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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.
you will only have to buy 1 copy of a game. That is pretty appealing.
I bought Diablo 4 on my girlfriend's console at one point but she got sick of me playing it all the time so I had to buy the PC version to play on my computer (which sucks BTW, the console version is much easier to use).
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
I run linux on both my desktop and my laptop. I run pfsense on my gateway machine. How in the name of the eight worlds of Sol is Microsoft going to convert them all to XBoxes?
I'm guessing it has something to do with Microsofts recent flirting with open source software. Maybe the next revision of GWX is going to get truly ambitious...
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
If they do this I will never use a microsoft OS ever again.
Yes you will. If you really meant that, you'd have left windows long ago. Microsoft knows you're just going to whimper like a dog and roll over.
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
It will be interesting to see if those of us predicting the demise of dedicated consoles within the next 1-2 console iterations are correct or not.
If so, then Sony, Nintendo, and MS will switch focus to peripherals (controllers, VR, etc) and become platforms that run on any capable computing device. Perhaps with something like a Ubi-key for their locked down DRM.
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.
"Turn your PC into an Xbox" is nothing more than coded language for "sabotage your perfectly good general-purpose computer by infecting it with even more DRM than it already has." The thinking at Microsoft clearly must be "well, the consumers are resisting our attempts to force them to use the Windows Store, so maybe we can force them to the Xbox Live store instead?"
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
The Xbox app is just for basic functionality (achievements, friends, recording, etc.) and for streaming games from an XB1, it can't actually play XB1 games.
I know, troll.
But this whole Win7 -> Win10 upgrade thing has caused me to lose any residual trust I had for Microsoft.
Great Scott, you're right! They did omit the "Windows" qualifier in the headline!
Are you a detective? /Stewie
Microsoft looks at Google, Apple, and Valve and sees the piles of money they're generating from royalties. They're receiving 10-25% of revenues from selling software on these platforms at the cost of what? Maintaining their distribution software, paying for bandwidth, and a couple of servers to store the data.
Microsoft believes this is their best future. Hardware performance is not gaining at the rate it used to. Many programs are being pushed to the web (Microsoft's other focus) which requires less computing power. This means consumers and businesses are not forced to upgrade their machines and OS's as often. The extremely profitable OS upgrading cycle is dead to them.
This is why they might allow Windows 10 to run in Xbox mode. Much like Valve they see no gains to be made developing hardware. It's a loss leader. Selling SDK's isn't what it used to be either. Distribution is where the money is. But making Windows 10 machines run in xbox they increase their user base and extremely lower their expenses. While revenues would sharply decline, profits would increase greatly. And profits is what matters.
This is yet another reason why Windows 10 is/was "Free" and another reason why "There won't be another Windows after 10." MS under the current CEO is going all in with Distribution, Cloud, and Data/Ads. Everything else (OS, Tools, SDKs, Etc) are just delivery mechanisms for their new profit model.
If Microsoft really wants to destroy Linux, all it has to do at this point is sit back and watch.
The Linux community is doing a superb job of self-destructing, all on its own. It's causing more harm than Microsoft, SCO, or any other external party could have done.
Systemd has torn apart the Linux community. It has caused huge problems for many Linux users, as evidenced by the many mailing list posts and bug reports describing serious problems with it. A recent example is how a systemd change broke tools like screen and tmux. Obviously, many Linux users just cannot put up with nonsense like that, especially those running servers and other important systems. Yet moving to another distro isn't an option for them, because all of the major Linux distros now use systemd! The only Linux distros that don't force systemd on the users are niche distros like Slackware and Gentoo, but they typically aren't suitable replacements for a general-purpose distro like Debian.
Systemd is just the tip of the iceberg. GNOME 3 was a serious regression from GNOME 2, alienating a huge number of users. Unity isn't much better. Firefox has gotten progressively worse, forcing most of its users over to Chrome. X has stagnated, while Wayland has gone nowhere. PulseAudio has been problematic for so many users.
We've seen a lot of Linux users, many of whom had used Linux for decades, give up on it lately. Those wanting a better workstation environment have moved to OS X. Those wanting a better server environment have moved to FreeBSD. Linux has entered the same dismal feedback loop that Firefox has entered: the software got worse, which drove away the best users, which allowed the software to get even worse, which drove away mediocre users, which allowed the software to get even worse than that, which drove away the remaining users.
It wasn't outside forces that have started the demise of Linux. It was actors within the community who have been responsible.
windows 10 users: conversion to xbox will be automatic, once you click the red X for X box on the prompt to upgrade
Linux/BSD/Mac: A drunken and slightly bloated Steve Ballmer clad in black spandex will shimmy up a drainpipe and into your bedroom window, where he will sail moistly past your desktop and furiously begin applying "x-box" stickers to the mini fridge in the corner of the room while furiously grunting "developers" over and over again under his breath.
Good people go to bed earlier.
So we built another on top of that and that caught fire, burned and sank into the swamp.
So we built one on top of that and forced everyone into compliance... and that UX, that UX son stood!
Repeating the same mistakes and expecting a different outcome is a sign of insanity!
I'm not even sure what the business model here is - That they'll save a few million by only having one development team across all platforms?
