Steve Jobs or Steve Ballmer - New comment on Raikes and Other Exits.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Raikes and Other Exits":

It's just amazing how the RIAA and MPAA demand copy protection and Apple gives it to them... and is lauded... And MSFT gives it to them... and is reviled.

Apple was lauded not for using DRM, but for making it much less restrictive and much more transparent than any previous effort. They went to bat for consumers against the music industry, e.g., for CD burning rights, and won. They also went to bat for consumers when the music industry wanted to charge more than 99 cents/track and won.

I'm not saying that everything about Apple is shiny and good but there is no doubt they've exercised their resources to deliver some good things for consumers.

Could they have gone further? Maybe. But I can't remember a single time when I've thought, "hey, thanks Microsoft, for using your enormous wealth and market position and legal resources to stand up for me and get something done that I actually wanted." Can you?

Now that the RIAA is trying to make it illegal to rip your own CDs to your own computer, who do you want in your corner? Steve Jobs or Steve Ballmer? I wonder if Ballmer even keeps on top of tech enough to know that this is going on.

(The only angel I know of here is Jeff Bezos and Amazon. That's where I buy my music.)