First of all: I called Microsoft taking on Steam way back, before it was cool
Second of all: This seems like a bunch of hooplah over something that MS has already been doing for the most part, the whole sharing of games between PC and Xbox. The upgrading console thing seems to be the thing everyone's in a fuss about, but am I the only one wondering how this will work in practice? I mean the on the hardware side? Marketting, Manufacturing, and stocking all for multiple concurrent versions? These aren't iphones smartphones after all, variety and choice (the new buzzword replacing innovation) can have negative effects for the consumer. 

addendum: Even Apple doesn't have multiple concurrent iphones running at the same time.

I see a lot of scenarios here but really I think there's a simpler way to view this.

Games will be made for -> Windows 10

PC = Windows 10

Xbox One = Windows 10

Tablets/Laptop = Windows 10

So games will be made and be compatible for all of these devices under one platform which is Windows 10. 

Because PCs and Tablets keep getting more powerful every years, Xbox has to get more powerful too.

Releasing a new slim X1 with the ability to upgrade both HDD and GPU/RAM would be their main goal. I imagine they'll have two removable parts which they'll provide upgrade every 2.5 years for GPU/RAM and every now and then a new HDD.

X1 would still be X1, closed platform, running Windows 10 yes but unable to run complexe applications like Excel or Photoshop. It's not a PC it's a console with the ability to upgrade.

MS will have to gauge when they do offer upgrades and at what prices. Also after how long would they allow develpoment to cease for an older version of the X1.

There are a lot of positives to this move. One of them being that MS will spend more on making exclusive to W10 games because they will want to attract people to their platform. Also devs that develop for PC will have more incentive to also develop for X1 since they'll share the same architecture and even more, they might be able to share the same power and control systems. To me, unifying these deviced under one platform is a step in the right direction. You choose which device you want to play your games on and can continue on another device no preoblem. Devs that develop for X1 also get the W10 PC user base, the W10 Tablet user base and maybe at some point the W10 Phone user base which is more encouraging than having to develop for every devices there is.

To those saying that MS did this because they are losing to Sony well I don't think you have followed MS all these years. Forward compatibility was talked by MS long before X1 was released. Also the X1 was supposed to released at the same time as W10 and DirectX12 so it would implement these natively but Sony seems to have forced them to release earlier. 

The negatives imo lies more in the console warriors will no longer brag about X1 not having true/retail/full/best visuals/exclusives. 

Ok so the answer is,  if you want to buy off steam you can game on your pc without spending too much but if you choose the windows store you have to have a more expensive pc.  

If what I've said is true then I fully understand pc gamers anger and Microsoft are seriously fucking up. 

I do wonder though.  What if they fail to get people onto the windows store and end up losing a ton of their fans to psn and steam.  

And what if they decide to release a new xbox console in a few years.  After all the messing about I think it would absolutely bomb.  

One things for sure Sony must be rubbing their hands.  The biggest competitor they have is giving them a clear run with the PS5. 

they didnt mind because its the smartphone model

Sooooo, more like a mac then?

Anyway, I think it's smart, it's an economic model that could work with gaming. It's not like it's unheard of, almost every hardware manufacturers out there release a new model every year.

And with gaming development becoming more multiplatform, gaming engines being able to adapt to a wide range of devices, I think it could work...

Yep. After all these years, the market is becoming harher and harsher for anyone. The 9th gen is going to be really interesting (or boring, who knows).

-Home consoles will have less and less competition due to Microsoft trying to recover the PC market and Nintendo trying the fusion/hybrid idea. That leaves the PS5 with very little troubles.

-Handhelds now are less than 1/3 than the last gen, and will continue to shrink. But without a PS handheld on the horizon, Nintendo basically gets the monopoly on dedicated handhed devices.

-PC will see the strong presence of Microsoft as a digital distributor, an uphill battle against Steam. We will see how it turns out, but that will probably be the place with the biggest competition.

-Mobile games will continue, but I have no idea how will they keep their growth.

I can agree with you meaning people feel there is no need for change. In that sense, yes. The only comparison we have is PC. Instead of the negatives, I think releasing new HW every 2-3 years with positives in mind benefits everyone. More options to consumers. The old HW architecture didn't really allow such possibility with low cost. Game engines have evolved and are now much more scalable, flexible and porting being easier. Developers could still use the advantages of fixed HW if we assume MS keeps it at 2-3 different SKUs. For example, X1, after 2-3 years X1.5, after 2-3 years X2, all games would work on all 3 different SKUs. Then maybe X2.5 would start to have games which would not work with X1 SKU anymore. Streamlined Steambox or something similar. If there is going to be a separated console industry in the future, I think it will go that route.

Wtf ?, this is official news ?, i saw a Video early today, yesterday i thought that was a Joke, so how they want to upgrade Xbox One, if the next Xbox, and PS, should come 2019-2020, they will make the people purchase one version at 2017, other at 2019-2020, and they think that people will like it ?, and will follow it ?, is even Worse if they do like the Video Card Companie, and Release a Low, Medium, and High, Specs every time.