Sony CEO Sees 'Stalemate' in Disc Fight
,----[ Quote ]
| "It doesn't mean as much as all that," Stringer said. He added that he
| believed there was an opportunity of uniting the two camps under one format
| before he became CEO, and he wishes he could travel back in time to make that
| happen.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071108/sony_ceo.html?.v=2
One might also think about OOXML, which is a case of ignoring ODF (universal
standard) and creating a proprietary one. There's apparently some "dumping"
and bribery going on in Microsoft side as well (see below). The 'smoking guns'
are definitive enough.
Related:
HD DVD players hit $99 at Wal-Mart, Best Buy
,----[ Quote ]
| On the other hand, it is representative of HD DVD's significant advantage in
| hardware pricing -- the least expensive Blu-ray player is the $400
| PlayStation 3, which also hits stores tomorrow.
`----
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9809165-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Kmart Drops Blu-Ray Over Price
,----[ Quote ]
| As HD-DVD players have dropped below $200, Blu-ray is starting the feel the
| pressure. In one such move, Kmart has decided to drop Blu-ray players from
| its stores, mostly because of pricing.
`----
http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/2007/10/kmart-drops-blu-ray-over-price.html
I'm not sure if the above turned out to be false a few days ago.
Vole bribes HD buyers with free disks
,----[ Quote ]
| That's apart from the copy of King Kong that comes in the box. Given the
| extravagant pricing of HD-DVD movies on the high street, that practically
| gets you the HD player for free.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/10/22/vole-bribes-hd-buyers-free
Two Studios to Support HD DVD Over Rival
,----[ Quote ]
| But money talks: Paramount and DreamWorks Animation together will receive
| about $150 million in financial incentives for their commitment to HD
| DVD, according to two Viacom executives with knowledge of the deal but
| who asked not to be identified.
|
| The incentives will come in a combination of cash and promotional
| guarantees. Toshiba, for instance, will use the release of “Shrek the
| Third” as part of an HD DVD marketing campaign.
|
| Paramount and DreamWorks Animation declined to comment. Microsoft, the
| most prominent technology company supporting HD DVDs, said it could not
| ^^^^^^^^^
| rule out payment but said it wrote no checks. “We provided no financial
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| incentives to Paramount or DreamWorks whatsoever,” said Amir Majidimehr,
| the head of Microsoft’s consumer media technology group.
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/technology/21disney.html?ei=5088&en=d4e1f285e2f41437&ex=1345348800&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1187698143-B5wO3L/F+4r1NyAsum87vQ
Microsoft fights for the life of HD DVD as Blu-ray gains retail support
http://blogs.business2.com/utilitybelt/2007/07/microsoft-fight.html
Microsoft cuts Xbox DVD player to $179
,----[ Quote ]
| Attaching the players to popular game consoles is seen by both camps as a way
| to get the technology into millions of homes, and pique consumers' interest.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6198919.html
Is Toshiba Giving Away The Razor [HD DVD] To Get You To Buy The Blades?
,----[ Quote ]
| I just received an e-mail tonight from the folks at the EMA (Electronic
| Merchant's Association), who are responsible for a big industry event next
| week, the Home Media Expo.
`----
http://www.dvddossier.com/2007/07/a2-toshiba-hd-d.html
Cringely the Unemployable on the fallacy of Web 2.0, Microsoft ruthlessness,
and the CB radio of our decade
,----[ Quote ]
| Davidson: Which software company would you hate to compete against? What
| makes you single them out?
|
| Cringely: Microsoft of course. They have the deepest of pockets, unlimited
| ambition, and they are willing to lose money for years and years just to make
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| sure that you don't make any money, either. And they are mean, REALLY mean.
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
| Davidson: Why do you think Microsoft is mean? Are you implying some kind of
| malicious intent rather than just ruthlessness?
|
| Cringely: Maybe "mean" is the wrong word to use for Microsoft. "Ruthless" is
| good. The company is built in the image of Bill Gates and Bill is a guy who
| gets caught-up in the game of business and doesn't typically see its personal
| cost. To use what might seem to be an obscure example, just look at all the
| various partnerships and industry consortia that Microsoft has announced
| through the years that never produced a product or even a usable
| specification. There have been literally dozens of these operations that are
| intended solely to freeze the competition until Microsoft can figure what the
| heck it actually wants to do. To Microsoft its a PR exercise that helps them
| compete but to customers it is just a damned lie. That's ruthless. There are
| plenty of other examples I can give but you get the point. I represent the
| concerns of users, not vendors, and Microsoft doesn't really care about
| users.
