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Zune Not Compatible With Windows Vista

Journal written by danimrich (584138) and posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wed Nov 15, 2006 04:13 PM
from the dungeons-but-not-dragons dept.
Microsoft Handhelds Hardware
danimrich writes "According to a report by AppleInsider and a Microsoft support document the software for the Zune player is not compatible with Windows Vista."
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Zune Not Compatible With Windows Vista 50 Comments More /

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  • That's ok... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Nefarious Wheel (628136) <nefariouswheel@nospam.gmail.com> on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:15PM (#16859042) Journal
    ...because I'm not compatible with Vista either.

  • Well... (Score:5, Funny)

    by AltGrendel (175092) <ag-slashdotNO@SPAMexit0.us> on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:16PM (#16859058) Homepage
    Looks like Vista will be a Zune killer app.

    Yes, i know that Vista is an OS, not an app.

    • FUD! (Score:5, Informative)

      by thepotoo (829391) <thepotoospam@y3.1415926ahoo.com minus pi> on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:58PM (#16859898)
      Fud, all fud.

      I read on digg about three seconds ago, that it in fact does work. Set the installer to XP compatibility mode, and BAM! It works!

      Now, I'd love to see vista flop, but it looks like Zune won't be it's downfall. A simple patch can fix the installer.

      Full blog at http://vistazune.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]

      • Re:FUD! (Score:5, Insightful)

        by jZnat (793348) * on Wednesday November 15 2006, @05:19PM (#16860280) Homepage Journal
        Well, Microsoft made Vista, and they made Zune, so why should you have to resort to hacks to get it working? Grandma won't know how to run an application in "Windows XP compatibility mode". Think of the poor users; not everyone is a geek.
      • Forget that - though you can do it. This is a fucking joke. Wow, who'd have thought AppleInsider wouldn't have a bias about talking about how a media player isn't supported by an OS - Vista - that isn't released yet. It's most likely got everything to do with "you can't use this on a beta OS. yet." - the site even says "Not supported yet. Check back soon." Like when it's FUCKING RELEASED.

        Maybe at that point they'll either tweak anything that needs it, or set the installer compatibility flags appropriately

  • Disclaimer from the article:

    And for those wondering, the splash screen of three women in distress isn't our contributor's stab at a knee-slapper.

    Cool, Zune comes with it's own soft porn.

    All seriousness aside, I think I'd already heard Zune wouldn't work with Vista immediately. Is that really a big show stopper? I'm guessing they've laid plans to have it ready to go by the time the OEMs are rolling out Vista-installed machines. An embarrassment perhaps, but Microsoft has many bigger and better gaffes to be proud of (say Clippy, and Microsoft Bob!).

    Oh, and back to the soft porn, it must have been approved by the Ballmer himself, just look at the quote from his quoted Q&A session from Business Week in the article:

    "I want to squirt you a picture of my kids. You want to squirt me back a video of your vacation. That's [an] experience," he said.

    I think Steve's been spending a little too much time on-line.

    • Re:wow, comes with soft porn included. (Score:4, Funny)

      by uradu (10768) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @05:09PM (#16860102)
      >> And for those wondering, the splash screen of three women in distress isn't our contributor's stab at a knee-slapper.

      I'm not so sure they're in distress--it looks like the one on top is squirting the one on the bottom...something.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Alsee (515537)
        >Cool, Zune comes with it's own soft porn.
        Well, now I have at least one reason to buy a Zune.

        Errr.... you mean being too clueless to locate free porn on the internet?

        ;)

        -

  • Not yet... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Armando_Mcgillicutty (773718) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:17PM (#16859090)
    Dollars to doughnuts that there will be an upgrade for the Zune software that makes it compatable. as soon as you can actually buy Vista.

    • Re:Not yet... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Andy_R (114137) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:25PM (#16859292) Homepage Journal
      You'll never be able to actually buy Vista, just a very limited licence to run it.

      Not that anybody sane would want to...

      • Re:Not yet... (Score:5, Informative)

        by VertigoAce (257771) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:41PM (#16859592)
        The first thing the Zune installer does is check to see if there is updated Zune software available. It does this before it does the OS check, so the CD installer will work as soon as Vista-compatible software is released.

