Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
zstar, You weren't listening.
"When they see Panther in those schools"
They WON'T be seeing Panther in those schools.
They're yanking out the Macs in that school district & replacing them with WINDOWS machines.
By & Large, EVERYONE RUNS WINDOWS IN BUSINESS.
at least a rather large (97%) percentage run Windows.
Of course there'll be 1 or 2 Macs around nestled in an art department here & there, but there's been no appreciable growth in Mac usage in the corporate world since the release of OSX (or even since the release of OS 6.0) .
In fact, it's been proven that Mac usage in business has shrunk consistantly over the years.
P.S. This in the MSFT board, not the Apple board.
END of this topic.
and last year the deficit was?
My point being, extorting it from the vehicle owners just to lower the deficit ISN'T the way to go.
Big Picture: Eliminating Outrageous taxes on businesses will keep film production here in California, instead of forcing that very same production to shoot in Vancouver, or Georgia.
Result: Production and jobs stay here, CA gets taxes they would've lost to elsewhere, More production and jobs will remain in CA.
That's a start....
Windows Wins in Florida Education System.
http://www.baynews9.com/site/NewsStory.cfm?storyid=25712
Pinellas County Schools making the switch from Macs to PCs
Monday, October 6th
These students will soon be working with personal computers instead of Macs.
The Pinellas County School District currently uses approximately 50,000 computers.
Officials say 68 percent of those are MacIntosh Apple Computers and 32 percent are Windows-based personal computer systems. Al Swinyard, the assistant superintendent for management information systems in the district, says all of their serves are running with Windows technology.
"Traditionally we have had Windows [PC systems] in our administrative offices," Swinyard. "The exception has been primarily in the classrooms [Macs] and with new software applications that don't work on both systems."
The decision was made to move those using Macs onto Windows-based personal computers.
Melrose Elementary School in St. Petersburg has been using personal computers for most of the past seven years. Teacher Tenishela Barganier says she remembers being nervous about the switch at first, but thinks personal computers are a better tool for teaching students.
"I usually like to work with PCs, with Window because you're not limited as much," Barganier said. "Macs limit the software applications that you can use."
Perkins Elementary School technology coordinator Ann Smith predicts there will be some problems with the Pinellas' countywide personal computer implementation.
"I'm concerned with training the teachers and then training the students," Smith said. "A teacher will only use technology when they're comfortable with it. If they're not comfortable with a program, they're not going to share it with their students."
With many of the students already knowledgeable about Mac operations, as well as their teachers, the big question is how the district is going to afford the changeover.
How are they going to pay for the computers and any additional training that may be necessary?
Swinyard says the only significant cost factor will be paying two different staffs to maintain the two systems.
"Budgets for technology are fixed so it is not affected whether they're buying one of computer or another so there's is no change in budgets," he said. "There's been no additional funds allocated for the change."
Pinellas County Schools Superintendent Dr. Howard Hinesley says the change will be worth it because 95 percent of all business applications are Windows-based.
Barganier adds, "Personally the Macs I experienced stayed down and limited the amount of time the kids could use them. With PCs, the kids should get more computer time."
The teachers will make them work and making it work will mean taking additional personal computer training classes.
Way to go, Mr. Gates!
http://www.msnbc.com/news/977567.asp?0dm=B13NT
Gates answers cop’s plea for help
E-mail to Microsoft founder leads to new anti-porn software
Oct. 8 — A “really rotten day” at work in late January prompted a just-about-had-it Toronto police officer to e-mail a spontaneous plea to the world’s richest man for help fighting child pornography. “To be real honest, I didn’t expect anything back. I didn’t even save the e-mail,” said Detective Sgt. Paul Gillespie, a 25-year veteran of the Toronto force.
BUT HIS EFFORT paid off. Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates forwarded the e-mail to Microsoft Canada. “Three weeks later, I got a call. They said, ’We’d like to talk to you about your e-mail,” Gillespie recalled.
Microsoft and the Toronto police, where Gillespie is in charge of the child exploitation section, are now developing software that will make it easier for police to investigate the dissemination of child pornography on the Internet. They hope to complete an initial version of the software in a month.
The software is designed to store copies of all the images police find, creating a searchable database that can help them uncover similarities between cases. It can also analyze pictures and classify those that are child pornography, largely automating a job that consumes a huge amount of police labor.
“I just wondered if there was a possibility of designing ... software to assist some of our investigators,” Gillespie said. “At least so they don’t have to always go look at these awful images ... and have nightmares every night.”
Microsoft Canada has already invested $450,000 in the software project, which got under way in February, and does not know what the final cost will be.
Gates, a college drop-out, is worth an estimated $41 billion and his philanthropic foundation, with an endowment of $24 billion, has made large donations to global health initiatives among other causes. Microsoft said it could not say why Gates chose to support the Toronto project but that the effort is part of the company’s contribution to improving the Internet.
IDENTIFYING PREDATORS
Forty percent of people charged with child pornography also sexually abuse children, police say. But finding the predators and identifying the victims are daunting tasks.
The Toronto software, called the Child Exploitation Linkage Tracking System, will document every piece of information available on child pornography suspects and the victims.
“There is all sorts of new software out there that is specifically designed to defeat the forensic retrieval (by police) of evidence by using encryption and it just seems like ... the bad guys are winning,” said Gillespie. “The wild, wild west is certainly an accurate description of these chat rooms and newsgroups.”
The Microsoft Canada tool will be on an open standard so that it can be tied in with any software used by any agency, said Paula Knight, director of community affairs for Microsoft Canada. “By having this system in place, we’d be able to track the people who collect, trade and distribute these images on the ’Net,” she said.
