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Tacked on at the bottom of today’s Vista product press release were the outlooks for the shipment of Windows Media Player 11 and Internet Explorer 7:
.. two Windows Vista features, Microsoft Internet Explorer® 7 and Windows Media® Player 11, will be made available in the coming weeks. Windows XP users are encouraged to try the features to get familiar with and excited about these programs now, which will be included in Windows Vista. Internet Explorer 7 will be made available to Windows XP customers via free download in the next two weeks. Microsoft encourages all Windows XP users to download the new version to explore the browsing experience in Windows Vista and take advantage of the new security features that will help protect them against malicious software and phishing attacks. Windows Media Player 11 will be available via free download beginning Oct. 24 and will enable users to take advantage of an elegant and intuitive user interface, a new level of online store integration, especially with MTV’s URGE service, and improved navigation for larger music libraries.
Paul Krevs at Neowin points to a Microsoft blog post that claims that IE7 will be available Oct. 18 and pushed via Automatic Update on Nov. 1. We’ve mentioned the Internet Explorer 7 release previously here with some advice on blocking it if you’re hesitant about accepting it as an Automatic Update.
As for WMP 11 it does have a slick new interface, but we haven’t heard much good about it lately ([1], [2]) and one wonders about its place in the scheme of things since Microsoft’s Zune has seems to have a completely separate media organizer and DRM.
The original buzz was that Windows Media Player 11 would be available in June and there’s been a beta available for download since May in coordination with the joint Microsoft-MTV URGE music service, but now HotFix.net (via Bink.nu) says the wait is nearly over:
Windows Media Player 11 for XP will RTM on September 14th, 2006. We obtained this information from the same very reliable Microsoft source who gave us a dead-on accurate date for the Public Preview of WMP11 a few months back.
This is the XP version of the media player that will be standard with Vista.
It wasn’t an announcement. It wasn’t a demo. It wasn’t even a preview. But via an interview in Billboard magazine and a plethora of press statements, Microsoft confirmed the gist of the rumors and ‘fessed up to be working on a family of personal media players and an associated online media purchasing service under the brand name Zune. The best roundup of all of the press sources (official and unofficial) I have seen is from Ryan Block at Engadget. The net: Zune is coming this year and not only targeting Apple’s iPod and iTunes, but also emulating Apple’s business plan:
-The Zune brand is intended to be an entirely vertically integrated end-to-end solution, not unlike the iPod / iTunes / iTunes Music Store triumvirate.- The service and device will not be PlaysForSure compliant, meaning you will not be able to use your Zune player with Napster or Vongo, for example. This will be an entirely new system. Microsoft will continue to support and develop for their PlaysForSure initiative, but all things PlaysForSure are handled by two (sic) entirely separate division that will not have any crossover.
The latter point – that Microsoft’s erstwhile PlaysForSure partners are left out in the cold by the Zune – is one nail that I can never resist hammering (e.g. [1], [2]) and it seems to be quite a popular target:
More on that some other day, but the real and perhaps the only story in the news is that Microsoft’s partners – from device makers to music services – just got double crossed by the company they choose to believe in.
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Let me break this down: Zune – the devices, the platform, and the store/service – will compete with everyone from Apple (of course) to Creative Technologies, iRiver, Samsung, Archos, Rhapsody, Napster, Yahoo Music and anyone dumb enough to buy into Microsoft’s visions of Urge, Media Player, PlaysForSure etc.Microsoft could argue that Zune would be unique and those others can still do business. But it is also a classic example of why Microsoft is lumbering bureaucratic morass wrapped in a can of conflicts. A modern day version of medieval fiefdoms, perhaps? Take for instance, Urge which is built into Windows Vista, and is what I guess you could call an almost integrated experience. What happens to consumers when faced with the choice of Zune or Urge!!! Answer – iPod.
Jupiter Research’s Michael Gartenberg:
Early market share, however, isn’t likely to come from disgruntled iPod users looking to switch. The real losers in the short term are likely to be the likes of Creative, iRiver and other former partners that have failed to deliver to market share from Apple and will now find themselves not only competing with Apple but with their former partners from Redmond.
As uncomfortable as the position in which Microsoft finds itself is (and perhaps also dangerous to other future partnership ambitions as well), going it alone on personal media players is also likely the only way to succeed in that market as Nicholas Carr succinctly explains:
The Windows way worked for PCs because PCs are general purpose devices that become more attractive as more software and peripheral devices become available. An open architecture encouraged the development of lots of software and devices that expanded what a PC could do in ways that customers valued. They were even willing to put up with crashes and reboots and driver conflicts and all the other annoyances inherent in managing complex, heterogeneous systems. A special-purpose device, like a music or media player, is a different beast altogether. Customers want it to do what it’s supposed to do, and do it really well – and look good while it’s doing it. It’s fine – and in fact valuable – to have a lot of compatible accessories, as long as those accessories don’t mess up the internal workings of the core system itself. That’s been the Apple way with iPod, and now it’s the Microsoft way with Zune.
Some folks would argue that the Apple way is pretty good for consumer PCs too, but I digress.
After the startup turmoil gets cleared away and assuming Microsoft can deliver product on time, the question remains whether even Microsoft all by itself can make a credible play in consumer electronics where cool is just as important as functionality. Looking at the bizarre “viral marketing” video at Microsoft’s promotional site, comingzune.com, suggests that they have a long way to go. Who do music fans want to identify with: some weird guy with a rabbit or the folks rocking out in the iconic white earphones ads?
Finally, speaking of Web sites, Microsoft has two employees “Zune blogging” at Madison and Pine and Zune Insider; and spending a few minutes nosing around the web shows that a Zune ecosystem has already started with sites of varying quality like Zune Nation, Zune Owners, Zune News Site, Zune Zone, Zune Info, and Zune MP3 Player Deals jumping aboard for the ride.
Ed Oswald at BetaNews has the buzz:
Microsoft’s so-called “iPod killer” could be unveiled as early as late next month, with the company preparing to build momentum towards an October launch, sources close to the situation have told BetaNews.
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The entire initiative falls under the name “Project Argo,” and insiders believe Microsoft is working on at least two portable players. Zune, which first surfaced in June, is believed to be the iPod-like device that would include wireless connectivity in a design very reminiscent of the Apple iPod.Sources have confirmed to BetaNews that a second player exists, known by the code-name “Pyxis.” While details are scant on the player’s features, it is being billed as a competitor to the iPod nano in both size and functionality, with the addition of video support. Talk of a third device has not been verified.
Finally, “Alexandria” is believed to be the service that would accompany these devices, much like the synchronous relationship between the iPod and iTunes. While some believed Microsoft and MTV’s URGE service would fill this role, that is not the case.
More by following the link and some prior buzz here.
