just sorta "ironic" that most of what was described, in hindsight, came to pass MUCH differently than was thought...

That sounds like the definition of "life." Things happen much differently than you think they will.

Hey, I realize you were just trying to point out the disparity between SonicBlue's grand vision of what would happen and what they were actually able to deliver. But is that really news? Every company's marketing literature is way ahead of their actual ability to make those things happen. In that regard, SonicBlue is no more or less evil than any other company out there.