I’ve been avoiding all the speculation around the new Microsoft branded media player/ecosystem, partly because of NDA restrictions and party because there was way too much chaff in the wheat. But it seems like they have finally come clean with an o-fish-al statement.

What has me very concerned is the tidbit that this device is not PlaysForSure compliant, and, even more troubling, that the DRM employed by this device and the accompanying music store/service is not WindowsMedia DRM compatable.

The implication is two fold: This device will not play tracks you have purchased from any service that employs Windows DRM technology (MSN Music, Napster, CinemaNow, MusicMatch, Ruckus Network, et al). And second, it’s really going to piss of all those folks that made the investment in the Windows DRM technology with the promise that it would be ubiqutious in the Microsoft ecosystem. If true, Microsoft has now become a direct, non-compatable, competitor in the same market in which they charged others significant amounts of money (in the form of licenses) to join.

However, the most disappointing thing about this is it flies directly in the face of what is truely needed in the marketplace; fewer DRM platforms. I’ve said it many times before, and apparently I’ll say it again, if the market for digital media is to become mainstream it MUST be dead simple. As simple as inserting a shiny disk into a player. You’ll loose 20-25% of your customers for every additional step (button click on a web site, driver install, whatever) you require them to perform to use your product.

Let’s see how this new ‘ecosystem’ from Microsoft stacks up against that metric: Continue reading You may be a great dancer but can you carry a Zune? →

In the last few days I been dumbfounded (pun intended) and the gross ignorance shown by some elected officials.  I swear these guys have the IQ of an autistic baboon.

First, there was the now infamous ‘the internet is a series of tubes‘ statement by serial spamhead Ted Stevens.  Today there is this gem from James Inhofe of Oklahoma; “Al Gore is full of crap…This global warming thing is a hoax.”  Gee, what it is that they do in Oklahoma?  Right, cows and oil.  I wonder where Mr. Inhofe gets his campaign money from?

How do these people find the bathroom on their own much less get elected to the US Senate?  And even more troubling is how do these mental midgets mange to ge re-elected?!  It’s no wonder that we are a laughing stock to the rest of the world.

I’ve often said that it’s quite impossible for someone to manage/lead a group responsible for a task without being an expert in that task.  Would you think it appropriate for a plumber to be head of surgery at your local hospital?  How about an assembly line worker as a federal court judge?  Both are patently absurd, right?

Then how is it that spamhead Stevens is Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation?   Does he have a science degree?  How about civil engineering?  Umm…. MBA?  BZZZT – Nope.

He’s a lawyer.

Think Progress » Sen. Inhofe: ‘Gore Is Full of Crap,’ ‘All Recent Science…Confirms This Thing Is A Hoax’

For the astute amoung, yes there is a ‘*’ in that statement. It allows any Gizmo Project member to call any other Gizmo Project member for free. There is nothing new about this, they have this (and I’m a user) forever. The new bit is that they allow you to call other members on any number be it PSTN, Cell, SIP or Gizmo. This is HUGE!

It’s a further sign of the asymptotic decline in per-minute pricing of phone service. Decreasing costs of bandwidth and switching fabric are placing downward pressure on the per-minute model. It’s clear that the market is moving to a flat-rate, all you can eat, model for telephone service.

If I were in a telcom manager I’d be actively investigating commercial VoIP based options. I do continue to harbor concerns about voice quality when calls are carried over a public network (internet) but for intranetwork calls, such as those between branch offices, there is no reason not to leverage existing infrastructure. The network impacts are well understood and manageable and the long term cost savings real.

As I begin planning for an office buildout and move for my day job I can promise you that VoIP will play a prominent role.