So the iPod, or more to the point, the digital music player, was invented by a now unemployed furniture salesman.

Kane Kramer, took out a worldwide patent in 1979 when he was in his late 20’s for a media player that looked (at a stretch) similar to today’s iPod. Kramer theorised that the concept player could store only 3.5 minutes of music using the day’s technology. He dubbed it the IXI and planned to expand its capacity as technology advanced.

Jobs and Co have acknowledged Kramer’s achievement only in that they used him as a witness and consultant after patent holding company Burst sued Apple, claiming the iPod infringed on its own patents. As Kramer registered the original patent in 1979 he was proved to be the iPod’s inventor and Burst’s case was found to be groundless.

To date Kramer has only been paid for his consultancy fees during the Burst court case. As he allowed the patent to expire in the 80s due to his lack of funds to renew it, Kramer now has no legal claim over the iPod patent.

Lets not forget that Leonardo Da Vinci invented the tank, the mechanical clock, the helicopter and the aeroplane long before the Wrights got fixed wing flying machines off the ground. The man was thinking way beyond his time, and there is no doubting that he was extraordinarily talented, but he didn’t build these contraptions. The technology of the time wasn’t as advanced as his ideas.

Taking something from a concept and making it real is the big achievement. I wonder who it was that said, if the technology isn’t there yet, perhaps we need to get it there.

Who builds the building blocks so that people can not just conceive these ideas, but actually realise them?

For example, who invented flash memory or the hard drive? These are the real pioneers.

“But there is no doubt that Apple is thriving. Why? Because they are good at providing an experience that is narrow but complete, while our commitment to choice often comes with some compromises to the end-to-end experience. Today, we’re changing the way we work with hardware vendors to ensure that we can provide complete experiences with absolutely no compromises.”

- Steve Ballmer, CEO Microsoft

That was one month ago and I thought just maybe, 90% of the world’s computer users might have the chance of having a similar computer experience to my own. Three weeks later, $300mil to convince everyone that “Vista is cool” with the help of New York’s favourite Jew just doesn’t seem to instill a sense of hope.

“1. Invest in the right opportunities;”

- Steve Ballmer

Dear Steve,

Please go back and read the first point in your FY09 ‘Strategic Update’ then look at how much money you’re going to piss away. Be bold. Save your money and put it towards development for Windows 7, or whatever you want to call it. Let people know it will probably take a couple of years to develop. Ask them to be patient (like they haven’t already). Create just one complete user experience.

When you release your new OS, and here’s where you have to be brave, give each paid Vista user a free copy. A small token of appreciation for your users’ patience through difficult times. And then keep making it better. Perhaps then you can take the fight back to Apple in terms of quality, rather than brute weight of poor choice no choice numbers.

Think about it.

Yours sincerely,

Oz, GOD Landofoz

We’ve joked in the past that Oz is/was determined to turn BEEZHOUSE.com into a Mac User Forum. So, it was quite fortuitous that I stumbled across this little web survey… “How Addicted To Apple Are You”. Now Oz is addicted to nicotine… still… freakin’ junkie… so it should come as little surprise that his addictive tendencies stretch to computing. I’m not expecting to beat him in this contest… he’s Old School as he’ll be more than happy to tell you, again and again. I’m not sure how my score ranks… take the quiz here… and post your results in the comments!

56%How Addicted to Apple Are You?