Say you're technologically agnostic (i.e. a "dumb consumer"). First, you immediately notice the Microsoft logo on any consumer product you're about to buy and since you have a Windows PC at home, you immediately think "ooh, good that'll work." Now you bring it home - maybe it's an music player or a video player or what have you. As soon as you grok that PlaysForSure logo, the *next* consumer device you buy for yourself or friends or family, is going to have that logo on it as well, just to make sure. The first time you buy a device that's outside the WMA world, you will do nothing but bitch about it to all your friends. As soon as you buy something which does allow you to move content around, you'll proudly *show* all your friends, "Hey look, here's last night's 24, on my phone!" It's a classic vicious or virtuous cycle. As consumers get more intwined with Microsoft DRM content, they will start to migrate towards more Microsoft OS devices: set-top boxes, smart phones, video gadgets, etc. Just like in the PC world, Microsoft will sit back and collect royalties on all this software, why the device manufacturers compete tooth and nail and survive on insanely-low margins.

Listen to the wind blowing... What's it saying? Microsoft is going to be everywhere, soon. Very soon.

2053 Also posted to: Home page , serviceBF . At: 1:14:50 PM  . .
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Other title(s) for this story: Microsoft's Consumer Electronics Endgame