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It’s more than iPods and iTunes: BusinessWeek on Dell’s effort to spur on the digital entertainment market

An old friend of mine, the irrepressible Tim Bucher, is in the news this week, as he’s preparing to go toe to toe, so to speak, with Apple’s supported ecosystem…

“Now Bucher is again squaring off against his former company. He’s spearheading an ambitious plan at Dell (DELL) to break Apple’s dominant hold on the digital entertainment market. He won’t challenge Apple head on, with iPod knockoffs or a Dell version of the iTunes music store. Instead, Bucher’s 120-person team is trying to create a potent alliance among Apple’s many rivals, from cell-phone makers and record labels to online music sites.

Tim is one of those guys who digs in and does well at whatever he’s got in his sights, whether it’s taking on the established digital entertainment market (as he did last with Zing many other efforts) or mastering wine making (as noted here, complete with video).

Read more in the BusinessWeek article, “Dell vs. Apple: Why It May Be Personal.”

Tags: Microsoft, Apple, Zune, Zing, Dell, Tim Bucher.

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Kevin Johnson to leave Microsoft

“I read the news today… oh, boy.”

You can read more in the Journal article by Robert Guth…

“The head of Microsoft Corp.’s online business who led the company’s bid to buy Yahoo Inc. is leaving the software giant to run Juniper Networks, Inc., according to people familiar with the situation. The departure of Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s Platforms and Services Division, will be combined with a re-organization of Mr. Johnson’s business unit, which houses both the online services business and Windows software for personal computers.

“Under the plan, Mr. Johnson’s group — Microsoft’s largest by headcount — will be split into two parts, one overseeing the Windows operating system and related Windows Live online serve and a second, which will oversee Microsoft’s online services, which include the company’s Internet search, online advertising and MSN services, said people familiar with the situation.”

And more news available in today’s news…

Tags: Microsoft, Kevin Johnson.

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A look at Gates’ last day (courtesy of the BBC)

"Bill's last day" video clip Happy Canada Day. 

And now a little something for my friends on the “time” team concall, here are a couple of additional links on Bill Gates today, including the latest news and a link to portions of the humourous “Bill’s last day” video.

See also the article in the New York Times by Steve Lohr…

“Bill Gates is retiring, sort of. He is still only 52, and he is going off to spend more time guiding the world’s richest philanthropy, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He will still be Microsoft’s chairman and largest shareholder, but Friday is his last day as a full-time worker at the software giant, marking the unofficial end of his career as a business leader.”

Tags: Microsoft, Bill Gates.

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Of interest: Stories of Real People at Microsoft

Of interest: In addition to the story of the incomparable JC Cannon (formerly a Privacy Strategist and now of the SQL team), I found this story a new Microsoft site http://www.youatmicrosoft.com. 

Soni is in the Windows Server group and works to make the voice of our customers and partners are heard by the product team.

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More information on the website and other programmes is available at here. 

 

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VentureBeat Interview with Robbie Bach on Zune

Of interest: VentureBeat interviewed Robbie Bach, President, Entertainment & Devices Division here at MS, the group responsible for Microsoft games, hardware (like mice, keyboards and Surface), Zune, Mac software, Xbox 360 and more.

This is the first of several parts, focusing on Zune… and my boys are particularly interested in this answer…

Q: The Xbox guys showed a demo of games running on the Zune. It seems like a very timid way to launch games on the Zune. It is like dipping your toe in the water, seeing if hobbyists will create games on the Zune. Compare that to the major effort Apple has under way to put games on the iPod.

A: The way you have to think about it is to ask whether Zune is just a portable music player or a portable entertainment player. We think of it more as a portable entertainment player. The point of demoing games is to show that games can run on that entertainment platform. We didn’t demo games running on some big service because there isn’t some big service to announce. But the idea is that Zune does music, video, photos, and it has the hardware to do very compelling games on it. It is more compelling than an iPod because it actually has a D-pad. From a gaming perspective, it is reasonably well suited. You can read a little or read a lot into it. The point is that we think of it as a portable entertainment device.

Click here for the interview.

Tags: Zune, Robbie Bach, Consumer Electronics.