1 Apple and Linux don't have the user base to make them worth our while.
2 Online music won't drop below $.79/song until we can beat the RIAA into lower fees.
3 We use a proprietary format because if we didn't, we'd get crushed by MS and Apple. If Apple, however, figured out how to play.rm, we'd sue their asses off. They won't license to us, so we won't license to them. Nyah.
4 We write annoying and intrusive software because Microsoft does it too (and our annoyances aren't as bad as their's are).
I'm sure your cynicism is mostly deserved here (in part, I share it), but at least don't blatantly lie:
3 We use a proprietary format because if we didn't, we'd get crushed by MS and Apple. If Apple, however, figured out how to play.rm, we'd sue their asses off. They won't license to us, so we won't license to them. Nyah.
In fact, Glaser said that Real would be happy to cross-license their formats with Apple. Of course, a cross-licensing scheme at this point would be a waste, because Real would be giving Apple the specs to their format in return for something they already know. Nowhere does Glaser even hint that Apple would face legal consequences for reverse engineering Real's technology, and in fact, I'm sure Glaser is well aware of the legal futility of trying to sue them for it. After all, his legal department just finished telling him it was OK to reverse engineer Apple's DRM.
9. Based on "independent" consultants on our payroll, people want alternatives to iTunes. That must mean they want us. We lost a million dollars in 3 weeks selling music at below-cost, so it must be true.
Actually, the consultants' report was that the overwhelming majority of people want to play their music on any kind of device. It had nothing to do with iTunes alternatives. Regardless, I fail to see how the independent-ness of the consultants matters in this case. Real was paying them to do market research so Real could make a business decision, not so they could pull a Microsoft by paying a supposedly-independent firm to give their product a positive evaulation.
C'mon, we have plenty of ammo against Real already. There's no need to make up stuff.
Summary: (Score:5, Informative)
2 Online music won't drop below $.79/song until we can beat the RIAA into lower fees.
3 We use a proprietary format because if we didn't, we'd get crushed by MS and Apple. If Apple, however, figured out how to play
4 We write annoying and intrusive software because Microsoft does it too (and our annoyances aren't as bad as their's are).
6 Helix
Re:Summary: (Score:3, Informative)
C'mon, we have plenty of ammo against Real already. There's no need to make up stuff.