Wal-Mart Online Music Store -- WMA, $0.88 for every song

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
Thanks to Asher's ad campaign in his posts, the worldwide ipod mini release has been delayed to July as US demand is so strong that Apple is having trouble keeping up with demand.

What's really funny is it's already out of date, there's a 0.75" 4GB harddrive now, instead of the mini's 1".

[Agathon]

Then you'll just have to wait for the ipod micro.

[Agathon]

Anyway, I suppose we could write to these guys and have Asher put on the ADKC.

http://www.macobserver.com/appledeathknell/

[Asher]

The Money article was pretty good, if you've read it.

It mentions actual computer and software sales are down for Apple, and it's making its money these days off the iPod. But iPod success is not expected to last, particularly once other online music stores become more pervasive (an example being Microsoft's and Walmart's), that people will become upset that they are forced to use Apple's more expensive store.

Plus, we all understand how trends work, don't we? At one point, it will become less cool to be part of the flock that has an iPod, and people will question why they're paying so much for a device wihch does so little in comparison to competitors.

[Agathon]

People have been saying Apple is doomed for ten years. Yet somehow they manage to do OK and are still solvent. So please forgive me if I'm a little sceptical.

Makes me wonder if it's wishful thinking on the part of the doom mongers. But who cares...

As I said before - I don't believe that there is any real money in these music stores. Apple's is a loss leader for the ipod and it is barely breaking even despite 50 million in sales (far far ahead of what anyone else is doing). ipod sales, however, are through the roof and presumably the forthcoming G5 laptops will do well. Apple's only real problem is moving their product line to the G5 as soon as possible.

I expect that some of the other stores will merge, probably under Napster's banner, or perhaps Microsoft will buy them out. That Buymusic will be the first to go.

Besides, Apple will come up with something else once the ipod thing dies out. Having said that, I reckon it has another couple of years in it.

[Drake Tungsten]

Glaser also applauded actions taken by European regulators to limit Microsoft's ability to bundle technology into Windows. Real has been directly affected by the practice, because it makes a competing media player.

"I think it is a step in the right direction. It is not transcendent," he said. "The specific solutions have not been announced yet, but the outcome suggests that the European regulators did the right thing for the right reasons."

Great article, Glonkie.

[Asher]

Indeed.

I also applaud the EU's actions. Fining Microsoft less than a quarter of their quarterly profit, about 1% of their current cash holdings, it's less than a traffic ticket in my view.

Not to mention EU's resolution forces MS to offer two versions of Windows, but keep them both at the same price. The version without WMP will simply provide a link to download WMP9 the first time a media file is encountered.

You have to love Europe's brilliance.

How many years did it take them to do this, too? It really is incredible.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
People have been saying Apple is doomed for ten years.

And look at Apple ten years ago compared to now.

Marketshare has taken a nosedive, investors are not pleased, Apple has resorted to gimicks and false advertising to stay alive.

[Agathon]

They're making money.

Doing so in the face of an anticompetitive monopoly which has engaged in illegal acts to drive its competitors out of business is a reasonable achievement.

And investors are quite pleased recently, the stock has been doing quite well.

I wouldn't be worried about Apple. They'll still be around in one form or another in ten years. I'd worry more about your side - I'll say it again, OSS will eat them up piece by piece. Look for "Winux" in a few years.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
They're making money.

Doing so in the face of an anticompetitive monopoly which has engaged in illegal acts to drive its competitors out of business is a reasonable achievement.

And investors are quite pleased recently, the stock has been doing quite well.

I wouldn't be worried about Apple. They'll still be around in one form or another in ten years. I'd worry more about your side - I'll say it again, OSS will eat them up piece by piece. Look for "Winux" in a few years.

That's utter nonsense.

Microsoft's marketshare, despite what you want to believe, is increasing STILL. Apple's is decreasing STILL.

I'm not sure why you'd think there'd be a "Winux". If you ask any academic or anyone aside from Linus who's worth their salt, they'd blast Linux's monotlithic kernel architecture that was declared obsolete over a decade ago. (BSD/Darwin and WinNT/2K/XP are both microkernels).

