Why I almost never buy DRM’d content. System is broken’ded.

DRM sucks redux: Microsoft to nuke MSN Music DRM keys

MSN Entertainment and Video Services general manager Rob Bennett sent out an e-mail this afternoon to customers, advising them to make any and all authorizations or deauthorizations before August 31. “As of August 31, 2008, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers,” reads the e-mail seen by Ars. “You will need to obtain a license key for each of your songs downloaded from MSN Music on any new computer, and you must do so before August 31, 2008. If you attempt to transfer your songs to additional computers after August 31, 2008, those songs will not successfully play.”

I think Leo’s vacation caused Thurrott to fall off the pundit wagon. The video was both a joke AND lame. It’s the difference between a seasoned comedian who kills and the moron who thinks he’s funny. People were laughing at the video, not with it.

Now Gates’ last day at Microsoft from CES — that was video funny.

Once again, the bloggers have failed - SuperSite Blog

However, (almost) every other tech blog on earth linked to it and proclaimed how lame it was. Well, it was a joke. And bloggers, the joke was on you.

Both this and the Microsoft/Yahoo analysis last week are excellent examples of how “humorists” can speak truths no named reporter/analyst dare utter…

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Google-Salesforce deal: Somehow the significance is lost on me

The problem with Benioff is that for all his talk about the future, and the “end of software,” he’s got a bad case of McNealy-itis. That is, he keeps fighting the battles of the last decade, over and over and over again. Meanwhile the Borg has already written off Office. They’ll milk it for a few more years but they can see the value going to zero. (They’ll never admit that, but they have. Trust me. I’ve got spies close to Ballmer.) Another problem Benioff has is that his business can’t scale. CRM is nice but let’s face it, it’s CRM. It is what it is. It ain’t ever gonna be something that everyone uses. Like an iPod.

Only question remaining is whether Balmer pulls a De Niro “team” from Untouchables or Keitel
“clown” from Goodfellas…

Yahoo, Google ink ad-test deal; Microsoft is not amused

Under this agreement, up to 3 percent of Yahoos search volume will get Google ads slapped onto their results for a period of up to two weeks. It doesnt sound like much, but industry analysts have speculated that outsourcing the entire Yahoo search advertising function to Google might increase the companys cash flow by 25 percent in the first year. Googles monetization power is simply that much stronger. Lets hope for a detailed update on the outcome of this proof-of-concept when its over.

A some point, even the Borg run out of things to assimilate, and lacking any developed innovation of their own, will be left only with cannibalization and, ultimately, extinction.

Gaming: Xbox 360’s Wiimote Accessory Is Already In Development, Coming This Generation

Microsoft’s been working on a Wiimote-esque controller due to come out late this year—development started on it all the way back in Summer ‘07—but the whole process has been “a colossal clusterfuck.” Here’s what MTV news knows courtesy of their exclusive source, who sketched out what it looks like above.