The explosion in technology and the Internet have made the task of handling the exponential increase in child pornography almost impossible, police say.
“Several years ago, you might see 15 pictures, 20, 100 or 150 and a few videotapes. Now, we’re to the point, on a typical seizure, we could see up to 10,000, 100,000, 500,000 images,” Gillespie said.
And, he says, the pictures are getting harder to look at.
“Three or four years ago ... the majority (of victims) would be 10, 12, 14 (years old) — not to say that’s better child porn, it all just memorializes criminal acts of the most heinous nature — but in the last couple of years, we’ve just seen such young children on regular seizures — babies, 2-, 3-, 4-year-olds.”
Gillespie aims to have other police forces in Canada join the system. Investigations in Britain and the United States are already coordinated with computer systems, he said.
“They’re not operating in a vacuum, running parallel investigations to everybody else, which is sort of what we’ve been doing,” he said. “In Canada ... we have a massive amount of information coming in and not making the most of it.”
Bootz - Gray Davis' car extortion tax
Hadn't taken effect yet.
It was an ill planned political ploy to blunt what he cost the state with his idiotic energy contracts. That, along with his plan to give Driver's License's to illegal aliens were the final gasps of a desperate strategy to appeal to the State's Latino voters.
Meet the New BOSS!
Congratulations Governor Schwarzenegger.
Game Cube price slashed to clear inventory.
"Nintendo has slashed the U.S. price of it's ailing Game Cube to $99 in an effort to clear up a "substantial" backlog of unsold units. Game Cube's sale have consistantly lagged behind Sony's Playstation 2 & Microsoft's XBox. "
[Suppressed Sound Link]
Microsoft Media Center upgrade takes center stage
After years of playing the nerd, the PC is hoping to land the role of the hipster in the living room--a part Microsoft desperately wants to see the computer play.
As expected, Microsoft on Tuesday launched Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004, an updated version of its Media Center PC, and announced new partners for the operating system. Dell and Sony joined the list of computer makers that offer Media Center models that let people download and play music and movies via a remote control.
Microsoft has added a number of features in the 2004 edition of the multimedia operating system. The most notable are the ability to pause and rewind radio broadcasts, edit and print photos, and rip CDs onto a hard drive--all done via the Media Center's remote control interface.
Media Center is a key part of Microsoft's strategy to convince more families to equip their homes with multiple PCs. But the launch event here proved that Microsoft continues to face challenges, as it tries to transition from "geek to sleek," as one executive characterized the effort. During one presentation of photos, the smooth graphic interface was interrupted by a very familiar and utterly PC-looking error box that said an application had unexpectedly quit.
Perhaps the biggest hint that the Media Center-powered PC has not yet crossed over into being cool is the fact that the typical owner is 43 years old, according to Microsoft.
"We did think a year ago that it was going to go younger," Rick Thompson, a Microsoft vice president, said. Originally, Microsoft expected the devices to largely end up in the hands of college students and twenty-somethings.
Appearing via satellite from Redmond, Wash., Microsoft executive Jim Allchin pitched the Media Center as the dawn of a new era in "experience computing."
Allchin, who heads Microsoft's Windows operating system business, said while computers should remain general-purpose machines, they need to be reconfigured to suit specific tasks. He said the PC needs to evolve to the point where it is like a friend who knows what tool to hand you when you're fixing something. "That's the partnership we are trying to create," he said.
The main obstacle for the first generation of Media Center PCs was not their coolness but their cost, according to Tim Bajarin, an analyst for Campbell, Calif.-based market research firm Creative Strategies.
"The biggest problem we found was that the kid in the dorm didn't have the money to buy these things," Bajarin said.
The entry of Dell and others to the market could help with that problem: Their experience and rivalry could lead to price cuts for Media PC machines, which typically cost more than standard models. Already, Media PC models start at less than $1,000.
In addition to hardware partnerships, Microsoft also announced new service deals at events here and in Redmond, New York and Los Angeles. It has joined forces with service providers, including rebel-turned-legitimate music provider Napster and movie distributors CinemaNow and Movielink.
With the launch of the Media Center upgrade, Microsoft is trying to take the interface beyond music, movies and still images. Its developer kit for the operating system has been downloaded by more than 100 companies, Microsoft said, which should pave the way for new software and services--including games--that can be controlled via remote control.
Media Center is a potential boon to companies like CinemaNow and Movielink, which allow customers to download movies to their PC for a limited period. With Media Center, those movies can now be easily rented and watched on a TV, potentially allowing the market to grow beyond a core group of enthusiasts.
Bruce Eisen, executive vice president of CinemaNow, which is based in Marina Del Rey, Calif., said he jumped at the chance to be included on the Media Center's menu of customized online services. "For people who buy this computer, we're there," he said.
In Los Angeles, Will Poole, senior vice president of Microsoft's Windows Client Business, highlighted the company's commitment to preventing digital content theft in partnership with Hollywood and rights owners.
Addressing an audience of about 60 at the Wyndham Bel Age hotel in West Hollywood--roughly two miles away from the 10th annual Digital Hollywood conference at the Directors Guild of America building, and close to where Microsoft made the debut of its Windows Media 9 Series video compression technology only a year earlier--Poole said that there was no better place to show the value of a home media center and illustrate the business opportunities possible for content owners. Poole said Microsoft was working with Hollywood in several ways to ensure that broadcasters and content owners are protected from digital theft.
"It's impossible to come here and not have a conversation about the vexing business problems" Hollywood faces, Poole said. He added that he has visited Los Angeles every couple of months for the last five years as the company has developed its software and systems for home entertainment.
