April 8, 2004 4:00 AM PDT
Microsoft roots for the home team--Windows
- Related Stories
-
MSN's quest for dominance
April 1, 2004 -
MLB throws high heat at Web portals
February 10, 2004 -
Gates unveils new MSN
January 7, 2004 -
Microsoft drops BellSouth DSL deal
September 24, 2003 -
Microsoft changes content deals
April 9, 1998 -
Microsoft backs away from deals
March 6, 1998 -
Microsoft aims new content at IE users
December 29, 1997 -
IE deals made with empires
November 3, 1997 -
Disney only does Windows
March 31, 1997
What's new:
Microsoft is offering a steep discount on live Webcasts of Major League Baseball games--but only to Windows users.
Bottom line:
To some longtime Microsoft watchers, this Windows-only bargain is the latest example of the software giant tying products and content, in this case one of America's favorite pastimes, to its operating system--often at the expense of non-Windows PC users and competitors.
Microsoft, which just signed an estimated $40 million deal with Major League Baseball for Webcasting rights, is offering the bargain to subscribers of MSN Premium, a subscription-based product that doesn't work with the Mac or Linux operating systems.
Here's the deal: Sign up for MSN Premium and you get the first three months free, including access to all video- and audio-casts from MLB.com, according to
By contrast, Mac users--equipped with their high-resolution "cinema" displays--get stuck paying MLB.com's regular rate of about $100--three times as much. MLB.com's All Access offering, which includes live video and audio, goes for $19.95 a month, or $99.95 a season. MLB.com shuts out Linux customers altogether, at least for now.
Microsoft plans to launch a Mac version of MSN Premium in the future that will include MLB.com video- and audio-casts, a representative said, adding that the company has released MSN versions in the past for the Mac, but not for Linux. "MSN Premium isn't available to Mac customers yet, and there isn't an ETA for that," the representative said. "It's something we're thinking about for the future."
 | ||||
|
| | ||
|
Your take Offer your opinion  What do you think about the Windows-only deal for baseball broadcasts? |
| ||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
To some longtime Microsoft watchers, this Windows-only bargain is the latest example of the software giant tying products and content, in this case one of America's favorite pastimes, to its operating system--often at the expense of non-Windows PC users and competitors.
According to Microsoft, the practice is popular with its customers. But critics have argued that this so-called integrated innovation shows how Microsoft leverages its operating-system dominance to drive sales in other businesses--in this case MSN--and maintain its grip on the desktop.
In the late 1990s,
"Their modus operandi has been to use the Windows operating system to exclude competitors," contended Kevin O'Connell, an antitrust attorney with the Los Angeles firm Manatt Phelps & Phillips.
Analysts said Microsoft has legitimate business reasons for favoring Windows over rivals such as Apple Computer's Mac OS X when developing new products like MSN Premium. One is market share. Apple accounts for less than 5 percent of PC sales, making it less of a priority. Another factor is that Microsoft's Mac and Windows software teams work independently and are not required to "sync" their release schedules.
Microsoft has done a credible job of offering timely Mac products, according to some analysts. The company has recently begun introducing some features in its Mac applications before they appear in the PC versions, said Tim Bajarin, president of consulting group Creative Strategies.
"There's no question this is a cause of great frustration for Mac users, but it would be wrong to make a blanket statement that...(software applications) first show up on a PC," he said. "A legitimate question is why don't they simultaneously develop for the Mac and PC? The biggest reason is because the Mac group is a separate group."
In the past, Microsoft's bundling practices typically have involved including features such as browser and media player software in Windows--a plan that has ensured ubiquitous distribution because the operating system runs on more than 90 percent of the world's PCs.
With baseball, Microsoft is using the lure of premium content to sell MSN--and Windows.
Such efforts come with a high price tag.
RealNetworks previously held the contract with MLB.com, paying $20 million for three years. It dropped out of the most recent round of bidding. Real, which ended its deal this spring, said
Microsoft has poured an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars into MSN in the past, building it into the world's second largest dial-up Internet service provider, with about 9 million subscribers as of late last year. But it has
When it comes to baseball, however, MSN faces stiff competition. Its deal with Major League Baseball allows MLB.com to sell the same products and strike distribution deals with other partners, including AOL. The world's largest Internet service provider is offering live baseball audio Webcasts as part of its $14.95 a month premium package. MLB.com has also signed
See more CNET content tagged:
MSN,
Webcast,
Apple Macintosh,
Linux,
operating system
as though there's no reson to care about MS's latest leverage
maneuver- other than perhasp a legal point or two.
[ With deepest apologies to Mark Knofler and Dire Straits ]
"Money for Microsoft" by Dire Warning
Sung by Steve Ballmer, backing by Bill Gates
You must buy ...
You must buy Win-XP
You must buy ...
You must buy Win-XP
You must buy ...
You must buy Win-XP
You must buy ...
You must buy Win-XP
Now look at them bozo's that's the way you do it
You lock them always on the Win-XP
That ain't workin' thats the way we do it
Money for Microsoft from Dot Net usage fees
Now that ain't workin' thats the way we do it
Lemme tell ya them guys are dumb
Maybe get a licence on your little desktop
Maybe get a licence on everyone
They gotta install Media Player
Passport Dot-Net deliveries
They gotta take these applications
They gotta take these subscription fees
Look at that, look at that
See the little Win-Troll spreading spin we makeup
Yeah buddy thats our own fear
That little Win-Troll got them always complain'
That little Win-Troll makes us billionares
They gotta install Media Player
Passport Dot-Net deliveries
They gotta take these applications
They gotta take these subscription fees
They shoulda learned to use the Linux
They shoulda learned to use them Macs
Look at that user, we got it stickin' to the customer
Man we could have some fun
And their down there, whats that? Protesting noises?
Plannin' on me dancing like a chimpanzee
That ain't workin' thats the way we do it
Get the money for Microsoft get our usage fee
They gotta install Media Player
Passport Dot-Net deliveries
They gotta take these applications
They gotta take these subscription fees
That ain't workin' thats the way we do it
You lock them always on the Win-XP
That ain't workin' thats the way we do it
Money for Microsoft from the license fee
Money for Microsoft from subscription fees
David Mohring - Original author
See: A plea for relief from Microsoft's escalating anti-competitive tactics.
http://itheresies.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_itheresies_archive.html
An open letter to antitrust, competition, consumer and trade practice monitoring agency officials worldwide.
This is a bogus argument. To read most of the content on Entertainment Weekly, you have to have an AOL account, subscribe to Entertainment Weekly, or buy a copy on the newsstand. Big deal.
Microsoft made a business arrangement with Major League Baseball that made more sense to MLB than their Real did. Which means that someone somewhere (Microsoft) is subsidizing the cost for the low cost subscription.
I seriously doubt that a lot of Mac users are complaining because there isn't an MSN Premium for them. And if Microsoft made one, I doubt a lot of Mac users would use it since they blindly hate all things Microsoft.
I agree with earlier comments, just the press piling on Microsoft!!
For all you parents in the crowd tell me what happens when a child is never deciplined and taught right from wrong.
This is BS pure and simple.
'innovation' is bought or stolen, if they can't buy or steal it, they
simply crush it. Micro$oft is a boil on the butt of humanity!
Don't feed the pig -- eliminate any and all M$ software from
your life and be free!