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How IBM Out-foxed Intel With The Xbox 360

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the beat-them-to-the-punch dept.

xcaverx writes "Learning from failure is a hallmark of the technology business. Nick Baker, a 37-year-old system architect at Microsoft, knows that well. A British transplant at the software giant's Silicon Valley campus, he went from failed project to failed project in his career. He worked on such dogs as Apple Computer's defunct video card business, 3DO's failed game consoles, a chip startup that screwed up a deal with Nintendo, the never successful WebTV and Microsoft's canceled Ultimate TV satellite TV recorder. But Baker finally has a hot seller with the Xbox 360, Microsoft's video game console launched worldwide last holiday season."

6 of 327 comments (clear)

  1. well... by Burlap · · Score: 5, Funny

    successful X360 launch may be stretching it a bit neh?

    1. Re:well... by Burlap · · Score: 5, Insightful

      it helps when you are the only show in town. The jury is still out as to how far their sales will fall when the PS3 hits the shelves.

      MS is in dire need of a Halo for the 360 to sell on, sure the games they have out now look 'ok' but there isn't anything out there that makes me say "WOW!"

  2. destiny by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wow! With a record like that he was destined to work for Microsoft.

    --
    This guy's the limit!
  3. Re:Xbox? by Karma+Farmer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    only Linux monkeys would call the original XBox a failure.

    I agree, if by "Linux monkeys" you mean "accountants and businessmen."

  4. Learning from SUCCESS is the hard part. by dpbsmith · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Learning from failure is easy. The tough part is learning from success. When a project succeeds, there's no pressure to make searching analyses of the reasons for success. The upper-level managers involved begin to think they're innately cool and have all the answers... the success of their product line proves it.

    Think Netscape... think Digital Equipment Corporation (I date their decline from the day when a salesperson apologized for being slow to return a call but added "After all, we're a billion dollar corporation." Think Ashton-Tate. Think Quark...

    --

    "How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!

  5. Re:'Out-foxed'? No... by SrJsignal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ incorrect. Microsoft went with IBM because Intel was not willing to design a chip and then have Microsoft own the IP on the chip. You do know that Microsoft owns ALL of the silicon IP for the Xbox 360, they didn't own squat on the original Xbox and thus were held to the wall on the prices of chips because they didn't own them. Also, maybe you should ask this "senior engineer" at Nvidia why they aren't doing the 360, it's for the SAME REASON, Nvidia wasn't willing to do all the design work and then not own anything. Has nothing to do with x86 vs not x86, thanks for playing. (incidently why in the world would a company with so much expertise not want to go with an x86-style chip, see above).