The New York Times and Cnet News.com this morning ran a story with some more details on one of the nets worst kept secrets, Microsoft's proposed "iPod Killer" or "xPod" as I've now heard it dubbed. Basically the killer feature they talk about is wireless connectivity, which you would have to assume is also on the cards for the next version of the iPod.

So, is it really going to be an iPod killer? Well, Microsoft say that the player will be out in time for the holiday season, and based on their past efforts at meeting product deadlines it would be no surprise for them to miss this one too, or worse rush to market and deliver a half baked product. Apple also are rumored to be behind schedule with the next generation iPod so it is likely that both players will hit the market at around the same time and with the iPod's already strong position in that market it still doesn't look favourable for Microsoft.

Then there is the history. I own an iMate Jam Smartphone running Windows Mobile, I run a Windows Media Center in my home and I run a Windows XP desktop at work. These three devices all have something in common, other than being Microsoft products of course, they crash… with remarkable regularity, especially, and a little surprisingly, the phone! I also have an iPod Nano and not surprisingly it has never crashed… not once.

Finally there's the small issue of marketing. Apple with their slick, simple, well targeted advertising or Microsoft with their noisy, confusing and often misleading advertising (I just love this).

The bottom line? I think it's fair to say we won't be seeing any iPods killing frenzies anytime soon.

A very acurate representation of the web development process I think… that would be funnier if it weren't so true!

I agree completey with the "trying to get the layout working using only CSS before giving up and using tables" part. There are still one or two very frustrating shortcomings with CSS that have given me many a float nightmare!
Via Poisoned Minds