greenthinks

Cringely, on Apple as the largest threat to Microsoft:

I think Microsoft’s clearest threat still comes from Apple, though not the way most people expect. Yes, Apple is about to take Microsoft to the woodshed when it comes to Internet movie distribution. Yes, Apple already super-dominates the music player market where Microsoft doesn’t even really exist. But the real jewel is one Microsoft has to lose, not gain—the PC platform, itself. What could Apple do to take down Windows, with or without the help of Intel? What seems to me to be the answer came to me this week from a reader who had a disruptive idea that I gleefully embellished. Here are the clues. Microsoft is woefully late with its next Windows upgrade, while Apple is far ahead with even the current version of OS X. Apple is moving to Intel processors and hackers have already shown that OS X can run fine on non-Apple hardware. But Apple doesn’t want to give up its profitable hardware business to compete head-to-head with Microsoft. And remember, Apple totally dominates the portable music player market and will probably sell 25 million iPods or more this year. Every one of those iPods is a bootable drive. What if Apple introduces OS 10.5, its next super-duper operating system release, and at the same time starts loading FOR FREE the current operating system version—OS 10.4—on every new iPod in a version that runs on generic Intel boxes? What if they also make 10.4 a free download through the iTunes Music Store? It wouldn’t kill Microsoft, but it would hurt the company, both emotionally and materially. And it wouldn’t hurt Apple at all. Apple hardware sales would be driven by OS 10.5 and all giving away 10.4 would do is help sell more iPods and attract more customers to Apple’s store. Like that kid in line at the bank, it would drive Bill Gates crazy.

Tim Bray:

What all the DRM dreamers don’t want to admit is that 95% or more of the population hasn’t yet encountered DRM, and when they do, they aren’t going to like it. They’re going to scream and scream and scream and get mad as hell and not take it any more. I’m talking about the honest people who play by the rules: they buy a house and the vendor moves out and pulls no more strings. They buy sofas and flowers and wine and paper and the store where they bought them doesn’t try to limit what you can do with them, and when the digital-media vendors try to horn in on this relationship, the response is going to be “you and whose army?”

Again, amen. My parents would never put up with DRM - would yours?

Don Yacktman, ex-NeXT employee:

I sure hope that Apple sticks to its guns on this one. Since it sounds like not all the labels really want the price hike, I think this is a battle Apple could win. Sure, one of the majors (cough cough Sony BMG cough) could still say that they’ll take a hike if Apple won’t deal, and might even try it, but then what happens? All that money flowing through the iTMS goes to the other labels, and the label that walked sees everyone shift to illegal downloads for their music. Apple can put an ad in the iTMS explaining that such and such labels songs are no longer available because they got too greedy and thought 99¢ wasn’t already enough. Can you imagine the impact? It could create a mass boycott of that one label. Customer outcry might force the label right to the iTMS, 99¢ price and all.

Amen to that. Apple, I love you. Sony, I hate you. Count me first to boycott if this does indeed happen.

My latest Flickr friend is a Jordanian mac-using artist. I find it really incredible how the internet has allowed us to cross previously uncrossable boundaries. I have become friends on Skype with a girl my age from Birmingham, UK who is a Muslim from Qatar. She had never known a Jew and I had never known a Muslim all that well. We talk about our respective religions, about our lives, and about the incredible misconceptions our respective worlds have about the other.

The thing I have learned most from these interactions is that when the distractions of labels, skin color, ethnicity, and nationality are removed – something the web does an excellent job of – there is so much more connecting us all than there is dividing us.

Just got my iTunes preorder of Death Cab for Cutie’s new album, Plans. Boy, am I loving this!

My folks picked me up a new Swatch watch to replace the broken one I stopped wearing months ago. It even has a nice leather band, which means I have to remember to take it off before the shower!

Turns out he’s really good at it.