| siren said: Lets use Netflix and the Gold link as an example. What direct value does adding Netflix to the 360 grant MS? Possibly a few more systems sold, but it doesn't exactly help them grow the service and it will be extremely difficult to analyze and determine just how many systems that feature sold. MS does not get a cut of the Netflix service fees, so nothing there. So in exchange for MS developing the entire player for the 360 and supporting it, they make money on it through their Gold subscription service. What can we look forward to as a result? Well right now you can only stream locally. What if in the future you could take a party (8 different systems) into Netflix and watch a movie synced across all the connection together. If you think Microsoft would fund an improvement like that without having direct financial investment coming from Netflix then you do not understand business. And actually yes, my working at Microsoft does have bearing on this. People like to argue that the ones at the top are the greedy bastards. Those people have never met Jallard or Rbach. In regards to Microsoft trying to buy, coping, and destroying. Its easy to say that you have worked at several companies destroyed by MS, but really, some proof would be nice. What companies? The fact of the matter is that Microsoft only buys a handful of companies each year. They enter even less markets than that each year. More software companies are created each year to take advantage of the Windows, Office, and Xbox platforms each year than Microsoft could put out of business in a dozen or two years. If Microsoft really destroyed software companies like you insinuate, they would not have anyone working with them. All the companies would just hurry over to Apple or Linux. But the fact of the matter is that Microsoft is a great company to partner with. Prior to returning to Microsoft this year, I worked for a small company that developed Video Conferencing and Collaberation software. Said product competed directly with Groove and Live Meeting. Yet we regularly worked directly with the Windows and Office teams getting direct support from developers, QA, and PM on issues we ran into getting our product to work. In a lot of ways, Microsoft helped us become even more successful even though they were competing with our product. Does Microsoft "copy" other products? Sort of, but so does everyone else. Software innovation, once again, isn't about building a whole new thing. Its about incremental improvements on top of existing technologies. Take Trophies, one could argue that they copied Achievements. Is there a certain amount of truth to that, of course there is. But did they innovate in their own right through the method of representing score and providing a level up mechanic, definately. What about XMB? One could argue that it copies many UI designs from well before it came out, yet it provides several key improvements including graphic design, usability, and flexability. Does NXE copy XMB, a bit yea. But steps it up bigtime in terms of graphical representations of the content. Do Avatars copy Miis, yea, but they are also accessible to all game developers and come with a complete set of tools that enable you to impliment them in your title. They also have a few dozen preprogrammed expressions and an entire set of APIs tied to the skeletal framework to enable developers to customize their actions to work in their games. What is Microsoft hated so much? Well, there are a lot of fanboys in the world that stick by their companies come hell or high water. There are a lot of lawyers in the world who will sue anyone for anything. And there are some companies that they did put out of business which had employees that likely feel scorned and take out their anger on Microsoft as apposed to their own company that failed to compete. Speaking of which, I would love to hear an example of where Microsoft suddenly jacked the price on something after they won a market. If anyting Microsot has always decreased the costs over time and started competing at significantly lower prices. Take Office, when it came out at around $650 for the suite of 4 applications, competing sets of products cost over $1500 to purchase them and they did not work together as well. Today you can get the home version of Office with more applications that it used to ship with for under $300. Under $150 if bundled with a new PC purchase. When Windows started to take off, competiting products like OS2Warp cost over $600 to buy one license. Windows only cost roughly $200 retail and $60 OEM. Today, Windows costs about $54 OEM and $150 retail for the Home version. Yea there is an Ultimate version with a lot more for about $400 retail and $115 OEM, but that is a new product line and not required. |
The Netflix thing is a horrid example however in my opinion. I'm looking for self sacrifice, a move made on they're part that doesn't benefit them financially in the least. I used this reference in another topic, but I was skimming through my gaming magazines, and I see this add for Netflix, it features some netflix employee's "avatar", and in big text it says "Check out the new xbox experience!" Well.. that's awesome... aside from the fact that the Netflix deal has practically nothing to do with the 360 :/ It has everything to do with Gold accounts... Microsoft didn't make it for the silver accounts as well for obvious reasons. They are trying to make a profit out of it. Which one could argue "But all business do this surely!". But the thing is... they don't o.O;
When netflix just started out, they only did the DVD's via mail. That was all, and that was enough to get they're service booming :D But then they decided to give the customers something extra, something out of THEY'RE pocket. The didn't charge us another dime, but they offered us another universe of service. Microsoft worked out an exclusive deal with Netflix to only offer it on they're box, shouldn't that have been enough? No, it just wasn't, there just had to be a catch. Somehow, Microsoft when from Chivalrous knight, to con artist :/ Why is it everything they do has to make a profit? It's the prime definition of corporate greed.
