Another one of the articles that don’t seem to like the new Microsoft Zune MP3 Player has surfaced on Engadget. Looks like Microsoft did not make a killer iPod. Well, back to the drawing board. The article also spends time giving Apple suggestions on stuff to steal from the Zune. Uses the words “opulence” and “elegance” a little to much for a man. Hey buddy, it’s an mp3 player not your wife’s jewelry.

As a peer-to-peer implementation at launch, Microsoft has dispensed with the setup issues needed for infrastructure networks today. Nevertheless, the whole rigmarole around the terms of sharing (really more akin to limited and temporary “lending”) seems more trouble than it’s worth. WiFi is worthwhile and community-driven music discovery is a win for consumers, artists, merchants and vendors, but the place to encourage music sharing should be in software or on web sites that can easily reach millions overnight, as Napster and Rhapsody have done. If Microsoft wanted to enable secure and limited portable listening on the Zune device, it would have been a much richer experience for Zune users to have that extended from the Zune software or Zune Marketplace.

Microsoft Zunes MP3 Player is Crap source

There’s not many Wan optimisation specialists out there. I’m only familiar with Cisco, Citrix Systems and Packeteer. So the market is not that crowded yet and now the big blue guys at Microsoft recent tie up with Citrix Systems is set to heat things up. Good luck going after this networking giant valued at USD$28.48Billion (2006).

Microsoft’s recent alliance with Citrix Systems to develop wide area network (Wan) optimisation technology represents a declaration of war on Cisco in the “critical battleground” of the branch office, Gartner has reported. According to the analyst firm, the Redmond giant’s tie-up with thin client firm Citrix is the culmination of a “long-simmering rivalry” with Cisco, and has the potential to transform the Wan optimisation market. The comments come after Microsoft and Citrix announced an expansion of their established partnership that will result in a jointly developed and marketed Citrix-branded branch office box. Gartner said that this product is scheduled to ship in the second quarter of next year and will be based on Citrix’s WANScaler product line gained through its recent acquisition of Orbital Data, and on Microsoft’s Windows Server and Internet Security and Acceleration Server.

Microsoft is not too happy about an internal ‘Office’ Training Video that got out into the internet. It was supposed to be …

“The two videos that Ricky and Stephen recorded for us in 2004 were a light-hearted way of getting our staff to think about the values they attach to working at Microsoft and, through the character of David Brent, illustrate what not to do in the workplace,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email. “These videos were produced for internal use and were never intended to be viewed by the public.”

I guess no videos are safe from being uploaded to popular Video sites like YouTube nowadays and its funny why they did not implement some sort of digital rights management on it. Goes to show you that even big dinosaurs like MS do bungle up sometimes.

Here’s the source - Microsoft Unhappy With Release Of ‘Office’ Training Video

I really don’t think the recent Gartner and Chris P’s comments on the whole Vista delay is out of hand. Think for a second. MS is becoming a dinosaur and getting too huge to be effective. When you get that big, office politics grows to a grand scale and decisions take a longer time to sorted out. Well, I’ve said it. Microsoft is a Web 1.0 dinosaur…. I’ll keep my Win2k and Win XP for now.

McLaws says Vista Needs More Time and Scoble says McLaws is right on Windows Vista ship date. Pirillo has been saying this for several months now, and has been labeled a “nitpicking whiner” for his attacks on Windows Vista’s UI and UX. Welcome to the club, boys - I’m happy to no longer be standing out here alone.