schweizelbot's Profile

Rio was sacked because of the MPAA and their lawsuit... likewise was the fate for MP3.com. Had it not been for this gazillions of dollars the entertainment industry spent lobbying Washington, filing harrassment lawsuits and putting legitimate companies out of business (Rio, MP3.com, RePlayTV, etc.). Apple would not have gained its relative advantage today. The Rio player rocked and was better, in concept, than the proprietary iPod AAC format that is being shoved down our throats. Apple finally launched a flash-based player with the shuffle, which is a total dud... shoddy navigation, no voice recording and poor storage capaity. It does look cool, but where is the functionality??? As for Apple's absence in the home media player market... totally bizaar! Airport Express is useless. You would think that more than 3 years after the launch of slim devices' product and many more years since Tivo & RePlayTV launched the PVRs, Apple would have perfected a multimedia GUI. Perhaps that is, in part, what the Intel partnership is about??? Jobs didn't want to relinquish control over OSX - even to individuals that wanted to purchase the software to run on their x86 systems. In the 90's/early 2000's, Apple may have benefitted from not associating with the x86 platform by insinuating that there was some inherent defect in the hardware platform... Mac enthusiasts did. But those arguments have been thoroughly debunked. Linux programmers had been using x86 platform since about 1991 and achieved significantly better performance that MSFT. Finally Apple is coming to the table to build Mac-Intel systems for users. Too bad they didn't go with AMD. Perhaps the decision was based on Intel's multimedia Viiv processor strategy. Apple's Intel Inside decision has formed a relationship with the semiconductor OEM that aggressively mimics or acquires the technology coming out of innovative technology firms that are creating dynamic hi-performance multimedia CPUs. If Apple aligns its branding and product development in a cycle that is quick enough to not entirely miss the boats that left 2-7 years ago, it will be able to make a huge impact in the consumer electronics industry and convert many non-mac users into Mac enthusiasts... Wireless optical 2-button mouse with scroll... got to love it!