> The very
> features that create the illusion of (sometimes)
> seamless integration of Microsoft products also lays a
> smoothly paved, multi-lane highway to elevated
> privileges (or denial of services) land.
Kind of like the way Rome built this huge road network, which was subsequently used by the (so-called) barbarians to take down the Empire. The dividending of Microsloth definitely marks the end of an era, though. It makes sense, given the post-Bubble plunge of their shares (there's a chart of this right here: http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/charts/chartdl.asp?Symbol=MSFT&C1=0&C2=3)
I still don't see any sign that they get the videogame biz, though. Nokia has been very, very smart about listening and learning from its N-Gage launch (the QD model is a miraculous improvement, and they'll only get better at this), but everything I've heard about XBox 2 just sounds like... well... XBox 2. Apparently, $75 billion in the bank still can't buy genuine innovation.
-- DRR