Well, after repeatedly posting critical posts on Microsoft I thought I would post something positive today…you know…to keep the balance. But seriously, I for one have always been a big fan of Microsoft hardware. There are exceptions but by and large, the hardware team at Microsoft deserves big kudos and I hope they are getting it. Here I am referring to the mouse and keyboard team – they have excelled on all fronts: innovation (the real one), design, usability and believe it or not, they are a profitable group as well!
Now, the Zune player is coming from the divison that makes XBox (which I believe is different from the Mouse and Keyboard team? Not sure). The original XBox was definitely not something that wowed me. On the other hand, the new one, XBox 360, seems good and on many respects it was a huge success (especially considering the fact that PS3 is still not out). I dont think it was innovative though…I mean it wasnt revolutionary. It was more evolutinary. Wii (inspite of its rather mysterious moniker) on the other hand is…
Which leads us to Zune. I dont work on that project and I probably know less about it than most of you folks. But I did see the supposedly leaked pictures on Engadget etc. It does look very cool indeed! And adding WiFi is a definitely an innovation in my dictionary. But I am a video guy (even though I used to work in the Portable Devices Team at Microsoft). I can probably count the number of songs I have ever listened to in my whole life! So given a choice I would rather prefer iRiver Clix. But all said and done I am very optimistic about Zune and am looking forward to it!
If you ask me, Microsoft should start making PCs next 
.
On a side note…it turns out that the http://comingzune.com is a Microsoft site! Check out http://www.zuneinsider.com/2006/07/comingzunecom_i.html.