Via Microsoft's technology, the threat of piracy could become more real to content owners. Media Center Edition software and compatible hardware give consumers ways to copy and "burn" content to a DVD or CD. Users could, for example, use the personal video recorder to copy a television show or movie from a pay channel to their hard drive and then burn that content to a DVD. They could then transfer the copy to another computer and make it available to mass audiences within a peer-to-peer community such as Kazaa.
Poole said Microsoft is working on solutions or "speed bumps" to make it harder for consumers to copy material. For example, Microsoft has announced full support for an analog standard called CGMS/A that secures content recorded through personal video recorders. Broadcasters use the standard to mark their content and restrict its reuse in other devices. Additionally, Poole said Microsoft is working with the industry on other technology standards, yet to be disclosed, to restrict copying practices. Other technologies the company is looking at include "forensic watermarking," which lets rights holders track content.
Making legitimate video and music services available to consumers is another strategy to "create honest markets," Poole said. Partnerships with video-on-demand services such as CinemaNow and Movielink, as well as with music service Napster, give people easy access to legal options for entertainment.
"Hollywood is duly concerned, as we are," Poole said. "We're rapidly creating these honest markets by making it possible to deliver subscription services" to the television. He added that education is key to stamping out digital theft.
Long term, the company is scouting options to address the problem of analog reconversion, or what's called the "analog hole," in which consumers can copy material to transferable discs and onto other devices. Poole said the industry needs to transition from a primarily analog world to a more easy-to-secure digital world.
Also...
GTA & Vice City combined coming to XBOX
and, just because I wanted post #626
XBOX latest stats released:
World Wide installed base: in excess of 10 Million Consoles
U.S installed base: 6 Million Consoles
Software sales in the 2nd year of XBOX increased by 1.6 Million units
Per Console attach rate: 5.5 games per console (the highest in the industry)
XBOX Live approaching 600,000 subscribers
U.S. XBOX Market Share 25%
Canadian Market Share 33%
This just in...
Ringo & friends come back for another multimillion dollar bite of the AAPL... uh, Apple.
I'm sure SCOX will point to the offending code, IN COURT.
"SCO hasn't named the offending lines of code. Hard to accept their claims without that!"
"If they don't point to the offending lines of code then they have no claim."
Intersting opinion you gave SGold, But the fact of the matter is that SCO would be foolish to point to the code prior to the discovery phase of the trial.
Why give IBM or any other party the ability to alter the code yet again prior to the actual trial? If IBM or RHAT or any other Linux distro has pilfered code from SCO in it, Pay the fine, pay a licensing fee, & be done with it. Stop pretending the situation doesn't exist.
FWIW, I have no love for SCOX, (the former Caldera).
MSFT figured it out, even the braintrust over at SUNW were bright enough to buy a license, this isn't that hard an issue.
GTA3 & GTA- Vice City Coming to XBOX
Rockstar Games, the world-renowned publishing division of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., announced today that it plans to ship the award-winning Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as a “double pack” for both the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and the Xbox® video game system from Microsoft. The Grand Theft Auto “double pack” is set to hit shelves in North America on October 22, 2003 for PlayStation®2 and on November 4, 2003 for Xbox.
Developed by Rockstar North, the Grand Theft Auto franchise has long been applauded and praised for its expansive and open-ended gameplay, cinematic scripts, and epic soundtracks. Since its introduction in 1997, the franchise has received countless awards of excellence and universal critical acclaim. With sales of more than 25 million units worldwide, Grand Theft Auto is one of the most recognized franchises in the history of the videogame marketplace."
OT: 17 minutes to edit - expanded?
Now we get 20 minutes to edit posts????
I'm in agreement with Duke on this one:
My question to the LINatics that dreamed this up is,
If LINUX can't bolster it's own popularity by virtue of being free, or supposedly superior, how will this initiative help?
It's the same story you get from the Apple cult.
If your product is so hot, HOW COME IT HAS SINGLE DIGIT MARKET SHARE? (that contiunues to shrink year over year, I might add.)
"The project, proposed by Japan's Trade Minister Takeo Hiranuma at a conference in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Wednesday, is intended to bolster the popularity of Windows' rivals, such as Linux, and boost their share in such markets as digital cameras, mobile phones and car navigation systems.
"The idea is to get existing non-Windows operating systems, such as Linux, to be more broadly used, rather than developing a totally new operating system," said ministry official Takashi Kume."
Another non-event.
$$$ACE$$$
10 millionth XBOX sold + other stuff.
"Microsoft's latest fiscal results show a healthy and burgeoning XBOX Martket. The company has announced that 10 million XBOX's have been sold to date. Microsoft predicts that the number will reach between 14.5 & 16 million units by this time next year.
Also: HALO has sold over 3 million units to date, with HALO 2 expected early in 2004. HALO has also been announced in a version for the PC, with new maps, weapons & vehicles. "
Any care to calculate the return on investment for what MSFT paid to acquire Bunjie? I can't seem to find the figures anywhere.
[Suppressed Sound Link]
Microsoft Corp.today is announcing special academic pricing for Microsoft(R) Office OneNote(TM) 2003, which will allow students and educators to obtain the Academic Edition Full-Packaged Product (FPP) at campus bookstores for $49 (U.S.) when it is released this October.
Microsoft also announced it is making the software widely available to teachers, schools and students worldwide through volume licensing incentives at the campus and school level. Educational institutions that have active Campus and School Agreements with Microsoft between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31, 2003, will have the opportunity to try out the new OneNote software at no charge until their contracts expire.
Well, if it wasn't ubiquitous before... It will be now.
