By Colin MoriartyToday, Microsoft unleashed a torrent of news about Xbox One, tacitly revealing that it's learned plenty of lessons over the past six months. Its new console is experiencing success in the market, with over five million consoles shipped so far. But perception is all too often reality, and Xbox One has been playing second fiddle to PlayStation 4 since E3 2013. Sony has been all about games with PS4, but with Xbox One, many claim that Microsoft has done more to alienate gamers than engender their confidence.

Xbox One may be selling well, but PlayStation 4 is doing much better, and Microsoft knew full well that things had to change. It needed to stop acting on flawed instincts, and start listening. And according to a series of announcements early this morning, the company has been listening, and things will indeed change. The result is making Xbox One and its various services feel a whole lot like its competition's. Then again, Microsoft has been here before.

In the early 1980s, Microsoft dutifully made software to run on Apple computers and IBM-compatible PCs alike, until it realized that it could make an operating system that would steal Apple's thunder. As a result, Windows was born. Jobs and company confronted Gates and his crew over lifting what would later be known as the "look and feel" of Macintosh's OS, but Gates had a trump card: Apple was grabbing many of its "ideas" from Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. Everyone was borrowing liberally from everyone else.

Xerox, a company mortified of competing with its own paper and copier businesses, had no idea what to do with the futuristic technology its employees were creating. It was rigid and refused to adapt. Apple knew what to do with that technology, even poaching many of Xerox's smartest employees to replicate that tech on Macintosh. Likewise, Microsoft also saw the writing on the wall, as it notably mimicked what Apple was doing using its access to early Macintosh development kits. As Steve Jobs said years later, encompassing the entire episode using an amazing Pablo Picasso quote: "Good artists copy. Great artists steal."

By pillaging Xerox's ideas, Apple profited and thrived. Microsoft profited and thrived even more by modeling Windows after Macintosh's OS, which was in turn a copy of Xerox Alto's operating system. What's the point of all of this? Microsoft and Apple persist as dominant players in the computing space; Xerox is a footnote in the history of the personal computer when it could have completely dominated it. All it took was clear vision and the acceptance that, sometimes, other people and other companies have better ideas than you do, and that it may just behoove you to replicate instead of innovate.

In addition to going Kinect-less, Microsoft has also ended its befuddling paywall between its users and streaming services available on Xbox One (as well as Xbox 360). For years, an Xbox Live Gold account was necessary to watch Netflix, HBO Go, and just about anything else on Xbox Live. This was a puzzling stance for Microsoft to take, and it increasingly rattled consumers who understood that in addition to paying for a service like Netflix, they had to pay Microsoft for the honor of actually using it. It was, in short, complete nonsense.

Sony beat Microsoft to the punch years ago by giving anyone with a PlayStation 3 -- and now a PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 -- completely free access to streaming services. You'd still have to pay for Netflix, Crunchyroll, NHL GameCenter, and all of the rest, but you didn't have to pay Sony to download the program and use it on your television or handheld. It was obvious to anyone in the PlayStation ecosystem that Xbox Live Gold's paywall approach was that service's Achilles' heel, and finally -- taking another page from Sony's book -- Microsoft has learned that, too.

And then there's this matter of Games with Gold, Microsoft's half-hearted attempt to compete with Sony's overwhelmingly popular PlayStation Plus program. Games with Gold has had a slow start, and it's been relegated only to older Xbox 360 games, but all of that is about to change, too. Next month, Games with Gold migrates to Xbox One, and like PlayStation Plus, it will give players separate games for free across various platforms. Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and Halo: Spartan Assault will get things rolling on One in just a few weeks.

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Damn that was long o.0

That being said, I assume what they're talking about is how the PS3 reversed its position last gen, and that Microsoft is gonna try and do the same.

While certainly possible, the Xbox One has an uphill battle, since last gen the PS3 had better exclusives, something which Microsoft has not proven it can consistently give its consumer base, and it had a huge amount of brand momentum from the PS2, regardless of how it started off, some thing that the Xbox One dosen't have nearly as much of from the 360.

The price drop is certainly a step in the right direction, so we'll see how things play out.

This is why I stick with PlayStation. All MS does is copy Sony, so why not stick with the original? Xbox has always been a poor man's PlayStation.

Moderated,

-Mr Khan

"Good artists copy. Great artists steal." That really is an incredible quote and as true as anything I've read this side of Socrates. Taking something from another source and making it your own is a fundamental part of business.

It's actually to the credit of the current Xbox division leadership that they realize this. The PS4 is at the top right now, and not without reason. What Sony is doing is working. Microsoft cannot simply look at themselves, they need to watch the competition. Do your own thing, of course, without doubt, but never be afraid to replicate success.

This is exactly where Nintendo fails. Nintendo leadership NEEDS to watch what is happening now. They need to watch Sony, they need to watch Microsoft, and they need to understand what is going on between them. Never, ever be afraid to give people what they want, even if what they want was someone else's idea first.

The success of your competitors can become your success, which you can then build on in your own way.

I very much agree. While I hope they keep the gamepad with the Wii U, they need to drop the price ASAP, and for their next console they need to keep the hardware powerful enough to directly compete with the PS5/XTwo. Hopefully they learned from their competition.

But... Sócrates knew he didn't know a thing!

Agree and partly what Nintendo needs to do. (NOT in the hardware/game front...)

However, they shouldn't look at MSony. They need to look at Google/Apple. They need to copy their online structure and online store platform. They need to copy their digital software sharing structure. They need to copy their single account system (especially google on this) where you can login from any device and BAM all your shit is there.

Do this Nintendo and do it in this summer/fall's update. Reap the reward of a better online system than all.

Then add apps for functionality you didn't want to add originally. An app for Bluray movie support (allows customer to pay for royalties). An app for music playback (again pass royalties to user). ... and so on.

WiiU gampad and architecture already supports this as does its SDK. Just do it Nintendo.

I think Microsoft has made the right choices.

Gamecube suffered because 1. It couldn't play DVDs and 2. It was marketed at a casual audience even though it had the games and the power to be a core console.

The first issue isn't a big deal, but they're making the same mistake with the latter. Due to this third part publishers have pretty much abandoned Nintendo. 

Sony's playbook? Doubt Microsoft is looking to lose money on their gaming division...