Microsoft News Tracker

(Via Bink.nu) Amy Gilroy at TWICE has the latest Zune buzz - Microsoft Zune Will Hit Stores at $299:

Microsoft is in the process of unveiling to select retailers the first of its line of Zune wearable digital audio players and informed retailers it will offer a single unit this fall, available in three colors at a suggested retail price of $299.

Retailers who have been briefed by Microsoft told TWICE the player will offer Wi-Fi capability, but will require that the portable be connected to a PC for the actual purchase of songs. Retailers, who claimed Microsoft remained “fuzzy” on the Zune’s wireless capability, said only that Zune will allow users to bookmark songs that may be shared via Wi-Fi, but that users cannot purchase songs on the go from the Microsoft Zune Web site.

There’s more in the article, but of all of this mostly confirms what had been previously rumored (e.g. here) except for the price tag which is $100 less than prior rumors and in line with iPod pricing.

We were just speculating on Tuesday as to what Microsoft would do to help out the PC makers this holiday shopping season while they twiddle their thumbs waiting for Vista. Well, according to David Tzeng, Celia Lin, and Steve Shen of Digitimes, it’s going to be the usual upgrade coupon deal:

Microsoft and the world’s leading PC vendors have reached an agreement to promote the long-awaited Vista OS by offering PC buyers worldwide a free upgrade coupon, as a way of encouraging them to buy a Vista-capable PC as early as possible, according to market sources, citing information leaked from Taiwan-based PC makers.

With the coupon offer to kick off in October, prospective buyers who have planned to purchase a Vista-enabled PC in the first quarter of 2007 when the new OS is launched, will be encouraged to take up a Vista-capable PC in advance, the sources asserted.

Ray Chen, president of Compal Electronics, confirmed the coupon offer at a company investor conference held yesterday, stating that the free upgrade coupon, together with the availability of Intel’s 64-bit-enabled Merom processors, will help boost demand for new PCs in the fourth quarter of this year as well as in the first quarter of 2007.

According to the article, the agreement was reached in July, but to be kept under wraps until 4Q to avoid impacting 3Q PC sales. So much for that plan.

Vista’s speech recognition was the butt of a lot of jokes (and one wildly popular MSNBC video) after problems with a beta demo at the Financial Analyst Meeting in July, but now Australian enthusiast Long Zheng tries to redeem it with a video showing him putting through its paces. There’s more from Kevin Tofel at jkontherun.

Despite all the bad publicity for Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage antipiracy program, they are apparently forging ahead to expand the coverage according to Mary Jo Foley at Microsoft Watch:

To date, with its Genuine Advantage anti-piracy programs, Microsoft has targeted consumers. Windows and Office users have been required to validate their products as “genuine” before being able to obtain many downloads and add-ons.

Come this fall, however, the Redmond software maker is planning to turn up the Genuine Advantage heat in two ways: By baking more Genuine Advantage checks directly into Windows Vista, and by taking aim at PC makers, system builders, Internet cafes and other sources of potentially pirated software.

As far as Windows Vista goes, the details aren’t clear but the article speculates that certain premium Vista features will only be available to users who pass the WGA test. In April there had been reports that Vista’s fancy new Aero Class Vista GUI would not be available unless a user passed a genuine licence check.

And while it may be the stick for users, it seems to be the carrot for resellers who will get access to discount offers on Office if they sell genuine Windows while Internet cafes get little stickers if all their machines are loaded with genuine software. Not to be skeptical or anything, but these don’t seem like very powerful incentives.