Engadget Schools Sony Over PS3... Or Does It?

I'm a pretty avid gamer and have a non-functional Xbox as well as an older PS2 that I got shortly after its launch. Since I didn't really miss my Xbox when it broke (except for playing Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2) and didn't pick up the 360 despite many trips to Best Buy, I would call myself loyal to the Playstation ecosystem. It's not been an easy ride to the release of PS3. But I'm bullish in thinking Sony isn't out of the marketshare game yet.

Yes, I'm disappointed at Sony's arrogance with the PS3 missteps. As a company they've blown the mindshare leading up to this console's release. But I'm not entirely convinced that Sony was out of line for their 360 and Wii comparison. Just the delivery of it...

Why? Because I will purchase the $600 version of the PS3 eventually. That means I will compare all the features on that console to what the 360 offers. And when I do that comparison, the prices aren't so out of line. Now if I was doing Sony's PR on this, I'd have fessed up to that. I would have compared the low end PS3 and 360 and show just why it is a better machine. And I'd have shown how both high end machines with similar outfits aren't so out of whack in price.

And this comparison will hold more weight as the generation matures. Sony should focus on how their bet is on the long term where Microsoft is focused on the immediate. Here's the story on Engadget:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/19/sony-claims-xbox-360-requires-hd-dvd-etc-thus-costs-700/

Apple Knocks Into the Echo Chamber

Here comes the pile on... Apple's manufacturing slipped up and sent out a small batch of their full size iPods with a virus on them. Bad in terms of quality control; they should have never been affected by this and I'm sure internal processes have tightened to prevent this problem in the future. And I'd absolutely agree they should take responsibility to resolve the issue and to provide assistance to anyone who fell victim to an actual infection.

But the big deal in the blog world? An off-color remark where Apple states: "As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it."

Now the pitchforks are out and a good lynch mob has formed for their dig at Microsoft's rather vulnerable flagship OS. There are tens of thousands of viruses out there that target Windows but everyone is so worked up about Apple's tongue-in-cheek comment.

But the fact is this is a really silly affair. When blogs start engaging in this, it tarnishes the best of the blogosphere. After all, we've had big stories appropriately hit the echo chamber in blog world that mattered. Two recent events that stand out are the HP's spying scandal and the new Windows Vista retail license restricting users to one machine transfer. I'd even consider that Apple, despite its lack of online presence, has had to be more responsive due to blogs describing hardware problems (intermittent shutdowns, discolored iBooks) that may not have come to light otherwise.

But get a grip, we have bigger things to worry about than Apple's little jabs at Microsoft. I mean does everyone forget the history here? The lemmings ad, C:\ONGRTLNS.W95, etc. have been part of Apple's list of taking the piss of their Redmond competitor. Can the skin of these complainers be any thinner?