A TV interface that you control with a D-pad or joystick is NOT the same as a PC interface with a keyboard/mouse is NOT the same as a tablet interface with a touch screen. No matter how much you try to unify the concepts the interactions/navigations/cues are DIFFERENT at the very least from an input standard and not even counting things like screen resolutions, viewing distances and, becoming more commonplace, display hardware.
Now there's nothing wrong with having one app store with one purchasing account for all the platforms but the UX for those should be customized to maximize the benefits of each platform. My ATM, smartphone and bank teller are all ways I perform the same functions with my bank - But they're in NO WAY a unified experience!!!
1. That would eat away at hardware cosole sales. MS won't go for that.
I *think* Microsoft consoles are sold at a loss, for the first couple years anyway and they make it back on xbox live and game sales -- they probably don't really care about lost sales of actual consoles... that's just the platform for their profit centers not an important profit center unto itself.
2. The whole point of consoles is that you can develop for a specific set of hardware
Console dev's still would do just that. This doesn't change that.
3. MS may try to block systems that aren't fast enough but some will get through.
Probably. But so what? The "default" reference platform will still be the actual physical xbox. If your PC doesn't measure up, that's on you.
many games simply were not made to handle systems that are too slow or too fast (thugh like the above, software running too fast is a problem that can be tackled).
Its been a while since this really mattered for most games. And its a challenge that other systems have tackled Wii-ware for example, did a truly brilliant job of it. The timing on some of the emulators is a bit dodgy ... but playing the NES and SNES games on Wii U ... i coasted through levels on pure childhood -honed muscle memory and the timing was perfect.
4. Cheating on PC games is a big problem, but because consoles are closed, it is much less of a problem there. This move would dramatically increase the instances of hacking in online Xbox One games that end up on PC.
The xbox would probably run in a sandbox... maybe a lightweight hyper-visor like separation. MS would definitely do its best to shield the xbox "machine" from the host OS. But yeah... it would probably make hacking more of a problem than it currently is. Then again.. lot of online xbox one games are already trying cross-platforminess with PC so that door is already open. And an xbox VM running the xbox title, instead of a "PC port" is probably going to be more secure.
For me, I'm not interested. I don't want an xbox live *subscription*. I don't want upcoming games that are currently being ported to PC to disappear from steam etc because they think I'll just run xbox on my PC. I won't. So I'm going to lose access to some titles.
Basically for non-xbox using pc gamers this could be a shitshow for pc gaming if manages to disrupt proper PC game development. (e.g. if enough PC gamers buy into it.)
But I can also see the appeal for xbox users -- being able to play their xbox games on their pcs and laptops; etc that will appeal to them. And it makes good sense for MS to cater to it.
OpenFirmware hasn't been a thing since PowerPC.
Intel-based Macs use EFI, and the Windows 7 booting was achieved through the use of EFI BIOS Compatibility Mode. Under Windows 8 and above you can perform a straight EFI install and it boots far faster due to leaving behind the programmed-IO legacy and legacy edge-triggered interrupt handling of BIOS.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
^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.
If I wanted a fucking XBox, I'd buy a fucking XBox.
I use my PC for actual WORK, and I wish those asshats at Microsoft would realize this and stop trying to turn my workstation into a goddamned game console!
Wasn't Windows 8 enough of a fucking clue that people LOATHED a non-desktop UI on a desktop computer? How many more interface abortions do they need to foist off on us until they get it through their fucking heads?
Do people want to pay $100-200 for an OS? No? Give THEM a fucking XBox.
Let me pay for my OS AND LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
...into a cheezy three hundred dollar X-Box and you're asking for trouble
I swear to you we have gone full circle, wasn't Xbox supposed to be exactly this...
I present to you, the DirectX Box! All the power of a gaming PC, but in a console. We will call it "Xbox for short"~
I was in the Pluto-is-a-planet camp until I came across Orcus. Orcus is in an orbit that is almost identical to Pluto's, except inclined the other way. Both Pluto and Orcus have moons and are at a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune. This, and the abundance of other objects in similar 2:3 resonances with Neptune forced me to conclude that Pluto was just a hunk of debris that was caught in a gravitational "divot", much like a trojan asteroid.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
The fact that you're playing a console oriented game on a PC is already a massive disadvantage even if it worked well.
"Xbox, go to setings." Settings opened. What's the problem with the UI? Oh, you aren't using Kinect.
Learn to love Alaska
Really? Better performance? With a i3?
Yes
PC Mag doesn't think so...
Learn what clock speed is, then buy yourself a clue...
A DUAL CORE i5 at 1.4GHz, even with a "turbo boost" to 2.7GHz, gets its ass kicked by a DUAL CORE i3 at 3.6GHz.
Oh, and by the time you "expand" it, it's hardly $300 now, is it?
Again, you're stupid and don't know what you're talking about. The $500 Mac Mini has 4GB of RAM and 500GB HD. The $300 Acer has 4GB of RAM and 500GB hard drive.
But the Mac Mini can't be upgraded. The Acer can.
Fact is,
No, the fact is you don't know what the hell you're talking about, you're another idiot running your mouth about shit you don't know anything about.