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Microsoft Talks Handhelds, Xbox Linux
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Canada.com interview with Xbox head honcho Robbie Bach, which shoots him some wide-ranging and perceptive questions about Microsoft's console strategy. Interesting answers include whether Microsoft wants to get into the handheld console market ("It's like starting a new business...we will focus on making the current Xbox successful."), and their views of Linux for Xbox ("..the numbers are not really that big. It's not a commercial as much as it is an intellectual property issue and we always pursue those.")
I can see the XBox handheld now
:P
One foot by 3 inches thick and about 6 inches deep. Somewhere around the size of a PS2
"Vinnie! Guido! Go 'pursue' the X-Box Linux intellectual property issue. To a satisfactory conclusion."
Goons: "Daaaah, right away, boss! Heehee heheh!"
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
Why would I want a portable blue screen? I get enough of that at home. :)
Well, if Microsoft did an Xbox handheld, you'd need a damn strong right hand to hold it. Still, I guess if the market is adolescent makes, requiring a strong right hand isn't a problem.
Please read my Canon EOS tech blog at http://www.everyothershot.com
when I buy a $180 system that cost $100 to make, you just made $100 regardless of what I do with it afterward
Good to see math alive and well on slashdot.
I hate to say this, but the only reason people usually buy ninteno is because of mario and zelda. You know, the characters that have been around since the NES. Unfortunately, all that you can find on the Game Cube are mario and zelda. Characters that have been around since the NES.
> Q. How important is the Japanese market to you?
This question bugged me. Imagine you were answering, and had no idea what was happening, what would you say?
A. Not very. We find the japanese insignificant.
A. Very - the very existance of the xbox'es fate, lies in their hands!
A. We want to be successful in Japan because it's a gaming market and an important territory where we have a lot of third party game publishers.
bah
Q. Folks have even built a Linux-Xbox computer. How can you control this?
A. Electronic hobbyists will do what they want to do...the numbers are not really that big. It's not a commercial as much as it is an intellectual property issue and we always pursue those. If someone finds a way to cheat, we close it down and do an update so people can't anymore.
First off, he is being vague, intentionally no doubt, so no one really knows what he means by "we always pursue those".
Secondly, how is this question dealing with cheaters? I modded my xbox to run Linux on it, not cheap, I have no interest in the xbox live service, its just one more way to connect me to people, and I hate people. Are you comming to get me because I like to tinker?
I don't even play pirate games on my modded xbox, not for lack of options I might add, I could have every game I wanted. But there is still only one game worth playing on my Halo Machi..... I mean xbox.
--Nuintari
slashdot : where an opinion can be wrong.
> Why is it, that people always post big stories about the XboX ?
...
... oh wait, they actually stole that idea. But they've written at least a few pretty decent products over the years, like SQL Server ... oh wait, they bought that.
We enjoy reading various Xbox insiders talk about overtaking PS2 for the very same reason that we enjoying reading posts with extraneous commas and random capitalization: It's comedy gold.
> I don't see nearly as much stories about the PS/2
I almost bit on that one. I was about to waste precious time laying down an array of PlayStation-related story links, such as the recent announcement of a Sony handheld, several scattered tech notes on the architectural changes planned for the PS3, and the numerous obligatory PS2 hacks and mods.
> I guess as soon as it is from microsoft, it's bad
Of course not. I, for one, always assume that anything from M$ is remarkably stable and well-designed, and that their behavior in any given market keeps the associated industry vibrant and consumer-friendly.
There's not enough room in my head to store useless information, so I never bother with silly things like "historical perspective." That's why I
buy all of my Iomega gear at Best Buy, which I then promptly install on my SCO box; because, hey, every company deserves an amnesiac consumer base, right?
> GET A LIFE ! Microsoft is just some big company. All big companies do bad things.
I also find that moral equivocacy further simplifies my life. The world is so much easier to comment on when there are no degrees to consider. I like to paint everything with a giant, monochrome brush.
> That you are stupid enough to buy their stuff, that is your fault.
Finally, an assessment I can't argue with. The only thing I'm curious about, though, is this: I shouldn't be stupid enough to buy their products, but since all corporations are equally bad, what *should* I buy? You've obviously never been stupid enough to buy one of those "imperialist" consoles. But then, I guess it would be hard to play one without an imperialist television.
> They also do good things.
Quick, name one. I know: They ushered in the age of the GUI
I guess you're just referring to their superlative business ethics in general. Personally, I've always found the ISV and VAR criticisms of M$ as "inflexible" to be totally off-base. Their moral flexibility, alone, is without peer.
> Maybe it's not 'cool' to say good things about them
It's not. Still, the question is largely an academic one. We would need a good thing to report in order to put the matter to practical test, and there's very little risk of that happening.
- nocturne
/* Pleurez, pleurez, mes yeux, et fondez vous en eau! La moitie de ma vie a mis l'autre au tombeau. - Corneille */
From my experience, the xbox is a babemagnet. I know of several cases where the female part of the household insisted on the xbox, for the sole purpose of playing dead or alive 3...
If MS think some karaoke-wierdo stuff is what women want, they are making a huge mistake...