[Suppressed Sound Link]
It's not Porky Pig, It's Petunia Pig...
Notice the bleu dress. uh, blue dress.
Which brings to mind that old saying about
dressing up a pig in a tutu, yet it still being a pig.
Even dressed like that, it was still able to catch a cold on the way to a ski trip.
Tulipz fried...anybody save a slice?
I thought I smelled pork burning... with a nice afterstench that had a just a touch of Pine & whole lot of fish market stinkiness. An unholy union of lurid smells.
Best watch the IP address... this one has a way of reincarnating a few 100 times in other places.
P.S. Puggs, Where's the Blue frosted cookies?
Hopefully, Th - Th- Th- That's all folks!
Florida 7th Graders get MSFT Tablet PC's
Students Line Up for Lighter Book Bags
OCOEE, Fla., Aug. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Students at Ocoee Middle School in Florida will be among the nation's first to experience the benefits of round-the-clock fingertip access to their learning resources via a joint project involving Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT); Holt, Rinehart and Winston; and HP. The first-of-its-kind educational project, announced today from Ocoee Middle School in Orange County Florida, will gauge how well students learn using a Tablet PC and a Web-based curriculum, while measuring their success with one-to-one computing and full-time Internet access.
"Thanks to Microsoft, Holt and HP, this project will place Florida on the cutting edge of educational technology," said Education Commissioner Jim Horne. "The seventh-graders at Ocoee Middle School will make history while gaining skills that are sure to prepare them for today's fast-paced world."
Starting in fall 2003, seventh-grade Ocoee Middle School students will be equipped with Compaq TC1000 Tablet PCs running Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Tablet PC Edition software, plus additional learning software to engage students with an entire suite of Holt Online Learning programs and instructional materials covering science, social studies and language arts. Accessible in class or at home through Microsoft Class Server 3.0, these standards-based, highly interactive online books include tutors, maps, timelines, video and audio programs, and many other interactive features to enhance student understanding and get them excited about the topic at hand.
"I am pleased and excited that Ocoee Middle School was chosen to participate in this project with Microsoft, HP and Holt," said Katherine Clark, principal of Ocoee Middle School. "I believe that e-learning will be the key to unlock the potential of every student. The innovative Tablet PC technology and software, combined with the extensive Holt online curriculum, will have a tremendous impact on the teaching and learning process. I look forward to our involvement in this innovative educational initiative."
Using the wireless Tablet PCs, students will have practically-anywhere access to their Holt Online Learning curriculum and a host of Microsoft tools, including Producer for PowerPoint(R), Movie Maker 2, Windows Media(R) Series 9 and Encarta(R) Reference Library 2004. Students will be able to take handwritten notes, make and share journal entries, and electronically complete exercises, homework assignments and tests on a single device.
"Today's schools are facing a myriad of challenges, and Microsoft is pleased to participate in this project to help make the anywhere, anytime learning environment a reality, and we hope to see other schools follow the groundbreaking leadership of Ocoee," said Wanda Miles, executive director for Learning Technologies at Microsoft. "By combining Microsoft software, Holt curriculum and the Tablet PC, students and teachers can demonstrate a transformation in learning experiences."
"The Tablet PC is a compelling new platform for education," said Judy Fowler, president of Holt. "It widens the possibilities for technology-based interactive learning, enabling student access to an entire curriculum from a single, light, portable device. Holt Online Learning products delivered through the Tablet PC and Microsoft's Class Server 3.0 learning management platform, provide students with enhanced learning opportunities and the ability to interact with instructional materials in ways that previous platforms have not allowed."
Teachers will use the technology solution to evaluate their students' work and assess the project's effectiveness in raising academic achievement. SIF (Schools Interoperability Framework, open industry standard for school administration systems) enabled applications will be used to automatically record each student's progress in Ocoee's grade book and student information systems. This will help the school more easily meet its requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to measure and report on student progress.
"The district has always been aggressive in seeking out opportunities for our students to work with the most up-to-date technology possible," said Ronald Blocker, superintendent of Orange County Public Schools. "We recognize that technology is an extremely valuable tool for boosting student achievement, and it prepares students for the high-tech world in which they will be living and working."
Ocoee Middle School combines up-to-date multimedia technology, high-speed and wireless communications, and innovative special programs in a traditional environment of group discussion, individual reading and concentration, or one- on-one teacher time with students. The use of technology provides more time for study and research, and for teachers to contact parents or respond to students.
"This is one of the most important projects we've seen in a long time, and we are happy to be partnering with Microsoft, Holt and Ocoee Middle School to improve the educational process," said George Warren, director of the K-12 line of business at HP. "The Tablet PC is an exciting new product, and we look forward to seeing how schools use this technology in innovative ways."
At the end of the yearlong pilot study, results will be evaluated on a number of fronts, including improvements in learning, teachers' impressions of the impact on their teaching, students' level of engagement, and the nuts and bolts of successfully integrating the technology into the school's infrastructure with a minimal need for ongoing maintenance and support.
http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?symbols=NASDAQ:MSFT&story=35381966
Actually, I'm content to sit back, & watch the numbers.
No need to post just to entertain the riff-raff.
Watching Dell cut prices 22% today, Computer sales numbers for the next quarter will be very interesting.
Especially as "back to school" comparison shopping for technology hit full swing this coming week.
It should make it awfully exciting seeing which company racks up the sales...
CHOICE #1: Dell , Who people will see as getting a tremendous value for their $$$'s,
VS.
CHOICE #2: That 2% niche company with a tradition of already being overpriced & underpowered.
