Who cares about Zune?

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.

I have been Mini’ed! Plus Shel’s comment…

I was just getting my daily dose of Mini when, much to amazement, I found my blog mentioned on his last post! I have been Mini’ed! Back in the days it used to be I have been Slashdotted but…anyway.

Also, Mini notes that Shel’s comment was interesting. The juicy part, I guess, is:

As for you, Mini, I urge you to keep up the good work and I hope to find out who you are in my lifetime. But do not confide your secret to me. I’d love to be the blogger who blows your cover.

You know, when I read this the first time I thought that Shel thought that I was Mini! I didnt realize that Shel was addressing Mini thro his comment. Anyway, I hope no else misinterpreted his comment…particularly Microsoft Security.

Shel – If my cardkey doesnt work tomorrow, I will be banging on your door for a job! Plus you will have to hear my endless “I told you so” monologues on why we need anonymous blogging!

Whats going on?

Well, first it started with the now famous MiniMicrosoft…then came ExtremeMakeOver. And now we have PacketStorm? Of course, along the way were NextMSFT and MiniMicrosoftFrance but we will leave them aside for now. All these blogs have been started with the intention of affecting some sort of change in the company. MiniMicrosoft is all for RIF (reduction in force aka layoffs), ExtremeMakeOver is for, well, extreme make over, and PacketStorm is for a change in leadership I guess.

Lest you think this is only happening at Microsoft, early this year PentrinoVI started the Unofficial Intel Blog.

So whats going on? Few observations I made:

• Blogging is a unique mode of communication and its role here is critical. Blogging enables one to spread the word to a large audience, easily surfaces up in search engines etc. You know the rest – if not, go read Naked Conversations. But the key thing is anonymity. Regardless of what Scoble feels on anonymity, it is crucial (atleast for now). I dont think any of these blogs would have existed had it not been possible to blog anonymously. Of course, I am just picking on Scoble here .
• The other thing is the lack of a forum or a blog inside the companies to encourage this kind of open communication. Hence the need to do it outside on the internet.
• So far we havent seen too many blogs of this sort but I am pretty sure that we will see more of these in the future. And I mean blogs from other companies.
• All said and done I think of these blogs as a positive development. As long as they dont misuse the freedom and post sensitive (especially competitive) information, I think they are healthy in the long run. And so far we have seen only blogs by folks that are not quite happy with the way things are and want to change something. Will we, in the future, see anonymous blogs started by an average joe employee, not by an executive or a PR person spouting out company propoganda, that actually defends the way things are?

Lets see…but right now I am way too sleepy. Have an interesting meeting at 9AM tomorrow.