        From what I read they will be releasing a beta version of the Zune software that is compatible with Vista RTM sometime relatively soon (hopefully by the Nov 30 business release). The non-beta version will be available by the time Vista is released to consumers (Jan 30)

        • Re:Not yet... (Score:5, Insightful)

          by el_gordo101 (643167) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:48PM (#16859714)
          What if I'm not online while doing the install? Methinks that this is a fairly major "oops" on Microsoft's part. Vista has been under development for how long now and they couldn't get the Zune software to work correctly? Ouch.

  • WTF ? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jfclavette (961511) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:17PM (#16859092)
    Please. That might be because the OS is NOT OUT YET, and that it will be added as a supported OS when it is ?

    Yes. Of course, Microsoft won't support Zune on his next OS. Thanks Slashdot. That wins the 'biggest troll story ever' award.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by setirw (854029)
      Yes, but Vista ought to be backwards-compatible with documents readable on legacy devices. I agree, though, that this article is flamebait.
      • It may not be supported, and therefore, not guaranteed, because the OS is not released, but it should function anyway... the whole purpose of beta and RC releases is to have a period where hardware and software manufacturers can test to make sure that something does work. Software and hardware which should be able to work in the released OS should also function with the RC/beta releases. Unsupported means you can't call MS tech support to ask them to fix your problems, but beta means you can report bugs a

  • Why support an unreleased OS? (Score:5, Informative)

    by bheer (633842) <rbheer@nOspAm.gmail.com> on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:17PM (#16859098)
    Especially when Zune was developed by a team with very little connection with Microsoft's OS/Office side? Also, they've said they're going to have an app update for Vista users in time for its Jan 30 general release. This is a non-story.

  • Come on, feel the sarcasm (Score:5, Insightful)

    by User 956 (568564) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:18PM (#16859104) Homepage
    Given that the Zune is also not compatible with Microsoft's own "PlaysForSure" music initiave, and its own Urge music store, could this be a trend?

    Clearly this is a visionary tactic on behalf of Microsoft, and we can only assume that they have something better and wonderful planned that will blow everything else out of the water. A paradigm shift in musical entertainment, if you will.

  • XP/MCE only (Score:5, Informative)

    by richdun (672214) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:24PM (#16859268)
    *puts on flamesuit*

    So they don't "officially" support Vista. It isn't "officially" out yet. Big deal. They also aren't supporting anything other than XP SP2 and MCE 2005. ME, 2000, etc. are all left out.

    What I want to know, is whether they plan to even attempt native Mac OS X support. At least Apple supports Windows with iTunes. After all the complaining about choice, DRM that goes too far, etc., MS is doing even worse.

    But give them credit - the iPod was initially Mac-only, Firewire-only, and had no music store attached to it, and it started out fine. Sure, opening the flood gates with Windows + iTunes really propelled it, but this is the first edition.

    Linux fans, there's an article about Blizzard banning WoW Linux users down a couple more on the front page. Don't even bother with this discussion. :)

  • Compatible with Vista (Score:5, Funny)

    by kaoshin (110328) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:26PM (#16859326)
    By the time Vista is released, the only things compatible with it will be in museums.

  • Apparently Works with Vista RC2 - details (Score:5, Informative)

    by Jtheletter (686279) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:27PM (#16859334)
    As claimed by a blogger, you can in fact install the Zune software under Vista RC2. Here is a link to his blog [blogspot.com], and the steps are included below to fend off karma whores and help save the guy a little bandwidth. Note, I do not have Vista RC2 or a Zune and have not tested this. Cheers.

    1. Don't let the Zune CD autorun - instead right click on it in my computer and choose open
    2. On the Zune setup .exe right click and go to properties
    3. Click on the compatibility tab, then check "run this program in compatibility mode for:" and select Windows XP SP2
    4. Hit apply, then ok and now go back to the opened Zune folder and run the Zunesetup.exe

  • Dirty old man! (Score:3, Funny)

    by bstempi (844043) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:49PM (#16859730)
    FTA:
    In a Q&A session with BusinessWeek last month, Ballmer offered similar sentiments on the wireless capabilities of his company's new digital media player.
    "I want to squirt you a picture of my kids. You want to squirt me back a video of your vacation. That's [an] experience," he said.