With Dell & "those other guys" being the only serious choices in most education markets,
the clear winner in this is sure to be Dell. (& MSFT's Windows XP , by extension)
P.S. My vacation was wonderful. Everyone should go there at least once.
$$$ACE$$$
More from Mick, Keef, & Rhapsody
And yes, Z... Cabo San Lucas was wonderful, thanks for asking!
http://msnbc.com/news/953893.asp?0dm=C18MT
Stones rolling online with Real
Band’s music to be available on Rhapsody for two weeks
Ron Wood, Keith Richards and the rest of the Rolling Stones are making their complete music catalog available online in a new deal with RealNetworks.
For the first time ever, the Rolling Stones are making their music available online. The group’s game plan will be revealed Monday as part of a massive campaign in partnership with RealNetworks’ Rhapsody service and major retailer Best Buy.
SONGS INCLUDED IN the deal span the group’s lengthy career, including material from ABKCO/Universal Music and EMI/Virgin, and will be available exclusively on Rhapsody for a two-week period. After the exclusive period ends, the Rolling Stones’ EMI/Virgin catalog will be made available to other legal online music sites through EMI’s Digital Distribution programs.
“This is a watershed event,” said Ted Cohen, senior VP digital development and distribution, EMI Music. “One of the top retailers in the country is embracing digital distribution in a big way. And one of the top bands in the world is putting its entire catalog together, united on one of the top online music services. The combination is an incredible coming-out party.”
The Stones’ corporate history has resulted in a lack of uniformity in the music’s usage rules. Their earlier material, now under the control of former manager Allen Klein’s ABKCO label, is licensed only for streaming. This effectively prevents classic songs including “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” from being on download-only services like Apple’s iTunes Music Store.
However, tracks from 1971 to the present day are licensed by EMI/Virgin Records for permanent downloading and burning as well as unlimited streaming. That gives consumers flexible use of hits like “Start Me Up,” “Miss You” and “Angie.”
According to Cohen, the time is finally right for the Rolling Stones to distribute digitally. “This meets their standards of how they would like their music to be presented to their fans,” he said.
Sean Ryan, VP Music Services, RealNetworks, said the deal proved Rhapsody and other digital music services were ready to reach mainstream consumers. Now that Rhapsody is part of RealNetworks, he added, the Rolling Stones will get promoted across all RealOne players and distribution partners to all parties’ mutual benefit. There are more than 335 million unique players registered worldwide, although a United States breakout is not available.
The Rolling Stones’ songs will be added to Rhapsody’s library of 350,000 tracks available for on-demand listening and more than 240,000 songs available for sale at 79 cents per track. They will be fully integrated into Rhapsody features such as custom Internet radio stations, professionally programmed stations, and music information and editorial recommendations.
Best Buy’s involvement is deeper than just marketing. A separate deal with RealNetworks is putting interactive kiosks in more than 560 retail stores at which consumers can experience Rhapsody. They can also subscribe to 14-day free trial to a co-branded version of the service, either at Best Buy stores or at bestbuy.com.
In-store displays will promote both Rhapsody and the Rolling Stones, along with a 10 percent discount on all physical copies of the band’s EMI titles. More than 20,000 Best Buy employees received training in how to buy, sell and explain Rhapsody. They each received a free one-month trial as well, with a discounted price should they wish to subscribe after that. “The core to our strategy is that we want to be the place customers can get their entertainment, any way they want and any where they want,” said Scott Young, VP digital entertainment, Best Buy.
Best Buy already offers various other services, including Internet access and Netflix subscriptions. “But this is the first in the world of digital music,” Young said. “We decided this product is ready for primetime.”
© 2003 Reuters Limited.
Mick and friends finally go digital
Stones coming to iTunes Music Store in 2 weeks.
You must've missed this.
From http://www.bestbuy.com
Try RHAPSODY free and get digital access to Rolling Stones tracks
The Rolling Stones catalog is available digitally for the first time ever — only on RHAPSODY!
Try the must-have music service FREE for 14 days.
I can wait...
justice delayed is justice defined.
Service manual? You mean..
It DOESN'T "JUST WORK" ... Shock & horrors.
I saw one for sale on ZVC.. maybe that should be schlock & whorers.
MMMMMMMMMMM...Cookies.
Just make sure they have Blue frosting,Puggy...
With plenty of lard content.
Awwww Man... No Bigmouth BBQ? Justice delayed?
"Matt - I pick Tulipz. Shall I list my reason(s)...in public?"
I was hoping to check in & view the charred flowery carcass, with an Apple stuffed in this pig's mouth.
Dang.
Then we could have been mercifully free from the ravages of her lack of intelligence.
Oh well... Resume South of the border vacation.
MSFT dumps Nvidia for ATI in XBOX
ATI Technologies Inc. said on Thursday it struck a deal with Microsoft Corp.to develop graphics technology for its next generation Xbox video game console, dealing a blow to rival Nvidia Corp.
Shares of Markham, Ontario-based ATI, a leading graphics chip maker, surged in pre-market trading on the news, rising $1 to $13.25 on Instinet with more than a million shares traded. Nvidia's stock fell 78 cents to $16.
ATI Technologies Inc. said in a short statement that under the agreement with Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, it will develop custom, leading-edge graphics technologies for use in future Xbox products and services.
Graphics chips for the Xbox are currently provided by Nvidia. A spokesman for ATI would not confirm the agreement covers chips, but one analyst said he believed this was the case.
"We believe it does (cover chips). Microsoft is always particularly vague in terms of its press releases and not spilling too much, but we are very confident that this in fact represents the next generation of Xbox," said David Hodgson, an analyst with Dundee Securities.
