Uh, my parser seems to be parsing this plan in a less threatening way:
You'all:
Microsoft is building something into the OS that will restrict
us from ripping MP3s at high quality. They will block us from
doing this and force us to use their proprietary format.
me'all:
Microsoft will include MP3 ripping software in their OS, but it
will support moderate bit rates only [that's the severely
limited quality]. If we want to rip MP3s at a decent bit rate
then we'll have to find a ripper somewhere else.
Disclaimer: I am a former MSFT employee.
Jeff;
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Bone [mailto:jbone@jump.net]
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 11:53 AM
To: fork@xent.com
Subject: Microsoft's Astounding Arrogance
You guys may have seen this on /., but it's worth repetition. Microsoft's
new plan to support their own application strategy, the desire of the RIAA,
and the desires of partners like RealAudio is to cripple support for MP3s at
the platform level:
Microsoft, for example, plans to severely limit the quality of music that
can be recorded as an MP3 file using software built into the next version of
its personal-computer operating system, Windows XP. But music recorded in
the Redmond, Wash., software company's own format, called Windows Media
Audio, will sound clearer and require far less storage space on a computer.
Check out this *amazing* quote from Dave Farber, former CTO of the FCC!
"The industry doesn't want [MP3] pushed, and Microsoft and RealNetworks
don't want it pushed. The consumer is going to eat what he's given," says
David Farber, the former chief technologist at the Federal Communications
Commission.
cf. http://www.canoe.ca/MoneyWSJ/wsj2-dow.html
This kind of thing is why you can't own app space and OS space.
jb
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Apr 29 2001 - 20:25:40 PDT