I will be buying it because I have a large back compat library, and sometimes I just prefer to play in front of a couch.

I assume you mean backwards compatibility for physical games?
The digital library should still be there with backwards compatibility.

This will certainly be my last Xbox console.

The support and buzz just isn't there... I had every Xbox console on release date, have hundreds and hundreds of physical titles on my wall, even paid for Xbox live Gold for over 20 years before they canned it.

Obviously if they can turn it around with a new Halo, Gears, Fable, Elder Scrolls, Perfect Dark etc' I may start thinking differently.

But right now I have literally zero reason to turn on my Series X or Series S, but same goes for the Playstation 5.

I dont own an Xbox Series X, but if Im getting one in the future it will be the original model with a disc drive.

Haven't owned one since the X360 days, like the last gen where they actually felt like competent with their studios and IP management.

I wouldn't purchase a digital only Xbox or a digital only Playstation, I'd be pretty unhappy if Nintendo went digital only and will have to make a choice if and when that day comes.

I'd spend that 500 bucks on an FPGA disc system that plays every disc-based console from 1990-2000. PCECD/TG16CD/SCD/PS1/SS/JagCD/3D0/CDI/DC/PS2 and such.

I'm on PC so I'm already in a all digital future basically, so I couldn't care less what Xbox does for future hardware.

No, not likely.

Five years from now there will be a 120m+ userbase that has bought two generations' worth of PS titles. These people simply aren't going to move and Sony's ecosystem will be just as baked in as Steam at this point.

No backward compatibility is the equivalent of saying that whoever is still sticking to Xbox by that point is also free to migrate elsewhere. It's about the worst market decision you can come up with.