I've received a lot of very specific questions and requests for interviews.  I've decided I'll answer them all (in all that extra time I have these days).  For now, you'll have to settle for a few questions at a time.  So today's question comes from Stephen.  He wants to know the following:

How different is Zune from the PMC, it is obvious that it is a very closed system running a variant of the PMC 2.0 operating system?

That is a really good question (and one that is right up my alley).  At first blush, it would appear that they are very similar.  But, they are actually two separate and distinct projects. 

PMC evolved from a specific application (v1) to a platform (v2) from which partners could build their own devices.  In the beginning, there was a single processor (the Intel PXA255 if you care) and a specific set of components that the OS was optimized for.  By version 2, there were several ICs and components you could use.  In addition, v2 allowed custom "apps" to be written for the device such as codec packs and it even allowed for some customization of the UI.  The PMC software is still available for licensing today and there are still partners building devices on that platform.

Zune, on the other hand, is highly tuned to a specific hardware set and it is designed to execute a specific set of features.  As for the UI, it shares some visual similarities with PMC.  However, the menu system is more refined (some might say Spartan) than PMC.  We've been able to take some of the learnings from other UIs we've developed and incorporated those elements into the Zune player to continue to hone the experience.  For example, we've paid attention to things such as focus and made changes to make it very intuitive and dare I say fun to use.

I can go on and on about the similarities and differences between PMC and Zune.  In the end, both are good device-side operating systems.  I have a personal fondness for both and I think both are well suited for their purposes.