Microsoft News Tracker

On Halloween Microsoft released their fall dashboard update for the Xbox 360 and it turned out to be pretty scary for some users - Microsoft Correcting ‘Live’ Update That ‘Bricked’ Consoles:

When Microsoft issued their anticipated fall dashboard update on Tuesday, 1080p support wasn’t the only new feature, as several users started reporting ERROR CODE E71, which essentially “bricked” their console, rendering it unusable for surfing Xbox Live or playing games — you know, everything an Xbox 360 is useful for.

Apparently it was an attempt to trip up users who had modified their firmware for nefarious purposes, but some innocent folks are also falling down. Microsoft estimates the number at less than 1%.

The update was supposed to provide treats not tricks with 84 new features prominently including HD DVD and 1080p HD TV support in order to get ready for the Sony PS3 onslaught coming this month. There’s also the observation that the list of features makes it ever more clear that Microsoft is trying to convert the Xbox 360 into a center of home entertainment.

In other Xbox news:

• Microsoft is apparently trying to upsell Xbox Live customers to a paid Gold level subscription by providing preferential treatment compared to the free Silver level.
• Microsoft says demand for its upcoming Gears of War game is running second only to their 2004 blockbuster, Halo 2.
• Beta 2 of XNA Game Studio Express was released. Download it here.

In the latest round of the Iowa antitrust suit against Microsoft ([1], [2], [3]) the presiding judge has ruled that Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer will testify. That’s not a particular surprise since Microsoft had them on their witness list, but he has agreed to let them be questioned first and in person by the plaintiffs’ attorneys:

Des Moines lawyer Roxanne Conlin won a strategic victory today in her class action law suit against Microsoft when a judge said she can call Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and chief executive Steve Ballmer as witnesses to help prove her case against the company.

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The earliest Gates and Ballmer might be called to Des Moines to testify, Conlin said, is January or February.

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Gates and Ballmer were already listed as witnesses that Microsoft intended to call, once the defense began presenting its side of the case.

Under normal courtroom rules, Conlin could have used depositions from Gates and Ballmer to make her case, but would have had to wait until Microsoft lawyers had questioned the executives before she could question them in person before the jury.

She asked District Court Judge Scott Rosenberg for permission to question the men first, as part of her case, and Rosenberg granted that request in a ruling today.

Gates and Ballmer “are in important decision-making positions,” Rosenberg’s ruling said, and “the jury should be allowed to view them live during both parties’ case presentations.”

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The Des Moines lawyer said she planned to ask the men about allegations of misconduct that have not been covered in previous legal cases, but declined to say what those are.

Microsoft’s lawyers say it’s no biggie, but Conlin says it’s a significant victory for her side. I say it’s hard to find entertainment like this.

However, things have not been going entirely Conlin’s way. Earlier in the week, the judge threw out part of her case:

A judge has derailed Des Moines lawyer Roxanne Conlin’s effort to create legal precedent in an Iowa class-action lawsuit against Microsoft, but other Microsoft attempts to impose limits on the scope of the case failed.

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She said in court in September that she hoped to create a new legal theory for antitrust cases that would be similar to “loss of consortium” damage claims awarded to couples in personal injury cases.

The new claim, she said, was based on allegations that Microsoft had used its market dominance to discourage other software makers from producing products that would have been superior to the Web browser Internet Explorer and other Microsoft products.

Rosenberg ruled against the new theory. He sided with Microsoft and said that basing damage claims on “denial of free choice and loss of the benefits of software innovation are too speculative.”

Stay tuned.

As part of the prep for the Zune launch on Nov 14 that I mentioned yesterday, Microsoft has put the going out of business sign up on MSN Music. Here’s the story from Ina Fried at CNET:

Two years after opening its MSN Music store to compete with Apple Computer’s iTunes, Microsoft plans to stop selling downloads from the site, CNET News.com has learned.

Beginning, Nov. 14, MSN’s music site will begin redirecting music purchasers to either the Zune Marketplace Web site or to RealNetworks’ Rhapsody site.

“After November 14, the ‘Buy’ buttons that you’re used to seeing on MSN Music album and artist pages will change to links that connect you to Zune and to Real Rhapsody,” MSN Entertainment general manager Rob Bennett said in an e-mail to MSN Music customers.

When it opened its online doors in September 2004, MSN Music had high hopes of competing with Apple, touting the fact that songs bought from the site could be played on a variety of Windows Media-compatible devices.

However, MSN Music, as well as other stores that sell tracks in the Windows Media Audio format, have been unable to compete with iTunes, which has maintained its dominance.

The Rhapsody part is due to the legal settlement with RealNetworks, but the Zune Marketplace referral is a bit of a puzzle since the Zune format is incompatible with the PlaysForSure format which is available on MSN Music. The consensus reading of the MSN Music FAQ about the change seems to be that PlaysForSure customers are just plain out of luck unless they go to Rhapsody or one of the other PlaysForSure Music stores. The PlaysForSure hardware vendors that Microsoft recruited for the last round and now have stranded are going to love this.

Update: The above got updated several times based on varying parsings of the MSN Music FAQ.