I'll give you that it's possible, but I'm not talking about a 6 year hiatus, I'm talking about delaying by 1 year and continuing to support the past gen xbox with softare despite not being able to sell HW.

Very different picture than the Atari hiatus.

I still think a having no consoles for a long time would have been worse then the RROD.  Also during such a break Microsoft probably would have been thinking about upgading the hardware which would have increased the price of the console at launch.  Maybe they would have added a HD-DVD drive instead of a regular DVD drive since they supported the format when it launched.  That would have been a bigger mistake then the RROD also even with a 360 with a HD-DVD drive the format would have lost to Blu-ray eventually.  Also a hiatus is usually never good just look at all the grief Will Smith got this year for his hiatus even though MIB 3 did relatively good at the box office and his hiatus was voluntary since he wanted to spend more time with his family.

Sad how people came here just to talk crap. They should have said, good job M$ on making a reliable console, much more so than before and moved on. Not talking about Microsoft's "fear of Sony" and whatever crap comes out of their mouths (fingers :P )
Are they so butt hurt that someone made a more reliable console? I just don't get some people.

The Hardware defect rate is a topic that has existed for a long time, so it's not evil of anyone to mention how it was before, especially when OP is about how much better it is now.

Look, I'm not even a Sony fan and I disagree with you. Just if he sees it useful to mention that it was horrible back then, and being down to PS3 levels is nothing to celebrate about in the sense that it should have been working in the first place, I completely agree with the guy.

1) It's not because they're on hiatus that they need to add upgrades. It can, and most usually is at the end of a development cycle a QA phase, and as such they didn't need to add any new parts. On the flipside, they could have stocked up on some parts and reduced the cost to create a unit early on, even released their console at a better price!

2) A hiatus can be good, never say never. I can't think of a case off the top of my head, but Josh Brolin?? Robert Downy Jr.? Just a few that come to mind.

3) As I said, there's hiatus and hiatus. I'm not sure how long Will Smith's lasted tbh, since I'm not a fan.

So for a 1 extra year of Xbox support (so not a full hiatus, just a HW depletion), and the time to create a better console, I don't agree with you in the slightest.

Will Smith hiatus lasted three years.  Robert Downy Jr.'s hiatious was forced because of drug problems.  If you look at Josh Brolin's filmography you can't notice any big hiatus he has been working steadily since the Goonies in 1985 the only year he wasn't in anything was 1993,1998 and 2011 (2011 looks like a personal break since he was pretty busy in 2010) he himself has said many times their where times when he was struggling to find work.  Which is a shame because he is a excellent actor (execpt for Jonah Hex) and the people that didn't hire him lost out.  With a long hiatus MS would have upgraded the hardware no doubt look what they did with the slim they added wifi and a better HDD.  Sony actually removed feature from the PS3 slim despite it being a lot cheaper to manufacture. Stocking up parts for the most part is not a good idea because over time parts usually get cheaper to make.  Plus in electronics parts get better over time due to die shrink.  Only plus for lauching a year later would have been that it would have been more reliable they system would have probably launched with 65nm chips instead of 90nm.  On the negative side the hiatus would have hurt the X-Box brand overall and the system would have been more expensive due to an upgrade in the hardware and added features (most likely would have launched wifi and definetly would have launched with HDMI port).

You're not addressing the more fundamental points though. Point 1 especially.

1) It's not because they are QA'ing the system a year extra that they need to upgrade. What events in the past pre-launch lead you to conclude the contrary? Also, I'm not so sure about my stocking up argument so let's just leave it aside for now.

2) As for my point on hiatuses being possibly good; I can't find an example on hand ATM, but never is a big word, that's all I'm gonna say.

3) You don't consider the fact that MS is still supporting the original xbox in said hypothetical scenario. I'm assuming you're not considering it because you're still calling this a "hiatus", which can bundle any type of hiatus of any type of service with any undetermined length. I gave you a specific scenario yet I don't see you addressing it in its specificity.

In peoples lives hiatus are usally a good thing in business hiatus are pretty much a bad thing already mentioned Atari can't think of another example because usually when a company takes a hiatus it means that they are gone forever.  Your either in business or out of business.  Also businesses launch faulty products all the time just look at the Chevy Cruze it had numerous problem when it launched in the US but really its should have had close to no problems since its basicly a rebranded Holden Cruze/Daewoo Lacetti Premiere  that was available in other markets two years before the US launch.  The should have resolved all the kinks overseas before the US launch.

And that's exactly what S.T.A.G.E. was trying to say. I mean, of course I'm just offering theoretical workarounds which would include the need for more time and push the launch closer to the PS3 release date. A mild HW-only hiatus with full SW support, in exchange for a reliable HW launch, is not that much to ask for. That's why I weigh more in agreement with S.T.A.G.E., it would seem like something else was rushing them to launch the 360.

thats good to hear.