I thought all the nominees had already been submitted, but then I saw this little gem from Scoble: http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2004/12/19.html#a8932. For the record, I've met quite a few people from the Windows Media team and always found them to be very informed and capable. I wonder why Scoble feels the need to be so insultingly condescending in such a public way. This could give Barbie's "yo mama so fat" post a run for its money.

Also, I don't recommend letting "big name" stars design the next versions of the media players. I believe they tried this a few years ago, but Elton John kept burning out EPROMS, Ludacris stabbed two usability engineers, and nobody wanted to buy Eminem's "I'm gonna kill &$(*$& you *#*#@!% Mobile Edition".

Clarification: By "insulting", I'm not referring to Robert's praise for competitive products or encouragement to the internal teams at Microsoft, although I think all private paths should be exhausted before "telling" on a team to Bill through an open blog letter. The reason I found his post insulting (from the WM perspective) is that he simplifies things that aren't that simple. For example, saying "get a plan together and have OEMs bought in on it in the next few weeks" is just not possible--although Robert makes it seem like the WM team hasn't been working on it or that anyone who can't do it is incompetent (discaimer: I have no inside knowledge of any of this). However, if you look at Microsoft's mobile devices initiative, it sometimes takes years (especially for Smartphone) to get unofficial agreements to turn into official product announcements, and even then it takes a really long time to bring these things to market. I just find it insulting--having been part of a very competitive and politically challenging initiative--to see someone trash the efforts of their peers without giving them a fair shake.