Can Zune 2.0 make good no. 2 to Apple??

Microsoft may release revamped Zune for the holiday season,but many questions they need to answer.Right now, Zune boasts 10% market share in Hard drive based portable media players according to NPD.Once Zune family expands to new models and new markets like Europe it may take no.2 position easily.But that would be still distant no.2.Microsoft repeatedly failed in CE market and duds include IPTV,Tablet PC,Media center and i can add XBOX,Zune also to the list as they are not making money yet.

Windows was huge success 'coz the partners business model worked well.Microsoft tried to replicate that success to counter iPod juggernaut but backfired.Then they took Apple approach i.e. vertical business model.So far,the results are so-so.In-fact Microsoft tried to take different approach to Apple to bring social element to music,which is not received very well in the market 'coz of Zune's crippled WiFi.Even if now Microsoft come up with full fledged WiFi,still Apple is ahead as they again took initiative with iPhone and iPod touch.I wonder how Microsoft will add browsing functionality to Zune with Squircle UI.

But anti-apple voices also growing as the company becoming more like monopolistic in music by controlling end to end market.This can move away some switchers to Microsoft camp if Zune 2.0 is out of the box.This time around Microsoft taking control over manufacturing unlike Zune 1.0,when they had to depend on Toshiba's off the shelf not so appealing design.So,one can expect better industrial design with slick looks.Zune 1.0 UI was appreciated and may be some improvements will make it even better.As per content handling, may be better podcast support is must to win.Some social elements like playlist sharing and ad-hoc things will boost the appeal.

If Microsoft can not excite music fans this season,they may better search for exit route by next holiday season as marigins are dropping everyday in CE industry and it may not be good idea to burn more resources on duds.Even for XBOX also its make or break year,which already lost more than $4 billion.

"no volume control gstreamer plugins and or devices found"

Last week, i faced a bizarre sound problem on my Ubuntu 7.0.4 and all of a sudden my sound card seems disappeared.There was a red mute icon on volume control and if i click on it, it gives a message "no volume control gstreamer plugins and or devices found" .Obviously, i Googled.First i checked whether my user account got access to audio device and then i checked whether restricted codecs are installed properly.Generally, If your user account doesn't have access to audio device you may face this problem.But everything seemed OK in my case (System>Administration>Users and groups).I feared i had to install whole OS again.Luckily the following guide saved me.I reinstalled my ALSA drivers and rebooted my system.Magically it worked and happy ending.This is the third time, i faced sound problem in ubuntu and last time it was with micro phone and YouTube videos.I discussed 'ubuntu microphone problem' in one of my previous post.Hope this helps people who are in need.

Google Search in Indian Languages

Here comes Natural Language Search Engine from Google to cater Indian Languages.They are providing on screen keyboard to overcome the lack of availability of regional language keyboards.Its a welcome move by Google.As usually Google sticking with its clean home page,end user control approach and they are offering it as gadget to personalize your iGoogle.A month ago, i was trying Hindi search engine Raftaar which also provides on screen keyboard . Google India Labs also providing easy Hindi typing online tool and i guess that can be extended to other languages too in the coming days.Research Institutes like CDAC, IISc and HP Labs Bangalore working on some projects to solve regional language bridge between computers and users.

Microsoft also working with domestic Research Institutes to make it reality and they are working on a project called 'Microsoft Bhasha'.Last week IBM also released a Hindi speech recognition software and these initiatives can push the dream further which can bring technology to rural areas.Once tools become widely available we can see proliferation of content in regional languages and emergence of many more portals to serve local interests.Thats how you can bring an average customer to internet and computers.I am preying for that moment.

Cannibalizing Office sales??Inevitable...

News about ad supported online version of MS Works has been making rounds on net today,though no official confirmation from Microsoft yet.Why MS Works??Why not Office itself??If it is ad supported,then MS should plan to roll out Word,Excel,Powerpoint online versions with basic functionalities.MS Works basically about home productivity that supports Word,Excel and first released for Mac as desktop application software back in 1985.I use Zoho,Google Docs actively.I use Ubuntu Linux and some times i depend on these online applications,though i use open office on desktop.

Microsoft's Office live service for SMBs doesn't provide online MS office service and the name is very much misleading.Recently MS management reaffirmed their support to Software plus service during company's annual financial analyst day.Ballmer promised click to run server based windows applications.Don't forget, MS earns $250M per week on MS office.So,i don't expect them to cannibalize it with online office suit soonly.

But the time has come now, 'coz Google docs adding 3500 SMB customers per day and the threat is growing for desktop based office.Zoho also adding customers left and right.I am sure that MS will jump into this online productivity market before its too late and recent initiative of online CRM to host business apps is a clear indication.If they roll out, it will be probably included as a part in live services pack.Its 250M windows live hot mail users can use those applications.MS also getting pressure from mainstream corporates to bring a click to run office service,which can be cost saving for corporates.I guess it takes at least one good year for MS before it settles down with its web strategy.Till then tweaks and betas.May be some acquisitions too.

Which company spending more on R&D

Today i was reading an article published by EDN about High-Tech R&D spenders Rankings.Here is the list compiled by Reed Business information (PDF).250 companies covered in the list which covers Semiconductors and Software fields.

Top 5 spenders

• Microsoft-$6.6B

• Siemens-$6.4B

• IBM-$6.1B

• Samsung Electronics-$6B

• Intel-$5.8B

Looks like of so much of money flowing to bring the next killer application to consumers.

They ignored,they laughed and then they followed

Well,I am talking about Microsoft.Six months back when iPhone was announced, Steve Ballmer laughed at its high price point and lack of physical key board.Can anybody remind the price of Office 2007 and Vista.Huh...

Ironically,Ballmer now promotes $900 iPhone clone from HTC.What a drastic change in six months!!Its not unusual in High-Technology industry to ignore,threaten and laugh at competition.Enjoy these two videos which are popular on YouTube.They ignored,they laughed and then they followed.

How to share internet connection

CNET has a video which shows how to share internet between laptops with XP,Vista and Mac.It's simple.It doesn't tell how to do the same in Linux.If you want to do it in Ubuntu, you can install firestarter by using which you can easily configure.Of course, it works for other Linux distributions too.

sudo apt-get install firestarter

Democracy Player rebranded as Miro

Democracy Player,the internet TV platform rebranded as Miro and you can upgrade to the new Miro 0.9.8 version.Though content support is not great,Miro(aka Democracy Player) can be best used as RSS video aggregator and downloader. These days video became a big thing on web and the 5-10 min video snacks became so popular.According to a Google manager, every day 95% of the YouTube library is watched at least once.That speaks the demand for online video.Mashable have a compiled list of online video sources.Don't forget to read the comments there,'coz readers also contributed good links.