Free Zune for a Linux Solution

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/12/12/085222&tid=9&tid=96&pagenum=2' target='_blank'>http://news.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/12/12/085222&tid=9&tid=96&pagenum=2</a><br /><br /></div><em>&quot;So here's the deal: If you want to either install Linux on a Zune or write a utility to make a Zune Linux-compatible, email [email protected] and tell us why we should give this free Zune to you. The person we deem most likely to put it to good use, based on previous development track record and all-around desire, will get this Zune to have, hold, use as a development platform, and otherwise do with as he or she wishes. All we ask in return is a reasonable description of the hacking effort -- successful or not -- within a reasonable time. Call it 90 days after you receive it. And to keep the &quot;Who gets it?&quot; question from going on forever, we'll close the entry period on December 22 and announce our decision on December 26, the day after Christmas, then mail it out on or about January 2nd, 2007, after the Christmas shipping (and return) rush has died down.&quot;</em><br /><br />I can't imagine that our readership includes all that many Linux developers, but I figured I'd post on this just in case any of you are looking for a free Zune and have some killer developer chops.

[Darin]

I realize that most Linux nuts aren't big fans of MS, however this guy really lives on another planet. In his article he states "I used "ipod" as a search term on SourceForge.net and got 136 results (http://sourceforge.net/search/?words=ipod&type_of_search=soft&limit=100). A similar SourceForge.net search for "zune" gave me zero results (http://sourceforge.net/search/?type_of_search=soft&words=zune). This was on December 9, 2006; the exact numbers may have changed since then. Even if they have, it's obvious that plenty of developers have written open source software (including several Linux installers)for the iPod, but hardly anyone has bothered to write open source software for the Zune."

Is he kidding? So in 5 years of pushing out iPods we have 136 projects on sourceforge. That's about .5 projects/week. Does this mean that 3 weeks after the release of the iPod we should have expected to see 1-2 projects? Silly. Most of those apps were written in the last year or two. This is yet another example of the crazy press. Somehow the Zune is supposed to go from 0 to equal to the iPod in 3 weeks just because MS is behind it.

[enemes]

I'm a LINUX guy and don't mind MS much. MS and UNIX and you can even kinda say LINUX are much closer than you think. Just watch the virtualization space. Good things are coming. Good things.

[enemes]

Linux's been ported to Freescale iMX31L. So it's really a matter of writing the drivers. And then you can turn your Zune into a goofy PDA without a touch screen. Yikes!