anything it is old hat to them. They definitely have a leg up over Apple, who only has the ROKR (which was a failure any way you look at it) to date.
I wonder if they squirted him his pink slip.
Danke tres mucho, tovarishch.
Jeezus. Is there any single market that Microsoft WON'T try and get its grubby little hands into? I don't really get why companies like Microsoft need to invade every single market they possibly can for no other reason than "because it's there". They're like some sort of cancer. I wish they would just focus on making their OS and dev tools work. Every time my Visual Studio crashes, or my computer reboots without warning, and I lose productivity, I hate them a little more. Not because they are Microsoft, but because all their effort into trying squeeze every last drop of money out of every possible market takes effort AWAY from them making their other shit work right to begin with. How long have they been making OSes? You'd think that at least THAT would work right by now...
Maybe my coffee just hasn't kicked in yet...
Yeah, it's on track like the roller coaster in Final Destination 3.
It's on track to be the hardware equivalent of Microsoft Bob.
Some more fuel about Apple being MS R&D department :) Well Xbox was an exception I guess...
;)
What would be news would be MS innovating, not announcing vaporware everytime someone in the IT field is announcing a consumer product
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
As for the feature set, streaming video from the Xbox? Huh? You mean on your local network? Gee, that's useful. Isn't the Xbox already hooked up to a TV? If they mean from outside the network, that would require either some killer cell phone bandwidth or some way for the Xbox to be available through the firewall... not sure how that would work as a practical matter, and would you really want to leave your Xbox on all the time and exposed to the internet?
Then there's the business aspect... you've just finished alienating all of your "Plays for Sure" licensees, now you're going to alienate all of your Windows Mobile licensees? Also from a business perspective, going up against Apple's iPhone without the development time and polish, only to be released to a skeptical press in love with anything Apple produces... no thanks.
I'm sorry, this rumor just doesn't seem plausible.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
So, this guy was in charge of marketing the device, while J Allard handled the tech?
By most accounts, the device had decent technology, but everyone thought it was crap?
Sounds like a failure of marketing...
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
Would be an accidental leak of firmware so that it could be more readily hacked to run Linux.
Think of the slobbering that would go on around here if you could easily use its wireless transfer on an open player.
One accidental "leak", and you know people would buy the heck out of these things.
.... because anybody would be sick of getting squirted on a daily basis.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
FTA about the record companies and the Zune:
loath to cooperate with Microsoft by easing the digital restrictions on music tracks
SO VIsta is focused on DRM while the Zune wants open exchange. Is this a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing? Is there a fundamental conflict here?
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2007/02/01/the-offi cial-word-on-a-zune-phone.aspx
Steve Ballmer, 6 months later: "We've invented the ZunePony!" (pulls back sheet to reveal hideous brown zombie pony with mismatched eyes and visible stitching across its reanimated carcase and reeking of death and sulfer) "His name is Mordheim, and we made him from corpses, discarded auto parts and some leftover copies of Microsoft Bob. He can shamble nearly 20 feet in any direction, emit unearthly screams like a damned soul, and feast on the flesh of the living!" (At this point, the zombie pony stumbles toward the camera and starts eating the brain of an AP reporter. Thankfully, this doesn't seem to have any impact on the reporter's career.)
Newstory six months later: "Microsoft says it's quite happy to capture 2% of the Magic Pony market this year. 'Just wait for ZunePony 2.0!' said Ballmer. "We've added claws and horns!"
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
Mod parent up!
Its 2:30 in the morning, im shitfaced and that had me in stitches!
But it has nothing to do with a Zune.
About 20 mins later crunch gear posted this article as well, which features a links to the Patent Applications they filed a few years ago, as well as a VERY interesting link to M$'s entire patent portfolio (5800+ patents !!)
Link to the Article on CrunchGear.
Its interesting to see that Microsoft was thinking about this a few years ago long before Apple announced their I-phone.
--Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum, non erravi pernicose!
Xbox360 has never made a profit, it's never overtaken the PS2 in sales and now the PS3 and Wii are here, both consoles are outselling it. So how long before they quit throwing billions at it and 'bob' it?
Taking the Xbox as example, I would not be surprised if :
_Microsoft seriously commits to this product long enough
_After several incremental iterations
This would end up being a fair product. If not good.
Especially when you read that some of the biggest user complaints stem from 'political decisions' made by Microsoft/media companies and do not come from a technical standpoint.
in other words: "I'm getting off this sinking ship while i still can."
"hey, could you pass me a paper towel? er.. I mean... DEPLOY ABSORBTION PANEL!"
I just can not fucking believe it.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
within 30 feet anyway.
Actually I think a zombie horse would be pretty cool, but that's not related to this...
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
Lest we forget: the uninspiring launch of "the Zune" appears to have overshadowed the fact that Microsoft has consistently viewed (and presented) "Zune" as a brand that will cover an ecosystem of interrelated devices, not the specific PMP that was released a couple of months ago. I'm sure that the company would have loved to have an immediate hit, they're in this for the long term. Think XBox: Microsoft is willing to put cash into short-term life support if they believe that there's long-term potential.
Remember also that even before anyone outside of Microsoft had heard the word "Zune," Steve Ballmer was hinting at a communications/music convergence device as one of the iPod-killing-project's outputs. In the March 2006 interview that gained attention for the "Ballmer has brainwashed his children" comments, Ballmer had this to say in response to the question "think you can crack the iPod market?"
This is not to say that I see very rosy prospects in the short (or medium, or long) term for the Zune, but simply that Microsoft's direction has been pretty clear for a while; unfortunately for them, it appears that this direction has been pretty clear to Apple, as well.
