Microsoft attempt to grab some market from partners mp3 player makers and rival Apple iPod at the same time is looking like an empty strategy, Zune hasn’t taken any marketshare from anybody and remain as a lost in space device, you only read or see something about the Zune player when Microsoft turns its PR engines and make some buzz, then nothing else, open sourcing the Zune Media Player could helps Microsoft gains some support from the Linux Community and the Zune could end up being their device of choice, so in order to put more Zunes into people hands I really believe that Microsoft should do two things to make the player interesting:

1. Make it work with Mac OS X and Linux and kill your DRM stuff
If Microsoft puts a decent application for Mac OS X and Linux and guarantee that you can listen any music format and video on it, this could really helps move more Zune around, young people would fill it with thousand of mp3, mp4, quicktime and any other kind of music or pornography found over the net. If Microsoft guarantee that all available formats can be played in a matter of week we can see a turnaround in marketshare, but it is very difficult cause Microsoft will have to abandon its failed strategy to take over the world with its junk media formats and they will have to license Real and Quicktime format to accomplish it or provide a decent Linux application…. well, is free to dream, something almost impossible.

2. Launch a Zune Developer Program.
A Zune Developer Program will provide all the stuff we need to create small applications for the Zune Media Player, games, screen savers and any kind of stuff, this ZDK should be universal, you can program using your Linux, Mac or Windows environment. Microsoft can even pay some incentives to those that extend the Zune usability.

While these could be some bizarre ideas the result can be more than pleasant and everything that helps to make more sales of the Zune should be always welcome, the main problem with the Zune is not that is missing some needed features is that it seems to be a product of a sketch strategy, Microsoft made the Zune to see what happen and it is always adapting its strategy to a constantly moving market.