Merely accessories, this won't strenghten their place in the industry.

Aren't they accelerating a lot their plans to take on the living room ?

I mean, that plan was tought in the 90's, and many unpredictable things happened in between (tablets, smartphones, smart TV, cloud)

Restructuring towards their weakpoint (seriously, Surface) could either bury them, either make them a monopoly in both hardware and software.

But they seriously shouldn't risk it

Makes sense for them.
I think the people at Microsoft know very well that they cannot solely rely on their traditional cash cows (Windows and Office) anymore. Windows-based Desktop PCs will slowly but constantly become irrelevant, people are more and more buying and using Linux/UNIX-based devices instead, and in general the computer world is becoming more and more web-based, using open, OS-agnostic standards and services rather than proprietary crap.

Yeah I getthat but some guys were saying MS has never had any success in hardware I am just pointing out that they have had big success in computer hardware. Whether that is important or not anymore doesn't take away the fact that they have had previous success inhardware.

In the future, make sure to put the link where you got your story from in the OP.

OT: I'm interested to see what other products Microsoft comes out with. So far, everything but the early 360's have had excellent build quality.

I think what he means is that this isn't an (edit: "greedy") expansion move but more of a means to make sure not to lose more grounds in the long run and ensure a more long-term opportunity. (i.e. a defensive or safety move)

I could be wrong in how I interpreted him too.

The thing about expansion is that it can be of mainly two types. Aggressive expansion, which is where your market is non-threatened and you're trying to gain more ground, and defensive expansion, where your market is threatened and you're trying to explore other areas of greener long-term pasture. I think that's what he was seeing and if that's what he meant then I kind of agree.

The software market MS is in is threatened at the moment, and giving their software life by use of proprietary OEMs gives MS an apple-like edge on the long run.

then why take the time to even repond to it if everything is about self preservation.  happy understood me,. so at what point did i lose you? 

I'm more than willing to be enlightened Kowen.

Hehe . Okay, but where was my understanding incorrect? Do you disagree that the Windows business is under threat?

It's good that Microsoft knows what it needs to do, and has for a while, it's just having trouble executing on the goals. I get the feeling that the business unit in particular is too focused on serving the same old suits that have been their bread and butter for decades to create exciting products for consumers, like the devices and Windows divisions are trying to do.

I've gotta admit, after two decades of hearing people say that Apple must dismantle their vertical structure and license their software if they ever want to succeed, it tickles me to see Apple's competitors scrambling to verticalize.