They'd blast Linux's scalability problems, mainly due to it being monolithic. They'd blast Linux's tolerance to low-latency media capabilities, which is abysmal compared to WinXP and OS X.

Microsoft doesn't have anything to worry about. Even if Linux, OpenOffice, etc. all become competent on the desktop, Microsoft can match it with ease. Companies like IBM invest hundreds of millions into OSS every year, it's not inconceivable that MS could start giving away Windows and Office if forced to, and still make money like IBM does.

The fact is, "Open Source" software means nothing to most people, and will continue to mean nothing. People don't care how it's developed.

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by Asher
Microsoft doesn't have anything to worry about. Even if Linux, OpenOffice, etc. all become competent on the desktop, Microsoft can match it with ease. Companies like IBM invest hundreds of millions into OSS every year, it's not inconceivable that MS could start giving away Windows and Office if forced to, and still make money like IBM does.

That would be because of revenue streams made possible by their monopolistic actions in the fist place.

[Agathon]

It's cheap and it's not owned by anyone. Those make it very attractive.

Still, that's my prognosis and I'm quite prepared to wait and see. I've been pretty impressed with some of the OSS stuff I've downloaded. The OS X port of Abiword is coming along nicely.

Anyway, didn't Microsoft say that Linux was like cancer? If so, I'm betting on cancer.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
It's cheap and it's not owned by anyone. Those make it very attractive.

Still, that's my prognosis and I'm quite prepared to wait and see. I've been pretty impressed with some of the OSS stuff I've downloaded. The OS X port of Abiword is coming along nicely.

Anyway, didn't Microsoft say that Linux was like cancer? If so, I'm betting on cancer.

Microsoft said the GPL was viral by nature, which is true if you look at it this way. If you insert GPL code into a larger software system, that entire software system must be open sourced.

I've been impressed by some OSS software, but I've also been impressed by commercial software (usually, much more frequently).

[Agathon]

I thought they compared it to cancer...

...or was it communism,...

...or Amway???

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
I thought they compared it to cancer...

...or was it communism,...

...or Amway???

Yeah, isn't it wonderful how Open Source advocates twist everything?

The comment was calling the GPL Viral.

This somehow transforms into calling Linux cancerous.

It comes from the SDK Terms of Service for Mobile Internet Toolkit:

(c) Open Source. Recipient's license rights to the Software are conditioned upon Recipient (i) not distributing such Software, in whole or in part, in conjunction with Potentially Viral Software (as defined below); and (ii) not using Potentially Viral Software (e.g. tools) to develop Recipient software which includes the Software, in whole or in part. For purposes of the foregoing, "Potentially Viral Software" means software which is licensed pursuant to terms that: (x) create, or purport to create, obligations for Microsoft with respect to the Software or (y) grant, or purport to grant, to any third party any rights to or immunities under Microsoft's intellectual property or proprietary rights in the Software.

By way of example but not limitation of the foregoing, Recipient shall not distribute the Software, in whole or in part, in conjunction with any Publicly Available Software.

"Publicly Available Software" means each of (i) any software that contains, or is derived in any manner (in whole or in part) from, any software that is distributed as free software, open source software (e.g. Linux) or similar licensing or distribution models; and (ii) any software that requires as a condition of use, modification and/or distribution of such software that other software distributed with such software (A) be disclosed or distributed in source code form; (B) be licensed for the purpose of making derivative works; or (C) be redistributable at no charge. Publicly Available Software includes, without limitation, software licensed or distributed under any of the following licenses or distribution models, or licenses or distribution models similar to any of the following: (A) GNU's General Public License (GPL) or Lesser/Library GPL (LGPL), (B) The Artistic License (e.g., PERL), (C) the Mozilla Public License, (D) the Netscape Public License, (E) the Sun Community Source License (SCSL), and (F) the Sun Industry Standards License (SISL).