For anyone (or should I say EVERYone) who's lapping up our latest coverage of Sony Rootkitgate, here's some mandatory--and eye-opening--reading. Michael Robertson, the man who founded MP3.com (and sold it to Universal in the early days of the digital music push for a cool $372 million), and later took on Microsoft by bringing a hybrid Linux/Windows operating system to market, has weighed in on the fiasco, and his take is quite enlightening.

Robertson makes a compelling argument for why Sony's Rootkit may actually be a positive development. No, he's not letting Sony off the hook. It's a bit more complicated than that.

But before I mangle his words, just go ahead and read Robertson's note on the topic, and then let us know if it sits well with you. Something tells me it will. Unless, of course, you happen to be a music industry fat cat, in which case you might not be able to resist the urge to throw your PC through the nearest window.

Oh, and if you want to learn a bit more about Robertson, read our profile of him from a few years back.