Down at the bottom of this speculative pieceabout the future of the Zune is this:

The thing about the global financial crisis is that it’s forcing companies to undergo reality checks. Microsoft, by now, should be realizing that it's never going to be as "coo'" as Apple, so why waste its time with the Zune where it has no competitive advantage?

Let's put the Zune aside though, and consider the larger point: reality checks. Lots of companies have "sacred cow" projects - things that "everyone" knows are failures, but that the politically well connected at the company manage to keep alive - usually it's self delusion, not ill will, that is the driving force.

Now enter the financial problems, with the difficulties in getting loans at reasonable rates - suddenly, these sacred cow projects are going to be way, way more noticeable. I suspect one of two things will happen in places that have dangerous (meaning expensive) projects of this sort:

• The delusion will be maintained, and it will drag the entire company down
• The veil will be lifted, and the sacred cow will be led to the abattoir

Lest you think this is some kind of general animus on my part towards MS, it's not - the Zune is just an example. The only thing holding us back from buying an XBox 360 is the economic uncertainty I mentioned earlier today. Everyone I know who has an XBox loves it, and the streaming HD from NetFlix seems to work very well.

Now Listening to: Long Long Journeyby Enyafrom: Amarantine

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