Finally singing in Harmony

Was it the case that previously, you couldn't read a protected Windows Media file?
If someone had a piece of content on a Windows device that had security rules, there would not be a trivial way to move that content into a device that had Helix or OMA (Open Mobile Alliance) or what have you. Our relationship with Microsoft puts us for the first time — and I think puts anybody for the first time — in a position of being able to solve that problem.

So when we talk to the big [mobile] carriers we work with, that's definitely something they're interested in. The big media companies as well. It enhances the competitive position of our system software.

The same is true for RealPlayer. We have a set of things we've done to make the experience of using RealPlayer on Windows a smoother experience than it's been before.

Even on the music side, it sounds like Microsoft hasn't given up their subscription service completely. Do you ultimately plan to compete against it on that?
Microsoft has agreed for this Christmas and next Christmas and the period in between to promote no service on MSN (and WindowsMedia.com and a number of other places) more prominently than our service.

Clearly, there are multiple people who use Microsoft technology, and we didn't ask, nor do we expect, that Microsoft would no longer return their phone calls or no longer give them distribution. There won't be anything in that period of time that's promoted more prominently than what we do with Microsoft, including anything that Microsoft might do. So we're very happy with that. It gives us a stable foundation.

We haven't done something that guarantees we'll be partners 10 years from now. I'm sort of a crawl-walk-run guy, and we went from a relationship where we were somewhere between walking and running in opposite directions, to where we're walking — and maybe in some cases even walking briskly — together in the same direction.

Do you expect this kind of relationship to be expanded to other product areas?
In the last couple of weeks, we've been able to put together some demos that were actually compelling and actually represent our specific intentions or in a number of cases were specifications from the contract. There will be a lot more that's already in the plan, beyond what we showed in today's press conferences. Whether there will be more than that will play out over time.

What are you going to do with the money you've gained from the settlement?
We're going to do smart, rational things because we endeavor to be rational, long term-oriented people. We will have, by the end of this quarter, over $800m on our balance sheet, and we will use it wisely and productively.