"This agreement cements ATI's position as the prime graphics supplier for the future of the games industry," ATI Chief Executive K. Y. Ho said in a statement.
Ain't that a kick in the Bootie?
Duece, I answered your question yesterday.
Go back & read it from there. Ooops you can't... The board moderator was too afraid to leave it up, due to it's lack of apparently required Steve Jobs cheerleading...
Ask ldbotez, maybe she can send you a copy from the private mail response she was sure to get, since I was answering her question.
Ace
[Suppressed Sound Link]
Pinza, see?
Like your pal ljk said..."Pinza: None of your 34 charts came up with any actual charts for me. Just blank stuff, waiting for me to input something. I'm not sure why."
I'm sure why. Basic inability to correctly post a link.
Reflect, figure it out, pat yourself on the back for figuring it out, and try again. Maybe it's a Mac thing.
like THIS, Pinza..
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/charts/chartdl.asp?Symbol=MSFT&ShowChtBt=Refresh+Chart&....
"But pretty much anything else in the last 6 1/2 years shows AAPL outperforming MSFT, often decisively. This is a fact, ace:"
that's the 3 year chart, which shows MSFT is down about 25%, & compares it with AAPL, which, even with a run up, is down about 60%...
Pinza: THAT WOULD BE MORE... More down is BAD.
Here's the 10 year chart:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/charts/chartdl.asp?Symbol=MSFT&ShowChtBt=Refresh+Chart&....
This shows MSFT up about 1100% & AAPL up maybe 20% (That means MSFT performed better. About 55 times as well as AAPL )
Change them to X & Y & in blind performance tests, you'd pick MSFT's performance over AAPL "0" line hugging lack of performance any day.
P.S. And I didn't say it was a fake radio station, I said your story & assertions were fake, as they were. And Thanks to Burpzilla's attention to detail, you were exposed immediately.
Pinza...
Just a suggestion,
learn to post a link to something other than 100 days chart...(which is worthless to any serious investor) a "trader" might use it once, but not 30 times,,,
what happens when a troll posts crap?
first, it usually has a header that says:
Posted by: PinzaTodd
And then it will detail some farcical scenario where Pinza's Mac saved the day, & finishes with him almost breaking his arm patting himself on the back.
But to answer your question:
"Well, golly, if AAPL is a non-performer, then what does that make MSFT?:"
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?d=c&c=aapl&k=c1&t=my&s=msft&a=v&p=s&l=on&....
the answer is: "About 3000 times better a stock performer than Apple ".
(see the above chart. )
Pinza, tell us again your fake story about the radio station, and the pledge drive, I love that one... (don't make me go find it, I won't paint you in such a colorful light...)
"Keep it civil. Keep it relevant, or at least label it OT if it isn't. Otherwise, eject the poster"
POT..KETTLE..BLACK! Astounded that you finish a post with this tripe after starting it with calling people trolls. ( or is that code for "anyone not foolish enough to suck up to Apple"?) OR are you asking the fine (cough) unbiased moderators to eject you?
Hey Langostino, let's see if that "integrity" you wrote me about you & this board having, & we'll see how long Pinza's attack post lasts....
Buona foreclosure Todd!
TFX - langostino WHY so afraid of FACTS?
Why do you keep pulling on topic posts?
Because they're non happy talk?
Why are you afraid to let the people see behind the curtain, past the smoke & mirrors?
Paper, And what happens when
that Toshiba mini hard-drive in your iPlod dies, taking your entire music library with it? Then what?
Customers buy tangible & Thieves steal digital.
Here's a little light reading for you. Don't choke on it.
In a masterstroke of technological and marketing acumen, Apple Computer appeared to have seized the digital music industry last month by boldly creating its own retail download service.
The Macintosh maker, diagnosed being near death in the 1990s, seemed to have pulled off another miracle: Its iTunes Music Store sold 2 million songs in its first 16 days, dwarfing rival download services and drawing raves from Silicon Valley to Hollywood. Yet even before the initial euphoria could subside, the company began hearing familiar rumblings from points north--namely, Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash.
"We've been working and have gotten a lot of traction in this space for a long while," said David Caulton, group manager for the Windows Media division, adding that Microsoft has no plans for a competing service. "We're still very comfortable with the strategy of enabling lots and lots of partners to build these things, rather than build a closed proprietary service on our own."
No one disputes the uncanny ability of Apple CEO Steve Jobs to identify consumer trends, and many see the Music Store as a positive step that will advance a sector of the entertainment industry that has been stymied by confusion, litigation and infighting. But just as it tries to expand beyond the confines of the computing business, Apple is finding that its future in digital music will depend largely on its old nemesis from the PC world.
Microsoft has lobbied the entertainment industry for years to endorse its Windows Media technologies as a way to secure digital distribution against online piracy, and its plan is quietly starting to pay off. Despite some reluctance from record label and studio executives, Microsoft has won a place for its products in nearly every corner of digital entertainment, from Internet music and video sites to home media centers, audio CDs and movie theaters.
"We think Apple's music service is a positive thing, but the reality is this: They're not the first to do it. We've been offering it for a year and a half with Pressplay," said Kevin Branigan, vice president of marketing at Diamond Rio, which makes a player that competes with Apple's popular iPod portable music device. "Microsoft did the work up front with Pressplay. Microsoft spent a long time lobbying manufacturers; that's the Microsoft way."
Few know that pattern better than Apple, which lost its fight for desktop computing to Microsoft long ago. So today, with an uncomfortable sense of deja vu, the Mac maker is facing a crossroads similar to one it encountered in the 1980s: whether to develop and promote technologies exclusively for Apple products or follow Microsoft's PC plan and work with as many partners as possible in hopes of becoming the music service used by all, regardless of software or hardware differences.