I say your employment with microsoft has little bearing because your what? One of how many thousands of employee's? I work at a relatively small company, it's a small shop that makes Aerospace fasteners... real boring stuff, we have about 100 employees, no union, and not a single regular worker there (even some management!), have any say whatso ever as to what happens amongst the company. Many of you will make the best of what your doing, but chances are your just a worker with little power :/ I don't mean that in a degrading way, I'm just shooting out my point of view. I'm pretty sure none of you wanted to release the 360 in the state it was in, but Microsoft as a whole did it anyway. Now you guys can "feel that pain" as you get hundreds of thousands of them in montly for repairs :\
Fanboys are why people hate microsoft? Fanboys? Those of us who troll forums all day make up a very, and I mean VERY small population of the people that are "against windows". Sure it's easier to hate the giant and cheer for the underdog, but you can't just get that type of negative aura by an internet community. People whine and bitch about Window's performance day to day, I personally (anicdotal), haven't met a single person who has owned and experienced fully the worlds of all the major operating systems, and has hands down said "My gosh, Windows really is the best!". In fact it's quite the opposite >< Window's is amazing if you don't know that theres anything better. And that seems to be the jist of it :/ Crap, XP won't even read more than 3 gigs of ram >< How the fuch?
I won't bitch about Microsoft copying anything :P I'm all in favor of copying if your going to contribute to the overall innovation, but I just haven't seen that from Microsoft. Alot of that just seems to stem from my general distaste of Microsoft I agree, but I can't really think of anything they're doing to really push the cutting edge on technology, or for the gaming community as a whole. I see them creating some interesting stuff with they're live technology, most of it seems to just be from aspects already present on the PC :x, but I do applaud them for bringing it to consoles, I just wish they wouldn't always try to be so damn profitable with it all >< Avatars is an ok concept, I dig it, but man, seeing my friends appear next to me, just makes me want to play with them online even more, and I have to pay for that... it's just criminal :( I don't think Home looks like the greatest thing since sliced bread, but Sony's put a ton of effort into it, it offers a gateway to a more social gaming experience, it offers a gateway to communicate and interact with friends better, it's a gateway to meet new people on a more personal level, it generates them profit, and it gives developers that freedom of creation in they're virtual lobbies, and it's all free... You can choose to pay for silly needless stuff if you wish, but the meat of the experience is free, and I agree that it should stay that way, I don't pay for aim, I don't pay for skype, I don't pay for steam :/ They need to take the pre-existing technology, and expand on it, not.... make you pay for it >_>;;
And about Microsoft offering the "competitive edge", I call shenanigans :/ When 90% of the market belongs to you, keeping your prices that low only ensures you don't loose marketshare. It's like undercutting an auctionhouse in an MMO. Awesome that you sold your stuff fist and fastest, sucks for the people who needed the money they were asking for :P If microsoft was asking the same price for thye're software as the other companies, options would become available, and that seems like a nono for Microsoft, good for the customer, but not selfless.
And in case you didn't know, you can practically find the entirety of Microsoft office and all of it's programs in freeware across the interwebs, many of them offering a more robust experience as well :x They even understand windows formats :) Open source rocks ^^
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