The vista_cost paper I linked to a couple of weeks ago has obviously caused some consternation at Microsoft HQ, as they’ve taken the time to write a response on the Windows Vista Team Blog.

What is most interesting about the reply is that it makes no attempt to discredit any of the assertions in the original paper &— which is indicative that most, if not all, of the statements about possible problems with Vista’s DRM restrictions are accurate. Especially, and tellingly, there is no denial that adding these restrictions will have a cost that will fall on device manufacturers and, therefore, be passed onto consumers. That is, you have to pay both financially and in the function of you computer.

I think that this is probably one of the better deals I’ve seen in a while. Check out the image in case the page has changed :) I think that it is a move which creates a major differentiating feature in the low-profit PC market.

I wonder if this will be taken up by other manufacturers. I can imagine Dell going for large but boring countries and Apple going for odd places like Togo or Andorra.

News just in:

With new Web 5.0 Technologies, including HP Smell-ternet, Microsoft Smell-ternet Explorer and Mozilla Smell-erfox, users can experience new multimedia experiences via visual-audio-smell combinations! Smell the dung in your virtual safari (www.smell-afari.com)! Experience the smog in London: A nasal tour (www.alondonersnose.co.uk) and get yourself hungry on the morning after at www.greasy-spoon.org!

Web 6.0 alpha 1 includes pins in your eyes and the taste of rancid frogs (low-bandwidth prototype).

Microsoft have a page on design and how it effects the experience a user of software. It’s actually reasonably insightful, showing the experiences of creating the XBox 360 and Zune are being gradually rolled out within Microsoft. The obviously now realise that a user’s experience is key to being successful in future — and they cannot rely solely on an entrenched position to provide the impetus for selling their products, as in the past.

I stumbled upon Edge magazine today, run by the Edge Foundation, who say their mandate is “to promote inquiry into and discussion of intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and literary issues, as well as to work for the intellectual and social achievement of society”. Specifically, their page entitled The Edge Annual Question — 2007, which is “What are you optimistic about? Why?”. This question was put to many interesting people and their answers are available to read, and read through some of them you should. I’d like to point out some of my favourites amongst the answers.