Apple has so far benefited from the music industry's reluctance to cede too much control to Microsoft. But the Mac maker will need to deal with Microsoft at some point, as a competitor or an ally, while the digital music business quickly evolves and various players begin taking sides.
Others waiting in the wings
"People are evaluating what's happening on the Apple side," a senior executive at one major record label said. "There are other companies with deeper pockets than existing download services, such as the big ISPs, big retailers and other players."
The most obvious threat to Apple would be a direct assault such as a Microsoft download service that undercuts the Music Store with better licensing deals and other incentives for the record labels, hardware makers and everyone in between. Microsoft could, for example, offer to run all the storage and distribution technologies for a major retailer such as Wal-Mart Stores while providing developer software for device manufacturers that would work with any format, perhaps initially for free to gain market share.
Such a scenario would seem particularly inviting for portable music player makers such as Rio and Creative, which compete with Apple's iPod and already support Microsoft's secure Windows Media Audio (WMA) format through the Pressplay music service in addition to free downloads that use the the MP3 format. Moreover, even though sources say the record labels are wary of Microsoft, the influential software company may offer them deals that are too tempting to resist.
"It's a tremendous opportunity for Microsoft," said Robbie Vann-Adibé, chief executive of Ecast, which makes download security technology. "Most likely we will see them partnering with others to get stuff done. It wouldn't be the first time Microsoft did something like that."
As underscored in its browser wars, Microsoft has a long history of doing whatever it takes to thwart anything it deems a threat to its technologies. And Apple's Music Store--as modest as it may seem, relative to the far-flung Windows empire--could easily be viewed by paranoid Microsoft executives as the first link in a chain of events that could ultimately result in significant competition, especially as both companies continue expanding beyond computing to digital entertainment.
It is just such thinking that has led Microsoft to take extraordinary measures in shutting out competitors, regardless of size. In aggressive strategies that have been subjected to unprecedented legal scrutiny, the company has used its considerable influence from its pervasive Windows presence to woo or pressure partners and competitors alike, from IBM and Sun Microsystems to Netscape Communications and RealNetworks.
The mere prospect of an icon on Microsoft's ubiquitous operating systems, media players or other products presents a powerful challenge for Apple, which has only a 2 percent market share of computers sold worldwide, according to industry researcher IDC.
"Microsoft has a lock on the desktop. If they ever want to run their own digital music service out of the Windows Media Player, they could own this," said Matt Rosoff, an analyst with independent research firm Directions on Microsoft. "It might make sense for them to partner with a retailer and offer them preferential space in the Windows Media Player. That would likely require any partners to use its Windows Media Audio format."
Even if Microsoft does nothing specifically to respond to Apple's service, many computing and music industry veterans argue that the software giant still has an advantage because it has already laid the foundation to make money through technologies necessary to buy, download and play digital music. Microsoft can profit from its "back end" infrastructure while leaving the headaches of operating a storefront to other companies, which may range from major Web portals such as Yahoo to retail chains such as Amazon.com and Sears, Roebuck.
"Microsoft makes a large percentage of revenues by selling software development kits (SDKs) for Windows Media Audio," Diamond Rio's Branigan said. "Every product ever made from every manufacturer using Windows will have to buy another SDK, and that's significant revenues for Microsoft."
Familiar pattern for Microsoft
That kind of toll-taker role is classic Microsoft, a company that has always sought to own the underlying architecture of any technology business, if not the product branding seen initially by consumers. Microsoft can then collect licensing fees from as many partners as possible--just as it has from PC makers for the Windows operating system--without paying for any licenses itself.
"Microsoft hates to license anything. They always fight for format dominance so they don't have to pay licensing fees," analyst Rosoff said. "The policy, which comes from the top of the company, is: 'We do not pay licensing fees. We collect licensing fees.'"
If Apple has a strategy for dealing with Microsoft, it isn't telling anyone; the company refused repeated requests for comment on this report. Any firm plans might be premature at this early stage anyway because so much depends on how successful the service becomes in coming months.
Record industry executives, calling the Music Store an "experiment," have agreed to initial licensing terms for just one year, according to several people familiar with the deal. That should be enough time to show whether legal services stand a chance of competing with free MP3s and file-swapping networks, the first and most important test for Apple and the labels.
Despite the hype surrounding the service's launch, it is not clear whether selling digital downloads is a lucrative retail business for Apple or any other company. Apple has not publicly discussed the licensing terms, but executives at other digital music companies said they expect its margins to be razor thin if the industry collects its standard rate of 60 cents to 70 cents per song.
After paying off the labels and music publishers, music retailers must still pay for a host of other services, including credit card transactions, bandwidth and storage for hosting and distributing the files, encoding and preparation of the music, customer support, marketing and staff. Some suspect that Apple's service may operate at a loss, at least in the short run.
"Retail is not a good business to be in," asserts Dave Goldberg, CEO of Yahoo's LaunchCast Internet radio service.
The size of the prize could have important consequences for Apple's long-term plan, particularly in determining how far it expects to expand into Microsoft territory--a necessary step if it intends to be anything more than a fringe player in the digital music business. The Music Store could be a powerful way to attract new customers to Apple's hardware if it just breaks even, but that might not be enough for the company to seek a broader role as a major digital storefront or back-end technology provider in the Windows universe.
Jobs has already said the company plans to offer a Windows-compatible version of its iTunes Music Store by year's end, and has begun advertising for at least one Windows software developer for the project. But Apple may be hard-pressed to bring its system for the Mac seamlessly to Windows.
