David Berlind can’t read

Or maybe just wants to make his storyline match the kool-aid snicker:

History tells us that no anti-piracy system is safe from compromise. Apple’s has been compromised. Microsoft’s has been compromised. The protection on Hi-Definition DVDs is toast. How far do we want to go back? They’ve all been beaten. Jobs comes right out and says it’s a cat and mouse game, that FairPlay has been breached. But in the same breath, he wants to believe that he can’t license FairPlay because that too will lead to a breach.

No. That is not what Jobs is saying. He is saying that a company his size cannot marshall sufficient resources to fix Fairplay breaches that prop up all over the place. He is saying that as it is, Apple is having trouble fixing breaches in a controlled ecosystem and it will not be feasible to patch breaches that affect Fairplay in environments that are beyond Apple’s supervision (though the responsibility to fix problem will remain their own).

The rest is jibber-jabber. Talk about drowning in something.

Simple answers to simple questions

Are studios willing to embrace new consumer behaviors?

No.

Vista incompatibility

CNN is questioning if Apple is playing dirty with iTunes. I broached this topic earlier but it bears repeating. Microsoft rushed Vista out because it just couldn’t delay it any longer and ignored partner/ISVs time pressures. A family member forwarded this note that she received from her IT department (and there are several other examples):

Our preliminary test results indicate that several ____ mission-critical applications and Web sites do not currently work with Vista. Computer Services is waiting for vendors to issue versions of their software that are compatible with Vista. To minimize potential disruptions, ___ Computer Services will wait to receive these updates for further testing.

It’s not just Apple; the list of firms with compatibility issues – Intuit, SAS, Adobe, Filemaker, hell, even Microsoft SQL Server – is growing.

Portland sounds insanely great

A town where even The Man loves Macs:

In many Portland coffee shops, every laptop computer glows with an Apple logo.

Portland marketers create on Macs. Indie musicians compose on Macs. Graphic designers draw on Macs. Filmmakers edit on Macs.

Portland loves the taste of Apples.

Microsoft will get it right with 3.0 BS

AT&T and a host of others bet on Microsoft for IPTV. In the last ten years and numerous releases later, no firm using Microsoft technology has made it out of the trial phase. WSJ reports:

AT&T executives last month admitted for the first time that there were problems with the software for U-verse provided by Microsoft, its primary vendor on the project. That’s a concern not just for AT&T, but for telecom companies world-wide that bought Microsoft technology to run TV services using Internet protocol, or IP, to transmit signals.

Microsoft has no credibility left. Zero.

But, no worries, the Microsoft will get it right meme remains intact:

AT&T and Microsoft likely will solve their problems.

Why? Is there any evidence that this will happen? For starters, they are doing what they do best, patching:

Microsoft has been installing numerous patches to improve all these network elements, according to a report by John Hodulik, a UBS Securities analyst.

Good luck, AT&T. You will need it. Meanwhile, Om Malik says that this helps DISH.

Where can I get more kool-aid?

Bob Lefstez writes about the Jobs effect and perhaps highlights what “cool” is:

You don’t fuck with John Lennon.

During the Super Bowl, Felice’s 18 year old nephew and his UCLA buddy asked me what topic I was going to discuss on KLSX later that night. I asked them for suggestions. Blake said “THE iPHONE!” Digging deeper, I found that both had spent nearly two hours watching Jobs’ Macworld speech and NEITHER owned A SINGLE APPLE PRODUCT!

But they aspired to. Blake said his next computer would be a Mac. “Have you ever tried one?” He said no, but he was ready to switch.

And I asked these two kids with Sidekicks if they’d lay down five hundred bucks for an iPhone… And they said AS SOON AS IT CAME OUT!

Wow, if only they had this passion about bands.

Everywhere I go, all the under twentysomethings want to talk about is Steve Jobs. And, if they’ve got the dough, which Luca and Blake are amassing, they drop it all on Apple equipment. And then tell EVERYBODY HOW FUCKING GREAT IT IS!

Lisa’s fifteen year old son Alex. He worked all summer to buy a computer. He had it all picked out, a PC for gaming. But now that Macs have Intel Inside, he was convinced to buy a MacBook. Which he plugs his guitar into so he can create his own tunes with GarageBand, which he doesn’t stop testifying is light years better than a PC. HE had me going for an entire Chinese dinner about the iPhone and every other product Apple has in its lineup.

Edgar Bronfman, Jr. pays me.

But I believe in Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs is mercurial. He’s not the guy you want with you in a foxhole. But he is in search of EXCELLENCE!