Free Republic

Zune launched this week and, as predicted, it easily jumped to the number one spot in one of the most critical market metrics. How can this happen? How can a company known for practices that should dominate this metric fall so far behind its Redmond rival? Sometimes it’s about focus and commitment and a never ending desire to maximize critical metrics like third party studies. Sometimes it about executive integrity and the ability to present a product in the most favorable light in the face of all information to the contrary to overcome all objections in getting a product to...

Lifestyles Left and Right In 1967, when Ronald Reagan became Governor of California, he learned that his predecessor, "Pat" Brown, had been using 15 months' worth of revenue to pay 12 months of the state's bills in order to meet the state constitution's balanced budget requirement. Reagan decided that a tax increase was needed to straighten out the situation. He said at the time that as soon as it was corrected he would give back any surplus to the taxpayers. Toward the end of the next fiscal year his Director of Finance, Caspar "Cap" Weinberger (later U.S. Secretary of Defense...