Even more:
http://tech.icrontic.com/news/microsoft-working-to-unite-parts-of-xbox-windows-and-winmo/
A reputable source has informed Icrontic this week that Microsoft has begun efforts to unify the company’s Xbox, Windows and Windows Mobile software platforms.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a source close to Microsoft inferred that the company has already been working to resolve some of the internal agility issues highlighted last week by ex-Microsoft Vice President Dick Brass. A defining feature of those efforts, our source tell us, is the company’s work to make the underpinnings of the firm’s PC, Xbox and smartphone operating systems broadly compatible with one another. Though the eventual extent of the unification is unknown, our source said that the development of a common API is already in motion.
“I’ve seen/heard lots of developer outcry from friends… who want a more unified API for programming on Windows/WinMo/XBox, I know I do,” our source said via email. “Take XNA games and XBox. That’s a single unified manner in which to write games for Windows & XBox so I would say its not entirely impossible that it could be extended beyond entertaining ourselves.”
An API, or application programming interface, facilitates application development by providing software developers with a common, easy and meaningful way of interacting with the useful functions of a service. For example, the Google Maps API easily enables third-party developers to implement maps and related data, and defines what can be done with that data once it has been pulled into the application.
An API also defines how applications are to interact with and call upon elements of the host environment. For example, the Microsoft Windows DirectX API provides a relatively easy and standardized way to render graphics.
Unifying the API(s) for Xbox, Windows and Windows Mobile greatly simplifies the road to developing applications that work on all three operating systems. A unified API also empowers Microsoft with the ability to more easily develop convergence applications that permit all the many classes of devices represented by the trio of operating systems to interact in a meaningful manner.
When asked if the API unification was the first step in a broader initiative to unite the the three operating systems, our source said that there were architectural hurdles to consider.
“[T]hat’d be really really complicated… lots of issues to contend with there technologically and politically. Drivers, ISA layouts, the really really low level guts of the kernel and so on may or may not translate well to [smartphones] or PowerPC (assuming XBox continues on a PowerPC trend).”
We cannot ultimately know what Microsoft intends at such a formative stage, but the possibilities are certainly tantalizing. A console with an app store? Xbox LIVE services on a phone? Windows Mobile games? An ARM port of Windows? Whatever Microsoft has in store for its product ecosystem, we think more than a few fans and developers just got a little hot under the collar.
Bonus round: Our source also commented that he wouldn’t be surprised if Steven Sinofsky, the president of the Windows division and the man in charge of windows 7, became the next CEO of Microsoft. The implication was that Ballmer was largely out of touch with the public, whereas Sinofsky’s critically-acclaimed Windows 7 shows great understanding for the public’s wants.
