Thursday, June 21, 2007
Blake Robinson's Open Letter to Microsoft
Posted by Jason Dunn in "Zune Talk" @ 07:00 AM
"Blake Robinson here. I’ve been a Zune user from the beginning despite resounding clamor railing against my support. It’s a decent device that gets the job done as well as anything else out there. So what if you put too much stock into the wireless sharing function. It might be useless and I’ve still yet to “squirt” a single track at anyone, but I did finally see a Zune in the wild (owned by a cute girl who I would have gladly squirted). Nevertheless, I still dig the interface and despite the fact that it weighs as much a cinder block, I still carry it around like a jackass. I can live with that. My problem with you stems from your ridiculous and asinine decision to not support OS X."
Blake over at CrunchGear is mighty ticked off that the Zune doesn't work with his Mac. In fact, he seemed somehow surprised that Microsoft isn't supporting the Mac. I'm not sure why - given the small size of the Zune team, the fact that they're just over one year old as a team, and given that they have ONE product on the market...why would anyone think that Mac support would be a critical deliverable in the first generation? Or, really, ever for that matter? The iPod wouldn't have been a success if they hadn't made iTunes Windows-compatible, but Microsoft isn't in any such position with the Zune: they don't need Mac compatibility in order for it to be a smash success.
I'm not saying Microsoft should never release an OS X version of the Zune software, but given the fact that the product has been on the market for seven months now and we have yet to see even one significant new feature or enhancement via firmware or desktop software update, it seems clear the team is massively resource constrained and they can't deliver the experience they need to for Windows users. If given a choice between delivering something better to the bulk of the buying public or catering to a small percentage of people (honestly, how many Mac owners would even give the Zune a chance?)...where would you spend your resources? Sorry Blake, guess you should have bought an iPod.
Blake over at CrunchGear is mighty ticked off that the Zune doesn't work with his Mac. In fact, he seemed somehow surprised that Microsoft isn't supporting the Mac. I'm not sure why - given the small size of the Zune team, the fact that they're just over one year old as a team, and given that they have ONE product on the market...why would anyone think that Mac support would be a critical deliverable in the first generation? Or, really, ever for that matter? The iPod wouldn't have been a success if they hadn't made iTunes Windows-compatible, but Microsoft isn't in any such position with the Zune: they don't need Mac compatibility in order for it to be a smash success.
I'm not saying Microsoft should never release an OS X version of the Zune software, but given the fact that the product has been on the market for seven months now and we have yet to see even one significant new feature or enhancement via firmware or desktop software update, it seems clear the team is massively resource constrained and they can't deliver the experience they need to for Windows users. If given a choice between delivering something better to the bulk of the buying public or catering to a small percentage of people (honestly, how many Mac owners would even give the Zune a chance?)...where would you spend your resources? Sorry Blake, guess you should have bought an iPod.
