From an article in Sunday's LA Times, Microsoft Courts Hollywood Allies:


When Apple Computer Inc. transformed the digital music scene in April 2003 by selling songs over the Internet, the richest man in the world was not amused.

Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates had struggled for a decade to get his software into consumers' home entertainment systems. Now the digital media party was finally starting, and he wasn't invited.


The article goes on to talk about how Microsoft is now trying to succeed in movies where it failed (utterly) with music.

The question that I have is, why do they even bother? Apple OWNS music, and if recent rumors prove true (and there's every reason to think they will) Apple will soon OWN movies too.

Microsoft dabbles in a lot of stuff, and I'm sure they had high hopes for music marketing a long time before iTunes debuted, but you wouldn't know it by their level of success.

Seems to me Microsoft ought to just stick to what they do well (Office) and what they can sell even if they don't do well (Windows).