Let me say that in another way: The Zune can succeed not by copying the iPod, but by becoming the "Anti-iPod."

The iPod's warm-and-fuzzy qualities are well known. But all that simplicity comes at a price: Apple's closed, our-way-or-the-highway approach to locking everything down stifles innovation and customization.

Some of the biggest iPod fans go to great lengths to overcome Apple's controls and modify their iPods. Just check out iPod Hacks, a site devoted to voiding iPod's warranty and bypassing Apple's strict gadget lockdown. Many of the hacks involve the installation of Linux with a special iPod interface called Podzilla. Once installed, people can write or download software for playing unsupported media files, customizing the interface and installing special applications that do all kinds of things the iPod was never intended to do. You can play iDoom, an iPod-specific version of the first-person shooter classic, Doom; turn the iPod into a universal TV remote control; add a word processor; and even use the iPod as a security "key" for locking and unlocking Macs.

This is what people do, even when Apple bans it. Imagine what would be possible if Microsoft encouraged modification of the Zune.

Let people transform the Zune into an Xbox game controller, a TV remote control, a portable presentation device, a wireless PC hard drive or a Vista gadget emulator. Give me a wireless keyboard and a Zune version of Pocket Outlook, and I'll never buy another iPod. Build ClearType into Zune and make it the ultimate eBook reader (and sell eBooks on Zune Marketplace).