The iTunes service uses the AAC audio standard, which claims to offer superior listening qualities compared with the MP3 format used for most free downloads, but it also uses a proprietary security system known as FairPlay. To competitors, that means Apple's system is not a truly open standard: If portable MP3 player makers decide to support AAC, for instance, Apple's tracks won't play on those devices unless Apple provides software that will support FairPlay.
"The problem with AAC is there are so many flavors it's unclear what the standard is," said Dennis Mudd, CEO of MusicMatch, a PC jukebox maker that teamed with Apple to provide Microsoft-compatible software when the Mac maker first introduced its iPod for Windows device. "That's got to get fixed."
Still, the technology has won some important endorsements, at least partly to keep Microsoft at bay for the time being.
AAC has the blessing of the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG), a key industry standards-setting body that created MP3. AOL Time Warner plans to use AAC in its Internet radio service. MusicNet, an Internet music service backed by the record labels and RealNetworks, also is considering supporting AAC, according to MusicNet CEO Alan McGlade
"The problem is Microsoft has a monopoly, and once they win they can charge whatever they like," said Michael Robertson, who has squared off against the software giant in his role as founder of MP3.com and more recently as CEO of Lindows.com, a software company that offers a desktop version of the Linux open-source operating system that competes with Windows. "Media companies have been very wary of Microsoft for a long time."
Nevertheless, given the high stakes and myriad players in the music industry, business relationships can change 180 degrees overnight. Ironically, the splash made by Apple's Music Store may ultimately benefit archenemy Microsoft in the long run by raising mainstream market awareness about legal download services beyond iTunes in areas where Windows has powerful influence.
"MusicNet, Pressplay, Amazon, Yahoo, AOL, MSN--those are all going to be movers in this area," said Mike Harburg, chief technology officer at digital media company Loudeye. "Everybody's going to jump on this bandwagon."
The emergence of successful commercial services will play a pivotal role in establishing a new secure standard, which could inevitably benefit Windows Media Audio and other secure technologies. Such legal alternatives have been overshadowed in the past by the overwhelming popularity of free music services like Kazaa that use the MP3 download format.
"A few years ago, a variety of organizations had formats for secure digital downloads--RealNetworks, Liquid Audio, Microsoft, Sony," Ecast CEO Van-Adibé said. "That's more or less over. In the Windows marketplace, WMA is now a de facto standard for secure music."
That success could fuel new demand for Microsoft's Windows server software and push its monopoly in operating systems past the desktop to consumer electronics, from TV set-top boxes to portable music players and stereos.
"The market for digital rights management (DRM) technology for music is never going to make anybody rich. People are realizing that," said Larry Kenswil, president of eLabs, the new media and technology division of Universal Music Group. "Microsoft looks at the codec and the DRM as a means to an end, not as an end in itself."
Loser Draw:
This must be the line you have such an issue with:
LOS ANGELES, July 1 (Reuters) - "Listen.com on Tuesday said it has seen a nearly 100 percent increase in CD burning among subscribers to its Rhapsody online music service since cutting its fee to 79 cents from 99 cents per track."
As I told you then, If you have such an issue with it, take it up with Reuters & stop nipping at my ankles.
FACT: iTMS hasn't even made enough to cover the cost of the servers yet.
FACT: iTMS makes LESS than 17 cents per download. (and that's before you pay transaction & bandwidth costs .)
Be sure to let me know when Apple's Stores are a profitable venture, will you? To hear the company tell it, they were supposed to be profitable in the first 9 months. Here we are 2 yeasrs out & they're still not profitable... AND Apple's Market Share has still shrunk yet another 50+ %! (from 5% to less than 2.5%)
Stop throwing softballs,You got anything with some meat on it?
OR shall we get right to any of the following "issues":
The Jet you suckers, umm shareholders, paid for, ( as a , ahem, "performance incentive" for Steve.) He got the incentive, (which he charges you for using),
WHEN'S HE GOING TO SHOW PERFORMANCE to make it's purchase worth it?
WHERE are the "free iBooks for the children of 9/11 victims" that Apple promised, but no one can ever show as delivered?
OR,
What about the billions of shares of stock Jobs rips off in the form of options, all while the stock is a complete non performer?
Can you intelligently address any of those issues? I'll Wait.
MSFT's Secure IM:
That's interesting, but I wonder why they went with the 5.0 version instead of the 6.0 version. Hmmm.
$$$ACE$$$
CHINA down 44%, SINA down 35%, NTES down 23% (from highs). Do you see a bottom or is this finally the balloon popping.
Chasky, Relax! According to Bootz, this is "merely a dip" , http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=MSFT&read=134165 He got all irate when I referred to it as a slide.
[Suppressed Sound Link]
au contraire, Bootzie...
Unfortunately, computers at work still have that dreck on them,
(We do have to test for the 35% that still use Real & the completely clueless 3% that use QuitTime, So I'm still forced to experience the inherent suckiness & tinny audio that are QuitTime's trademark, from time to time.)
But on my home machines, I'm blissfully free of those 2 "also rans".
Thanks for asking!
Interesting...
"Second, the EC wants Microsoft to separate its media player software from Windows to "ensure that consumers have a fair choice." It can either offer a version of Windows without its media player or a version that also includes competing products, from rivals like Apple Computer Inc. and RealNetworks Inc. ".
It seems to me, that this already happens. The last couple of computers I purchased all came with Apple's QuitTime & Real Networks RealPlayer installed.
I know, because they were the FIRST 2 THINGS I DELETED from the machines.
Never missed 'em, Not even for a second.
$$$ACE$$$