Microsoft has announced that they are stopping development of Windows Media Player on the Mac platform. The explanation they've given is absurd on its face:
"We've been so focused on Vista and we've been so focused on creating an incredible media experience on the PC," Harader said Friday. "We just did not have the resources to do a good job on (the Mac version)."
A longtime Microsoft-follower could reasonably observe that not having the resources to do a good job on something has never stopped Microsoft from shipping software before. So this is almost certainly not about quality. What, then, is behind this decision? The answer is simple: Microsoft has realized that it is engaged in another platform war that it's losing, and it responded in typical Microsoft fashion.
The platform battle in question is the Windows Media DRM technology versus the Apple FairPlay technology (Google also recently began shipping its own DRM format to go with Google Video.) It is not in Microsoft's corporate DNA to cooperate, so when faced with companies that have the temerity to produce software, its default response is to circle the wagons and go it alone. Hence, no Windows Media on the Mac -- if people want to play Windows Media files, they can buy Windows. (The bit about continuing support of the current version of Media Player on Macs is a distraction, since the thing that matters is support for forthcoming versions, on future OS X versions.)
The problem, this time around, is that Microsoft's technical delivery capability has begun to seriously lag its desire to own every market in software. So while the biz people understand the strategic importance of DRM to the digital home, the tech side has atrophied to the point where it is incapable of shipping quality product in any meaningful time frame. So while they would like to force more users onto Windows and Windows Media, what is as likely to happen is that Apple will continue to dominate media and users will defect to Mac.
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