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What is Microsoft smoking?

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Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#81

Post by adventured »

venomsnake wrote: post #61
jacques_chester wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is probably an incredibly incomplete list. You've actually hit Microsoft's five business units. In order of revenue: Business Division (ie, Office): $24B Windows & Windows Live: $18.8B Server & Tools: $18.7B Entertainment & Devices: $9.5B Online Services: $3B. With the exception of Online Services, each of these business units alone is doing enough revenue to qualify for inclusion on the Fortune 500 list. Ente…

The speed with which one technological company can fall is amazing as history has shown time and time again. According to joel spolsky Excel 4 made lotus 1-2-3 obsolete virtually overnight and that was the beginning of the end for them. The fact that MS is strong now means nothing in the long and even midterm. The total share of world computing that Microsoft controls now is lower than in the 90s. They have trouble g…

Actually, their substantial diversification beyond Windows means that it's very, very unlikely Microsoft is going to fall (easily or quickly). Microsoft could lose the entire consumer Windows business and be just fine (despite the hit their stock would take), particularly as they keep growing in other sectors while Windows becomes less important by the day (and is clearly done growing as a business). Consumer Windows is about 1/3 of Microsoft's profit these days.

Apple by comparison gets about 3/4 of its profit from the iPhone. Google is even worse, 95% of their profit comes directly from search.

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#82

Post by rednukleus »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #71
rednukleus wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you are running OS X desktops, why bother with it? If you are one of the small minority of people running OS X in a business environment then of course Microsoft's vertical integration is less useful. But well over 90% of business desktops/laptops are Windows based, so Microsoft has an attractive model for many businesses.

Yah, but that's kind of my point. They are spreading themselves thin because their business model is all based around vertical integration.

I'm not sure I understand your point. How does making the Xbox hurt Windows Server or Windows Phone?

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#83

Post by jemeshsu »

venomsnake wrote: post #51
zainny wrote: post #4

Interestingly enough there is a point at which I thought Microsoft was really going to hit some home runs not all that long ago. Since then though the trifecta of Windows Phone 8, Windows 8, and Xbox One has turned me away from their entire product line. Combined with my own movements over the years towards open source desktop software and web applications (Google Docs, etc.) and Microsoft barely rates a mention in m…

Microsoft had all the cards to win the device war. But they forgot what made them win the PC war. They tried to emulate apple while forgetting that people that bought into apple ideology already had apple. If the W8 arm was unlocked it would have been a big winner. WP7 just needed fast moving instead of stagnation and they almost got everything right with the original xbox and X360 in the beginning. But I am moving a…

> They tried to emulate apple while forgetting that people that bought into apple ideology already had apple.

Agreed. Their enterprise offering is strong. And one day they will realize it is IBM that is their destiny, and drop out of consumer market.

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#84

Post by mattchamb »

DanBC wrote: post #67
mattchamb wrote: post #18

Im probably going to lose what little karma I have for saying this, but the XBox One's licensing model is more attractive to me than the PS4's model. I'm getting all of my information from here: http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/license These are the points I find interesting: - Access your entire games library from any Xbox One ... while you are logged in at your friend’s house, you can play your games. From this, i can…

> - Share access to your games with everyone inside your home .. Anyone can play your games on your console--regardless of whether you are logged in or their relationship to you. > On my console, anyone can play my games, whether I take the disc to a friend's house or not. This is hugely beneficial for me and my brothers who, until this point, have been sharing a single console. That's hugely depressing. I have a DVD…

>That's hugely depressing. I have a DVD. I can lend it to anyone in my home to play. I have a book. I can lend it to anyone in my home to play. Why is it different for a game?

The link I referenced before also mentions that on your Xbox, any user can play any game:

>Your friends and family, your guests and acquaintances get unlimited access to all of your games. Anyone can play your games on your console--regardless of whether you are logged in or their relationship to you.

So anyone in your household can "borrow" a game from you just by using your Xbox. I guess this also introduces the idea of someone having a "main console" that is particularly linked to them.

>They use the word "family", so I wonder what they mean? I guess they mean "people in the same house", but I could be wrong.

I also saw this, but restricting it to "people in the same house" doesn't make sense in light of the previous points.

Regarding the issues you raised about Ann and Bob, they are completely valid points. I guess the most honest response I can have to that is that they, for better or for worse, just don't seem to be Microsoft's target market for the Xbox One. Luckily for them, however, the PS4 looks like it will be able to suit their needs much better.

