Your argument fails in that Windows 7 was already considered to be a great gaming OS.  

Now, Win10 is planning to be multitudes better than Win7 for gaming.  THe projected cost of Win10 is very low, as M$ is doing exactly what you are asking them to do.  Create a cheaper OS that has lower level access to the hardware.  It will also have compatibility with basically all devices(tablets/smartphones/gaming systems/PCs/laptops/kitchen sink/Car/refrigerator/TV sets/smart watches/you get the point).

I will agree that windows 7 does gaming Good, I am pointing out that , what MS is doing now is not the problem, as a matter of fact I think what they are doing is in fact a good thing, I am not saying otherwise, i am simply pointing out , that the Time of splitting resources from PC and Xbox , Microsoft could have made the move years ago to what Microsoft is doing Now. Making the Xbox as a one single machine platform, I think was in fact the wrong choice. 

My Opinion What Microsoft would have been better off is making Windows Game OS called XboxOS loadable on any hardware with direct to metal Api as Microsoft's evolution since the creation of Xbox.

Why I said it was a mistake was the move , that Microsoft did, which is to late to change what has happened already, but the Adoption of other OS's for gaming has increased more than I think would have been is if Microsoft would not have really ignored making windows OS , over making a Windows Game OS over made to be not just a single hardware platform, but agnostic. We know with Microsoft's recent moves that they could have done this right from the start.

Not saying the Xbox is a bad platform, not at all, I am pointing out other OS's have grown more viable for 3rd part development choice for another OS besides windows Only as the only platform for gaming for not just PC now but in other markets.

mistake? i dunno, probably not.


it's an interesting question though. a special version of windows that removes any unnecessary bloat and gives more direct access to the hardware to maximize performance sounds good on paper though. not sure it would do well at market as most people expect their computers to do more but it's a neat idea/scenario.

So basically like ps now? 

I think M$ as a company could not have pulled off what you were looking for them to do 12 years ago.  It's only in the last 3 years that M$ has adopted a climate of "One Company".  Should they have done something like what you are disucssing back then?  Sure!  But, with knowing everything we know today in our pocket, it's easy to say that.  If you could have known (for sure) that smarphones and tablets would really take over the casual market as fast as it did, you would have made the plan that you discussed.  Android/ios didn't do anything special to nurture that market besides being there.  M$ had mobile OS's, but they were crappy and they were expensive.  Who would have really known that broadband to the home and highspeed internet to phones would really develop so fast.

Well think about, there was the smartphone 12 years ago, there would have been smart phone's but they would not have been based on windows CE and than pocket PC.

As for not being able to Nurture the market besides being there is I would say is not true at all, Android has been open source, that was built to work on many types of CPU's not just mainly x86 socked branded chips. Arm was a chip at the time was being developed to be the very main chips that go into pretty much every type of consumer electronic.

The main point of this is Microsoft concentrated on building the evolution of its OS for PC mainly, but the Evolution of general mass compute platform was smartphone increasing at a much faster rate. What Robbie Bach even touched on this very aspect of Windows was not really geared for these type of computing platforms like Touch imput

Mass general computer development. Which other designed OS's were.

Both Apple and Google and other's were. That's the very point I am bringing Up.

If Microsoft had a Game centric Loadable OS designed for embedded systems like pocket PC was when strong arm processor's were , when they went with creation of pocket PC moved to windows Mobile. I think they would have a much larger expansion footprint than just xbox being tied to a single core system, it kinda locks Xbox for so many years to that single design structure. As i said they are moving to the 1 eco system, but i still say it was a mistake locking xbox into the single platform and not gear xbox as an entertainment OS that works on every hardware as if it was already an xbox.

Android, and the SteamOS already is that way from the get go.

I dont see how steam machines will succeed, i think it will be one of the biggest flops in gaming history. The pc gamers wont see a reason to use steamOS which will limit your pc game library segnificantly, there is no point for them to build a dedicated steam machine which is a waste of money if you allready have a rig.

Hardcore console gamers wont care because like i said the smaller library, and this OS only supporting digital games makes people rather to switch to just the pcs instead of this. I dont see devices not supporting physical media as consoles, by that logic everything that has a controller attached to it is a console.

The casuals wont care because there are like 20 different version out there which will confuse the hell out of them. Steam machines are also more expensive than consoles dueto not being mass produced and not by the same company who runs the eco system.

Well, like XBMC it would have its own Unique UI but it could be the only OS or more than one Dual Boot, all games would still be directX as it it would already be, but it would be made for OEM's . Imagine a OEM single board Arm Board PC like..well

The new Raspberry Pi 2 for instance is now a certified windows 10 device.

This was mainly Microsoft real lower investment into risc embedded computers and making windows for such platform. Now they are, but i think they waited too long and now other companies OS has a head start in the market over Microsoft in a Gaming OS  

That and the OS being "free" really does nothing for me, Linux and it's different distros have been free for years but I've never once thought of using any of them since most games I own don't run on linux, even if they did I'd still see no point since windows 7 has worked fine for me and 10 doesn't look as bad as 8.

Then we've also got these "smart" tv's, hardcore console and PC gamers aren't even remotely going to care about those, those tv's by default run on limited hardware, they won't be able to run the latest demanding games and if they relied on streaming that would be even worse, if you were to add more hardware towards a smart tv or steam machine you may as well be buying/ building yourself a PC/console, the very idea of the steam machine/OS and smart tv's are really only meant for the super niche markets, even my folks don't give two shits about smart tv's, they'd rather not pay extra for those and go for regular 1080p models.

I get what OP is saying though but I see it all as wishful thinking from an android/linux fans point of view (I mean the avatar kinda gives it all away tbh), but the world and everyone in it isn't magically going to go all linux/Android crazy and abandon MS/apple or force MS to go do exactly what linux/android are doing to make everything the same because a few programmers think it;s the best ideal existence, it;s just not viable for all of us, we all want something different, even if Linux/android can offer differences, we'll still want something not android/linux.

Not really a App, it would be more along the lines as if you take out non required gaming function's out of windows and made it for mainly for gaming only, though you could take App's for game app digital downloads it would really be pretty much ahead of Android, iOS and SteamOS no doubt with such a large head start. 2005 pocket Pc Microsoft was working on windows mobile to transition, that would have beat Android OS and iOS on the market.

But imagine if Microsoft did that in the game console market , it would have covered both markets. Which like i said smartphones were coined because of Microsoft's pocket Pc and windows Mobile OS.