Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s COO has compared Apple’s recently launched iPhone 4 to their own Windows Vista, which was plagued with problems from the start, eventually becoming one of the company’s worst operating systems, ever.
“It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their Vista, and I’m okay with that,” says Turner.
Vista launched in 2007, and users instantly berated how much memory the operating system used, as well as other glaring problems like software and driver compatibility issues.
Turner took a small shot at the iPhone 4 and its antenna issues when asked about the company’s upcoming Windows Phone 7: “One of the things I want to make sure you know today is that you’re going to be able to use a Windows Phone 7 and not have to worry about how you’re holding it to make a phone call.”
Last week, Consumer Reports, the respected nonprofit organization that publishes guides on all kinds of products and makes recommendations to consumers said yesterday it could not recommend the Apple iPhone 4, due to the antenna issues.
But hey, if worst comes to worst, you can always just use duct tape.
Result for: nonprofit organization
A New York appeals court has ruled in favor of Yahoo this weekend, claiming its Launchcast Internet radio service is not required to pay royalties to copyright holders for songs it plays. The losing party was Sony BMG Music.
The claim by Yahoo was that Launchcast did not give users enough controls to be considered “an interactive service,” which would require the royalty fees to be paid.
The judges added that Yahoo would only have to pay licensing fees to SoundExchange, the nonprofit organization that collects royalties for musicians.
“It’s an immediate loss for the recording industry,” notes Rey Sanchez, chairman of the department of music, media and industry at the University of Miami and a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, via Reuters.
“If the service had been deemed interactive, Yahoo would have to negotiate fees with every record label to use their songs. Instead, it only has to pay licensing fees.”
Sony declined comment while Yahoo said nothing more than that they were pleased with the “fair” ruling.
Result for: nonprofit organization
The House of Representatives has unanimously passed the bill that will greenlight an agreement between Internet Radio companies and SoundExchange, the nonprofit organization that collects royalties for the record labels and the RIAA.
In March 2007 the federal Copyright Royalty Board negotiated new royalty rates for digital broadcasters that would have increased the rates to levels where the Internet Radio companies could no longer stay in business. Recently however, before the new rates come into effect, the two sides have been negotiating a deal and the deal seems imminent. There is however, one problem, and that is the fact that Congress is preparing to adjourn until the elections and “because Internet radio companies operate under a government license, any final agreement needs congressional authorization.”
The new bill that passed means the sides can continue negotiatons until February 15th of next year and makes sure that any deal agreed upon while Congress is in recess is legally binding.
Earlier this week, the most popular of Internet Radio sites, Pandora made a call for help asking to get the bill passed through and it seems to have worked. Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora said that if the rates go up then over $17 million of Pandora’s estimated $25 million revenue will go to paying off royalties.
