@JL & Others:
The personal computer market is failing its users. There are millions of people who quite frankly don't know what the hell they are doing and for them their computing experience is like dealing with an insolent and aggressive guard dog, always one part scary and confusing alongside anything else they wish to do. The computing experience for the majority of users is designed around the "Sit down, shut up, and do your work" mentality of the corporate user from which the personal computer was spawned. Its a closed off, stationary and sitting experience which doesn't fully meet the desires and expectations of the millions of people being drawn into the world of computing by necessity or requirement.
The next Xbox console is an opportunity for Microsoft. A majority of the market wants a simple Terrier whereas instead they get a German Sherpherd which is far beyond their most basic needs. Internet, communication and media are the key features of the rapidly expanding computing market. They have an opportunity to unencumber their consumers and free computing from a closed off mentality to be shared and accessible to many more people. Computing has to become something that anyone can do, and it must be able to be accomplished at a distance rather than requiring people to give their computer their undivided attention.
The computer itself occupies a central position in the lives of many people and yet it is cast off to the periphery of the house. The central position of the house is where people gather, and that is the living room and kitchen in most houses. This is where the new interface developments of consoles are important. If you take a Wii mote or a gesture/speech driven interface, finally people can interface with computer systems from a distance without being required to sit down and perch a keyboard awkwardly on their lap. A console phillosophy of simplicity and the consoles place in the living room are both perfect for a new way of computing.
In the end, if people want simple and reliable they don't have any options currently in computing. They have no organic or simple user interface and perhaps the time has come for the keyboard/mouse combo to be kicked to the curb. Not completely, just as the be-all solution for computing. The times they are a-changing, and its already happening. Mobile computers are outselling the stationary desktop kind and people are already bringing the computer into the central core of their homes. The console becomes instead a server in this new way of computing, sharing computing power and acting like a hub for a 21st century style computing experience. The sun is shining but not all the curtains are open, and this is the opportunity and threat Microsoft joined the console market for. Can they open the curtains?
Tease.
