I have a cold, so I'm a bit cranky tonight.  Can someone please add this one to snopes.com alongside the idea that Bill Gates will give you $5000 or a trip to Disneyland if you send some random email to 5 of your friends and family?

There have been recent reports in the blogosphere that Verizon's new upgraded V-Cast service won't allow users to play MP3s, and this is Microsoft's doing.  This is categorically false.  Yes, Microsoft was a technology provider to Verizon to enable their new services, but in now way put restrictions on Verizon using other technologies.

<rant> I mean, come on, Microsoft added high-bitrate MP3 encoding to WMP10 (ok, it was a bit late) but at the end of the day, I don't know of anyone wringing their hands thinking about how Microsoft can kill MP3.  WMA and MP3 happily co-exist in most portable music devices (ahem, except for iPod, but you'd have to ask Mr. Jobs about that one).

Another case in the textbook on why it's best not to assume the worst of intentions before you start pointing fingers.