Microsoft News Tracker

From the ongoing Iowa Microsoft antitrust trial - Allchin 2004 email: I’d buy a Mac if I didn’t work for MS:

Conlin completed her opening statement at 12:50. Co-counsel Hagstrom began his part of the Plaintiffs’ opening statement. Hagstrom first began with a quote from Nathan Myrhvold, “There is a huge value to a monopoly, and we have the position and skills that it makes sense for us to shoot for it.” Hagstrom continued, “’Huge value to a monopoly’, think about what that means.” Hagstrom reviewed the specific ways Plaintiffs believe that Microsoft harmed Iowans. He emphasized that “competition is good, monopoly is bad.” A good example:

Exhibit 7264. Almost three years ago, on January 7, 2004, Jim Allchin, the senior executive at Microsoft, sent an E-mail to Microsoft’s top two executives, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, and the subject was losing our way.

Mr. Allchin says, I’m not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers, both business and home, the most, but in my view we lost our way. I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems our customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that does not translate into great products. He goes on to say, I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft.”

We’ve heard about similar opinions from Allchin before, but the Mac part is a nice rhetorical touch.

Update: Jim Allchin says it was a great rhetorical device and Vista is much better now, thanks. A commenter adds a comedic touch with:

It’s OK, Jim. Be honest about what you think: the Mac brotherhood is ready to accept you with pride. Show your true colours: you know your true heart is with an iMac. In a fruity colour.

CNET’s Ina Fried took Zune in hand and went searching in San Francisco for “the social:”

Welcome to the social.

That’s the promise Microsoft makes with its new Zune. Unlike the solitary iPods, the digital music player lets you make new friends and discover new music. Using its built-in Wi-Fi, it can send a song to another Zune, and that song can be played up to three times before the recipient has to either buy it or lose it.

Well, it had been two weeks since the Zune had hit stores, and I was ready to sample a stranger’s tunes. Equipped with a demonstration unit–courtesy of the folks in Redmond–I set out to try to find some fellow Zunes and their playlists.

Follow the link for the full odyssey, but let’s just say it was a tough quest. See also the slideshow and map.

Back in September, Microsoft trotted out an IDC report on how great Vista would be for the European Union economy presumably to help ward off further regulatory interference. They apparently liked it so much that they commissioned a similar assessment from IDC for the USA which was released on Sunday. The idea that as Windows Vista gains install base, significant economic activity attributable to Vista will grow at Microsoft and its partners is self evident so it’s not clear why they bothered. About the only controversial claim is:

Based on expected growth in overall IT employment, this share gain leads IDC to expect that more than 60% of the gain in Windows-related employment will be specifically related to Windows Vista - growth that would not occur were Windows Vista not in the market.

The first part of the claim is fine, but whatever methodology led to the latter part is not revealed. Moreover, no scenarios are offered as to what these Vista unique jobs might be and it just begs the question that if Vista has so many enhancements for improved security and lower TCO, why isn’t there actually a decrease in IT employment due to its arrival?

In any case, make of it what you will, the wonder is what purpose is served for Microsoft by commissioning and publicizing this study.

Today’s the big day for Microsoft’s XNA Team and they’re having a party:

Come join the members of the XNA team as we celebrate the launch of XNA Game Studio Express and the XNA Creators Club! You’ll see demonstrations of how you can build and run XNA Framework-based games on your Xbox 360 and Windows PC, as well as getting a chance to mingle with the XNA product team. Come and check out the final product, as well as samples developed in-house by the XNA team and friends. In fact, bring your own games developed using XNA Game Studio Express and show them off!

We’ll also deliver a number of short “mini tutorials” on XNA Game Studio Express and the XNA Framework based on your requests! Simply let us know what you want us to cover by leaving a comment on this blog post and we’ll work on pulling something together for the most popular requests. We will tally the results and then begin the talks promptly at 6:30pm Monday night.

You may recall that XNA Game Studio Express is Microsoft’s free toolset for hobbyist game developers on both the PC and Xbox 360 platforms. There may well be a formal press release later, but you can already download Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 and the Microsoft XNA Framework Redistributable 1.0.

Update: Here’s the press release:

Your World. Your Game. With today’s release of Microsoft® XNA™ Game Studio Express and the launch of the XNA Creators Club, this phrase has never been more true. Based on the easy-to-use Visual C#® 2005 Express Edition and Microsoft .NET Compact Framework, XNA Game Studio Express opens up the world of game development to the masses and is now available for free to anyone with a Windows® XP-based PC at http://www.msdn.com/XNA. With the release of XNA Game Studio Express, Microsoft Corp. unveiled the XNA Creators Club, opening up video game development to untapped creative minds, enabling anyone to affordably build and play amazing game ideas on Xbox 360 systems for the first time ever.

The XNA Creators Club is available on Xbox Live® Marketplace for $49 (U.S.) for a four-month subscription, or $99 (U.S.) for an annual subscription. Both subscriptions provide aspiring game developers with access to thousands of game assets from Microsoft and key supporters such as Turbo Squid Inc., as well as white papers, specialized starter kits, samples and technical product support to help turn Your World, Your Game into a reality.