I have to admit, this is an interesting piece on Michael Robertson, then followed up with a great interview.
Entrepreneur Michael Robertson is using open standards to take on Microsoft, Apple, and the telecommunications industry.
September 5, 2006
Is Michael Robertson afraid of anything? The entrepreneur has a made a career—and a fortune—playing rough with giants. Now, though, he’s turning up the volume: predicting an end to Apple’s hold on digital music, shaking up the Linux community by looking to marry open source smarts with proprietary know how, and talking trash about Microsoft’s new Zune.Pay attention, because this is a guy who finds a way to win every time he mixes it up. In 2000, Mr. Robertson’s startup, MP3.com, was hammered in the courts for letting users upload their music to online lockers where they could access it from anywhere in the world. Mr. Robertson ultimately lost his business, yet won a fortune, after Vivendi Universal bought what remained of MP3.com for $368 million, plus sizeable bonuses and an assumption of legal liability.
Next target: Microsoft. Mr. Robertson launched a Linux distribution named “Lindows” designed with a look and feel that would appeal to longtime users of Microsoft’s Windows software. After tangling in court, Microsoft paid Mr. Robertson $20 million in a 2004 settlement in which Mr. Robertson agreed to change his product’s name…. Source: Red Herring