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#85

Post by lucb1e »

baby wrote: post #64

IMO people are badly predicting the future of the Xbox One. They already have a huge market of players who will buy it no matter how hard the DRM are. And they had a big "pirating" problem before. This only means they can now focus on making the Xbox One safe from hacking and also something more than a console. They did it. Some people are unhappy but they will sell and they will make a lot of profit from it. As for…

> they launched their tablet product

For the PC as well, if you recall.

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#86

Post by tekromancr »

bromagosa wrote: post #77

I'm going to rant big time, and I expect downvotes, but this is my true opinion, has always been and will always be, so I see no reason to not write it down here. I don't think Microsoft ever cared at all about customers or products. Microsoft has been making money out of patents and white-gloved mobbing for ever, not out of customer happiness. Probably around 90% percent of what they earn in OS licenses comes from p…

Yea, but 98se was bulletproof.

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#87

Post by jiggy2011 »

arethuza wrote: post #49
jiggy2011 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you may have answered your own complaint there. IIRC the PS3 was even more expensive when it came out. One advantage of a console is that it is an "investment" in that you know buying one will give you at least 5 years worth of supported gaming. Compare that to buying an iPad, the first gen iPad was released in 2010 and it basically obsolete now.

I wasn't thinking of my own situation. Whether it is £300 or £429 doesn't make much difference to me - but there will a lot of households where it does. [Even my teenage son, who thinks that money magically grows in the Bank of Mum & Dad thought that £429 was a lot - if he noticed then MS probably have a pricing problem].

That's true enough, I guess those households will wait for a price drop or find one on the back of a lorry.

I remember when I was a lad, the "posh" kids would get the new gaming systems when they came out. Everyone went over to their houses to marvel at them, so when the price drop came next xmas they went on everyone's list.

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#88

Post by inthewind »

DanBC wrote: post #67
mattchamb wrote: post #18

Im probably going to lose what little karma I have for saying this, but the XBox One's licensing model is more attractive to me than the PS4's model. I'm getting all of my information from here: http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/license These are the points I find interesting: - Access your entire games library from any Xbox One ... while you are logged in at your friend’s house, you can play your games. From this, i can…

> - Share access to your games with everyone inside your home .. Anyone can play your games on your console--regardless of whether you are logged in or their relationship to you. > On my console, anyone can play my games, whether I take the disc to a friend's house or not. This is hugely beneficial for me and my brothers who, until this point, have been sharing a single console. That's hugely depressing. I have a DVD…

Yes, I think you've nailed this on the head. The licensing is all dressed up, but ultimately MS is the one trying to take a slice of every pie. Having said that, I'm not sure what and how they currently profit from their consoles? It's my understanding that Nintendo and other manufacturers sell the hardware at a loss and make their money on licensing - perhaps that's done on a per game basis, rather than a per unit basis.

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#89

Post by easytiger »

mattchamb wrote: post #18

Im probably going to lose what little karma I have for saying this, but the XBox One's licensing model is more attractive to me than the PS4's model. I'm getting all of my information from here: http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/license These are the points I find interesting: - Access your entire games library from any Xbox One ... while you are logged in at your friend’s house, you can play your games. From this, i can…

> - Access your entire games library from any Xbox One ... > > while you are logged in at your friend’s house, you can play your games.

This applies for all PSN games also.

> - Share access to your games with everyone inside your home .. Anyone can play your games on your console--regardless of whether you are logged in or their relationship to you.

Interesting. But I'm not sure the value. How many homes have > 1 unit.

> Give your family access to your entire games library anytime ... Up to ten members of your family can log in and play from your shared games library on any Xbox One.

How does one define family? How do they prove it

Re: What is Microsoft smoking?

#90

Post by skrebbel »

precisioncoder wrote: post #32
sn0v wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, WP8 has its quirks but I don't think it's all that bad? The interface is clean, the OS is smooth and the app store has quite a few useful apps (although a few major ones are still missing).

I've heard that what you say above is possible with the right third party apps but after trying it out I decided that it's Vista 2.0. Vista had good things going for it but they were cancelled out by the annoying features. IMO win7 is the best release Microsoft has ever made and I wouldn't be surprised if it had the same long lifespan as winXP while win8 languishes in obscurity. With the strides gaming has been makin…

He said WP8, so Windows Phone 8.
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