21/06/2013
One Indie's Troubles With Microsoft
The common, popular narrative is that companies like Microsoft are eeeeevil. All they want is money! Or something like that. Maybe it's not so clear-cut?
I want to tell you that Skulls of the Shogun is excellent. Read…
This quote in the image above comes from a piece on Rock Paper, Shotgun on Skulls of the Shogun. (Edit: the quote comes from Borut Pfeiffer, who works for Plush Apocalypse Productions—a studio that collaborated with 17-BIT on Skulls of the Shogun). The article describes the trials and disappointments that came with developing a game exclusive to Microsoft products. Instead of having that exclusivity result in more exposure and sales, the move resulted in complications and an empty bank account.
They came across as though they were institutionally incompetent. I think they’re not really set up to be a decent publisher. I do feel slightly bad saying that, because there were people there who worked hard on our behalf, but at the same time there are systemic problems with the way that division is setup and run.
Of course, the developers knew they were taking a gamble that involved releasing a game on a bunch of new products—it's probably not fair to put all of the blame on Microsoft. Still, it's kind of impressive how incompetent Microsoft sounds, at least when it comes to doing well by indies. You can read specifics here; it's well worth a read.
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04:36 Publié dans Microsoft | Tags : office 2010, microsoft office 2010, office 2013, windows 8, windows 7 | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0)
27/05/2013
Microsoft Files Dispute Against Owner Of Xboxone.com And Xboxone.net
Microsoft has filed a complaint against the current owner of the websites Xboxone.com and Xboxone.net, just days after the company revealed its new next-gen console, the Xbox One. The company revealed the console, which had previously been called the Xbox 720 or Durango, on Tuesday, May 21. Microsoft announced that the console would be available by the end of 2013.
Microsoft filed the complaint with the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) on May 23, and its case number (1501205) is currently listed as pending in the forum’s domain dispute database. Both website domains are registered to London resident Krasimir Hristov Ivanov, who bought the domains on December 29, 2011, according to domain registration search engine WhoIs.
A Microsoft representative told IGN, “Microsoft’s domain name portfolio is a part of its ongoing business strategy, but beyond that we have no comment.”
Microsoft has filed domain disputes in the past, and the cases generally end in Microsoft’s favor. In 2003, a Canadian high school student named Mike Rowe registered the name MikeRoweSoft.com for his part-time web design business. Microsoft considered the domain to be trademark infringement, due to its phonetic resemblance to the trademarked company name, and demanded that Rowe give up the domain. Rowe asked to be compensated for giving up the domain, and Microsoft gave him the $10 he spent to register the domain. Rowe then asked for $10,000 because he was “mad” at the original offer, and Microsoft responded with a 25-page cease and desist order.
The company accused the high school senior of cybersquatting, a practice in which someone uses a domain name in an attempt to profit from someone else’s trademark. The cybersquatter will then offer to sell the domain to the company that owns the trademark for a large price. Mike Rowe and Microsfoft eventually settled out of court, and Microsoft gained control of the domain. The company also paid Rowe’s expenses, and gave him and his family an all-expenses paid trip the Microsoft Research Tech Vest at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The company also gave Rowe training for Microsoft certification.
In this particular case, neither Xboxone.com or Xboxone.net are being used for anything, which may help Microsoft prove cybersquatting, even despite the timing of the websites’ registration.
Do you think Microsoft will win its against against the owner of Xboxone.com and Xboxone.net?
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03:42 Publié dans Microsoft | Tags : office 2010, microsoft office 2010, office home and student 2010, office home and business 2010 | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0)
17/05/2013
Google Orders Microsoft to Remove Windows Phone YouTube App
Microsoft might be tickled pink about its updated YouTube app for Windows Phone 8, but Google certainly doesn't feel the same way. The search giant on Wednesday sent Redmond a cease-and-desist letter, ordering Microsoft to remove the app by May 22.
Francisco Varela, director of global platform partnerships at YouTube, penned a letter to Todd Brix, general manager for Windows Phone, arguing that the Windows Phone version of YouTube violates Google's terms by allowing video downloads, not displaying ads, and allowing access to videos that its partners have restricted.
"These features directly harm our content creators and clearly violate our terms of service," Varela wrote in the letter, which was posted online by The Verge. "We request that you immediately withdraw this application from the Windows Phone Store and disable existing downloads of the application by Wednesday, May 22, 2013."
Last week, the YouTube app for Windows Phone 8 got a major upgrade, turning it into a full-featured app rather than a link to the YouTube mobile site. The update came a few months after Microsoft said the lack of a full-featured YouTube app for Windows Phone was one reason why the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust probe into Google was warranted.
In a statement, a Microsoft spokesman said today that "YouTube is consistently one of the top apps downloaded by smartphone users on all platforms, but Google has refused to work with us to develop an app on par with other platforms."
"Since we updated the YouTube app to ensure our mutual customers a similar YouTube experience, ratings and feedback have been overwhelmingly positive," he continued. "We'd be more than happy to include advertising but need Google to provide us access to the necessary APIs. In light of Larry Page's comments today calling for more interoperability and less negativity, we look forward to solving this matter together for our mutual customers."
Page was onstage at the Google I/O developer conference yesterday, where he fielded a question from a Mozilla employee about interoperability. "I've personally been quite sad at the industry's behavior around all these things," Page responded.
The Google CEO said the company has been willing to interoperate on things like instant messaging. "[But] just this week Microsoft took advantage of that by interoperating with us but not doing the reverse, which is really sad, right?" he said. "And that's not the way to make progress."
"You need to actually have interoperation, not just people milking off one company for their own benefit," Page said. "I'm sad that the Web's probably not advancing as fast as it should be. We certainly struggle with people like Microsoft."
According to Varela, blocking ads on the YouTube app "causes harm to the thriving ecosystem on YouTube."
For more from I/O, see the slideshow above and the video below; Page's comments about interoperability come in at the 3:05:00 mark.
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04:07 Publié dans Microsoft | Tags : office 2010, microsoft office 2010, office home and student 2010, office home and business 2010 | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0)