First I would like to start by saying that I really don’t have a Microsoft Zune, my New Years Eve post was in fun. I received a Zune as a Birthday gift in 2006 but was not pleased with it and I returned it. I actually have an iPod touch (1st generation) that I won in a raffle at RSA 2008 and I am very happy with it.
I first heard of the freeze up’s that the Microsoft Zune was experiencing late Wednesday afternoon as the clock stuck midnight in other countries around the world. Before researching it at all I commented to Jason that this must has to do with the leap second. I also assumed that Microsoft must have released an update or patch for this by now and that the people with this problem just didn’t update the devices... or not.
Microsoft announced today that in fact the leap second was likely the cause of the Zune crash and has providing guidance on steps to fix the problem. This very could be a devastating blow to the very late to the game Zune media player and I have no doubt that we will be seeing iPod VS Zune commercials any day now. This is to bad but they did it to themselves. They knew this could have been a problem and should have provided a fix. Guess on this one they should have looked before the leap.
One more note; I think Yahoo! Tech was irresponsible when they implied in their report that Microsoft did this intentionally to “phase out” the first generation Zune’s. That is just irresponsible on their part.
Posted by
Mike Wright
