Microsoft Fighting Back

It must be the middle of summer because news has slowed to a crawl. What makes headlines these days is Steve Jobs attending a Cold Play concert and Apple doesn’t like the Microsoft ads.
The only hard news is about very minor software updates. We have iTunes 8.2.1, which, along with bug fixes has stopped Palm Pre phones from syncing with iTunes. We’ll never be sure if Apple intentionally disabled Pre syncing, or if Palm is simply taking advantage of loopholes in iTunes software that require them to keep up with new versions of iTunes. But Apple did warn Pre owners that syncing wasn’t supported on the Apple side of things.
The story that Apple doesn’t like the Microsoft “Laptop Hunter” ads seems to exaggerated. The source is Microsoft itself, making fun of Apple during a conference speech. If you read the transcript, it sounds like Apple legal had a problem with Microsoft quoting MacBook prices in the ads that were out-dated. Would Burger King have a problem if McDonalds claimed BK’s burgers were $1.39 when they were in fact $1.19? Probably. Anyway, the whole thing as created headlines like “Apple demanded Microsoft to stop its Laptop Hunters ads” which are a little sensationalist.
Microsoft is also reported as planning to open Microsoft stores near Apple Stores. It is not clear what these stores will be selling, since Microsoft doesn’t make PCs, only the Windows OS and other software.