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Microsoft Could Turn Every PC Into an Xbox (theverge.com)
For the past few years, Microsoft has been trying to mold Xbox One system's user interface and functionalities to resemble that of Windows 8 and Windows 10's Modern UI. But the company has also hinted that we will be seeing a closer integration in the coming months. It is expected to unveil some of that at E3 tradeshow next week. Long-time Microsoft watcher Tom Warren reports for The Verge: Microsoft is currently working on a secret project internally, codenamed Helix. Kotaku originally reported on the Project Helix name, and the work is designed to more closely combine Xbox and Windows 10. Some of that work has started, but more of it is due later this year and next year with future upgrades to Windows 10. Microsoft wants to enable features like streaming PC games to the Xbox One, but sources familiar with the company's plans also tell us there are greater ambitions to make Xbox One games playable on a PC without needing a console for streaming. Part of this could involve bringing the full Xbox One UI and system directly into desktop versions of Windows 10. The latest Xbox One dashboards are built on top of Windows 10, so most of the work involved would be customizing the interface towards keyboard and mouse. Bringing the Xbox One UI over to Windows 10 machines would effectively turn every PC into an Xbox One, especially if they're also capable of running the latest console games.
That just a natural response to steam/linux. I'm even surprised it took so long for them to enable any windows PC to run XBOX games since the XBOX is a PC running windows.
^This guy thinks it will mean having to control his Excel spreadsheet with an Xbox controller.^
I can understand not liking Windows, or Microsoft, but how in the hell is being able to run Xbox games on your Windows PC a complete, goodbye-cruel-world dealbreaker?
You are welcome on my lawn.
Android and ChromeOS are very bad examples to use.
They're absolutely nothing like traditional Linux distros. Yes, modified versions of the Linux kernel are used, but that's where the similarities end.
The only times we've seen Linux become truly successful is when pretty much all of the traditional software running above it is thrown away.
That means X is discarded. That means systemd is discarded. That means most of the GNU utilities are discarded.
Then all of that is replaced with custom or proprietary software.
At that point, the Linux kernel isn't much more than a convenient hardware abstraction layer. It's used mainly because it's free and people are familiar with it, rather than any technological advantage it would give over other kernels.
We can't really attribute Android's success to Linux. Most Android users wouldn't have any clue that the Linux kernel is even present on their devices, it's buried under so many layers of abstraction.