I've written about recent Zune-related happenings in more detail here, but the short version is that if I were Bryan Lee I'd be taking some personal time, too -- Microsoft isn't out of this game by any means, but despite their (apparently) best efforts, hardly a week goes by without something popping up that puts Microsoft in the position of playing catch-up on yet another front: weak Zune launch, disconnect between the marketing and the reality of "the social," the development of public "music download stations," the iPhone...it's getting to be a pretty long list.
It's going to be a brutal couple of years for the Masters of the Zuniverse, no matter what happens.
* * *
It is a dada story -- it has no moral.
That might have been the funniest thing i've ever read on slashdot. Awesome man. thanks
You mean like Apple?
1. PDA
2. WiFi Devices
3. Television Streaming Devices
4. Cellular Phones
5. Music Players
6. Various Peripherals
7. etc etc etc
If Microsoft wants Zune marketshare, they should be basically giving it away. You're not going to remove iPod's cool factor with a device that costs as much, has the Microsoft name associated with it, and offers marginal, if any, improvement. And sharing crippled, DRM-laden, play-limited, songs wirelessly just isn't enough more. Your brown faux iPod just isn't going to impress your friends enough for what it cost you.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Dude, what did you do to your computer?
I'm running VS2005 on XP and have no troubles.
VS crashes maybe once a month.
And I use it 10 hours a day.
And as for my computer automatically restarting? I don't remember that happening even a single time under XP.
So next time you "hate microsoft just a little more" why don't you just save your hate and fix your computer?
When I don't change my oil and my engine seizes, I don't blame it on the car manufacturer.
Then there's the business aspect... you've just finished alienating all of your "Plays for Sure" licensees, now you're going to alienate all of your Windows Mobile licensees?
Yes indeed they are. The most recent example is "Plays for Sure." At some point, Microsoft PHB's decide their customers can't do a good enough job so they do it themselves. This thinking is front-loaded with so much hubris that it is downright funny.
Then again, humility is not a desirable trait for any PHB/executive.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
"A personal decision unrelated to Zune's performance..." Why, of course it was.
It was just a few weeks ago Bill Gates patted him on the back and said "Bry, you're doing a heckuva job." A
And Brian Valentine Jim Allchin Ray Ozzie said he was "behind him 1000%."
And the chair Ballmer threw at him was a top-of-the-line Aeron chair, the kind Ballmer throws only at people for whom he has the highest esteem.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Because 90% of statistics are made up on the spot.
You have to have worked at Microsoft to understand this. Here's the most likely scenario that led to this departure. J Allard wanted it all to himself. So how does one with a strategic sense play this game? That's right, put out a so-so device and blame its failure on marketing. When it fails to sell, fire the head of marketing and take over. Pretty good, eh? This is not to say that v2 will be any better (honestly, I'll take a miracle to eclipse the iPhone and the upcoming full-screen iPod), but by then hopefully Xbox will be in the black and J Allard will be un-fireable no matter how badly he screws up.
The investment there is not in the game console itself or even the games. It's simply the staging area for various digital restriction technologies to work out user-acceptance issue before rolling out the same commodity hardware into enterprise level business agreements.
Neither the console nor the games need to turn a dime on their own if they lead to 100% proprietary hardware-software lock-in, even in peripherals like audio, video, network, printers and storage devices.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
Throwing out all the 'names' of people as if that mattered in large all absorbing corp
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
For the original go herehttp://www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/8000/PX 08636.pdf
From: Jim AIIchin
Sent: Thursday', November 13, 2003 10:D3 AM
To: Amlr Majld~mehr
CC: Will Poole; Michele Freed; Pieter Knook; Harish Naidu; Chris 3ones (WINDOWS); Linda
Subject-" RE: sucking on media ptayers
i think I should talk with Jobs. Right now, I think I should open up a dialog l~or support of the
iPOD. Unless something changes, the iPOD will drive people away from WMP.
jim
From,' Amir Majidimehr
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 10:01 AM
To: Jim Atlchm
CC:-" Will Poole; Michele Freed; Pleter Knook; Harish Naldu; Chris Jones (WINDOWS); Dnda
Averett
Subject: RE: sucking on media players
Now you feel our pain ~ We have been unsuccessful in the past to convince these vendors to
open their eyes and accept that there is better software out there than what they ship with these
things. Of course, some are betler than others but none are a match forApple. For good or bad,
the message ~s finally getting through 9with retailers threatening to sell iPod) but we are not
weihng for that. Tomorrow, we have an entire crew descending on Creative and after that,
Samsnng and Rio to get them motivated to build the "right" device. We are putting incentives on
the table in the form of cash, technical support, direct interface to developers, early access code
for 9.1, etc. In other words, we are going all oul and hoping that at least a few will listen If none
do, then it is lime for us to roll up our sleeves and do our own hardware ®.
We are also pushing them on ID. Interestingly enough, some have devices lhat are pretty much
clones of iPod in all respects but worTy about challenges from Apple. Still, we are giving them
motivation to try harder.
As you allude to below, we also have work to do on our end to make synchronization better. But
to do that, we need to have devices that suppor~ our new MTP protocol so we don't quite have
anything to give you just yet. Our target is to unveil the synchronization capabilities at CES in
eady January. So we may be able to give you a sneak peak sometime in December. We would
lave to have your feedback dudng that process.
BTW, while the Dell is not substantially better frem usability side, il is at least prettier than the Zen.
Finally, while not a substrtute, we hope that Portable Med~a Genter will be a well executed device
with support for meladata which is very useful given its color screen (there are some complicated
rights issues that we have to sor~ out first). Some of the UI design elements appear to be even
better than iPod (as far as cascading menus is concerned).
Amir