`----
http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2007/07/cringely-the-un.html
,----[ Quinn said... ]
| Almost to a person, to anybody involved or who knows about
| the ODF issue, they attributed the story to Microsoft, right, wrong
| or otherwise. Senator Pacheco may be a bully but I do not believe he
| is disingenious and would stoop to such a tactic. Senator Pacheco and
| Secretary Galvin's office remain very heavily influenced by the
|
| Microsoft money and its lobbyist machine, as witnessed by their
| playbook and words, in my opinion.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060119232859729
Sony: Microsoft "bribing" publishers for exclusive content
,----[ Quote ]
| "We don't buy exclusivity. We don't fund development. We don't, for lack
| of a better term, bribe somebody to only do a game on our platform. We
| earn it." OUCH. And here we were thinking this was a business, Jack;
| silly old us.
`----
http://www.gamersquad.com/category/PlayStation-3/Sony-Microsoft-bribing-publishers-for-exclusive-content/
,----[ Quote ]
| Everyone is in the same boat with this: KOffice, Corel, Google, IBM, anyone
| who has applications that work with Microsoft documents. We’re all faced with
| the prospect of significant expenses to rewrite our file format support with
| no net benefit to our customers. This is the toll we all must pay to
| Microsoft just for the ability to fight for the scraps their monopoly may
| leave behind. If Microsoft jerks their format around, we all must run and
| chase after it, reallocating resources away from feature work, becoming in
| the process less competitive in the marketplace, while Microsoft forges ahead
| with new features. They can easily repeat this game every few years, just to
| keep competitors busy. This is what a death spiral looks like.
|
| Giving absolute control of a standard document format to a monopolist that is
| notorious for abusing their control of file formats in the past is insanity.
| It doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to figure that out.
`----
http://www.robweir.com/blog/2007/08/dog-that-didnt-bark.html
Poland votes yes on OOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| Several protests were sent already to PKN and TC 182 on behalf of: Free and
| Open Source Foundation, TC 171 members, Google Poland, IBM Poland, but I
| really doubt they will make the difference in Polish vote among ISO. The
| whole process was planned to the last minute so that there is not enough time
| to protest or make any changes. Although it is not as clear situation of
| vote-buying as in Sweden, it strikes me as something from typical Microsoft
| lobbying portfolio.
`----
http://wanted.eu.org/en/computers/microsoft/poland_votes_yes_on_ooxml
Microsoft managed to buy the vote of Sweden in ISO?
,----[ Quote ]
| When a friend of mine arrived, it was clear that it all was stuffing going on
| from Microsoft side. All Microsoft partners in Sweden was at that meeting.
| People against OOXML got an offer to leave the meeting without paying the fee
| (not becoming a member). Everyone left, including IBM that thought it all was
| a farse.
`----
http://stupid.domain.name/node/382
MSOOXML: What Happened in Hungary
,----[ Quote ]
| If you can't do the math, I think the bottom line is, it's looking like
| Microsoft won't let the world say no to OOXML. It couldn't ram it through the
| usual process, with the folks who understand the tech, even with some very
| odd technical committee chairperson goings on. This is the standard that
| couldn't win on merit, in short.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070902123701843
Swiss Cheese [for OOXML]
,----[ Quote ]
| The present spin doctors of Microsoft and ECMA managed to convince Mr.
| Thomann to reject every serious technical and general concern we had
| regarding OOMXL by pointing to compatibility reasons. At the end we had a
| majority against Microsoft but which (giving the unfair rules) results in a
| Swiss vote for Microsoft. Mr. Thomann was fretting and fuming at the end of
| the meeting how it can be that successful international companies (we had
| representatives from IBM, Google, ...) vote against the best interest of
| their customers and theirself!
|
| Yes, this is how the democratic system at SNV / ISO works. After the meeting
| I could not eat as much as I wanted to puke...
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-15521/swiss-cheese
Ecuador Tax Agency Closes Microsoft Branch Offices For 7 Days
,----[ Quote ]
| "We have twice requested balances, payment reports and complete tax
| information, but the company hasn't given it to us, so in accordance with our
| laws we have proceeded with the closure," the SRI official in charge of the
| proceeding said.
`----
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200710041610DOWJONESDJONLINE000810_FORTUNE5.htm
Microsoft Office raid in Hungary
,----[ Quote ]
| "Such behavior could lead to the exclusion of competitive products from
| the market and violate European Union rules, according to the authority
| known as the GVH."
`----
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/26/ap3957835.html
|
|