    Am I the only one that finds Ballmer's quest to "squirt" me his kid...um...disturbing?

  • Brings back memories (Score:3, Insightful)

    by edwardpickman (965122) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:50PM (#16859740)
    Zune Not Compatible With Windows Vista

    Reminds me of back in the late 90s when I was trying to use Microsoft Office products, I did use Word as far back as the late 80s. I kept having compatibility issues with other Microsoft products. I found third party software supported Microsoft formats better than Microsoft did. I finally got sick of it and dropped Microsoft products. Hard to believe a company of that size not supporting their own products. I've worked for large corporations and it generally comes down to departments not talking to each other. There tends to be a lot of internal competition inside the companies. Specifications are often treated as priviledged information even between different departments.

  • Going after Apple... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Threni (635302) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:52PM (#16859772)
    "But boss - you said copy Apple, and Apple made sure their expensive little box didn't work on Microsoft Operating Systems..."

  • Squirt You (Score:5, Funny)

    by Foofoobar (318279) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @05:04PM (#16860002)
    I hope he isn't going to squirt all over the developers, developers, developers, developers.

  • Another slow news day (Score:5, Insightful)

    by davmoo (63521) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @05:29PM (#16860450)
    Considering that Vista is not available for sale, and won't be until January, I fail to see how this is in any way newsworthy. The "fud" tag has been correctly applied to this story.

    If a story came out downing Linux because some device isn't compatible with a future and unreleased version of the kernel, everyone would be crying "foul!" from the highest mountain. But since its Microsoft, its okay to have a double standard.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by GFree (853379)
      What? Vista's already finished, you can download the damn thing from torrent sites if you want to. It's done, yet the software is (apparently) still incompatible.

      You could argue that since Vista's not legally available until the 30th November, there's no need for the Zune software to be compatiable, that'd be OK. But saying it's still in beta is incorrect.

    • Re:As If... (Score:5, Funny)

      by diersing (679767) <gdiersing@[ ]il.com ['gma' in gap]> on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:23PM (#16859254)
      BG - OK guys, are we ready for the Zune launch?
      Lackey - yes sir
      BG - and we completed ALL of our testing?
      Lackey - yes sir
      BG - make it so
      ~~~~ 24 hours later ~~~~
      BG - WTF guys, you assured me we tested it!!
      Lackey - we did, but we test against, you know, released systems people are using
      BG - ...
      Lackey - can we work it into Vista SP1?
      BG - we'll have to, push back SP1 release to 4Q 2009
    • Of course, there are already enough good reasons to avoid Zune, so it's rather a wash.
      I'd wash too with all the 'squirting' Steve Ballmer is doing. YECH!

    • Re:The screenshot is on RC 1 (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ack154 (591432) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:33PM (#16859446)
      Out of all of the people complaining that Vista "isn't out yet" ... this comment actually makes the most sense to explain the incompatibility. There have been what... 2, 3 more builds since RC1 that have been available for public download?

      That being said, it seems to be the actual Zune software that's not recognizing a supported OS - and not necessarily the OS allowing it to install. So the build of Vista may be irrelevant.

    • Re:If Zune isn't compatible... (Score:5, Informative)

      by 8127972 (73495) on Wednesday November 15 2006, @04:39PM (#16859548)
      From http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista_beta2 _04.asp [winsupersite.com]

      "Apple iTunes and QuickTime Pro 7.1
      Works: Yes (with problems)
      Notes: iTunes installs but behaves strangely. The desktop and Quick Launch toolbar icons for the application are blank and cannot be fixed. Performance is horrible, even more so that iTunes' usual problems. Both iTunes and QuickTime Pro are incompatible with the Windows Aero user interface; when they are running, Windows Vista reverts to the Windows Basic UI. (See below for more information.)"

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