Post #39,266
5/20/02 10:57:26 AM
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Microsoft to invest $1B in XBox gaming network
[link|http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/20/technology/20GAME.html|Microsoft's $1 Billion Bet on Xbox Network]
" On Monday, Microsoft will announce Mr. Allard's next big gamble: an ambitious billion-dollar-plus investment in an online game service to be called Xbox Live.
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The company is betting the service will save its Xbox video-game system, which began shipping last November but still lags far behind the industry-leading Sony PlayStation 2, which has nearly 30 million units in use worldwide, compared with only 3.5 million for the Xbox.
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The risk is that Microsoft is entering a quagmire that will soak up vast amounts of investment and lock the company in a bitter, potentially unwinnable battle with Sony and Nintendo"
Will this be Microsoft's downfall? Can anyone here see Microsoft succeeding with this?
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Post #39,270
5/20/02 11:33:41 AM
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*chuckle*
I believe the PS2 is getting Sony ethernet/broadband support, if it isn't out already (My only 'game console' is an NES, and that's not hooked up)...
And Sony already has Internet-based games (Everquest, for one - imagine how many they could 'hook' with a PS2 based version?) - MS has GOT to compete based on quality in this market.
Imric's Tips for Living- Paranoia Is a Survival Trait
- Pessimists are never disappointed - but sometimes, if they are very lucky, they can be pleasantly surprised...
- Even though everyone is out to get you, it doesn't matter unless you let them win.
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Post #39,279
5/20/02 12:32:43 PM
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August release date
or so says the latest. I've read that about 12 network supporting games will be released with the adapter.
Darrell Spice, Jr.
[link|http://home.houston.rr.com/spiceware/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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Post #39,298
5/20/02 2:20:53 PM
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*chuckle*^2
"MS has GOT to compete based on quality in this market."
Fat chance of that happening!
Brian Bronson
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Post #39,272
5/20/02 11:43:34 AM
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Downfall?
No - but it means their invasion of home entertainment is not going as planned, and that could have a severe impact on future revenue projections. I'm sure they're trying hard to figure more ways to leverage their desktop monopoly into gaming.
What this does mean is there will be even more license enforcement and upgrade pressure on business users. The revenue to support their entertainment hopes has to come from somewhere, and it isn't coming from games. With a saturated business market, entertainment is their path to future growth.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #39,277
5/20/02 12:06:00 PM
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EA's supporting PS2 online, but not XBOX
[link|http://news.globetechnology.com/|Globe Technology] had an article last week, EA to support PS2 on-line launch, not Xbox(story is no longer online) Los Angeles \ufffd No. 1 video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. said its franchise Madden NFL football series will support the launch of on-line play for Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 2 later this year, but will not do so for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox.
The two companies have touted on-line gameplay as the next key frontier for home video gaming because of the ongoing revenue potential as well as a way to turn the game console into an Internet gateway for the TV. Both are expected to heavily promote their services in the coming weeks.
Redwood City, Calif.-based Electronic Arts said Madden NFL 2003 will support the PS2's on-line functions, which will launch in August with the retail availability of a dual dial-up/broadband adapter for $39.99 (U.S.).
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While Sony does not plan to charge for on-line play, leaving that choice to publishers, Microsoft reportedly plans to operate its own gaming network and charge a monthly fee. So, EA could make additional money with PS2 online support, but they cannot on the XBOX because Microsoft will be making that money instead. I found more info in the [link|http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/16/technology/16GAME.html|New York Times](use iwethey * 2) Each hardware maker has been eager to attract video game software publishers in the hopes that hit titles will draw large audiences. But there are strong concerns among some of the major publishers, echoing the concerns of independent software publishers in the personal computer industry.
Several people close to the negotiations said Microsoft had been trying to force software publishers to offer their online games on data-serving computers controlled by Microsoft, a move that could potentially give Microsoft access to information about customers.
"Any developer who accepts an agreement that doesn't respect their relationship with the customer is like a turkey accepting an invitation to Thanksgiving dinner," said Jeff Brown, a spokesman for Electronic Arts. Seems people are aware of Microsoft's exploits in the PC world and are a little leery of them. And when you consider [link|http://www.eastsidejournal.com/sited/story/html/92308|this] The latest is a doozy. Yesterday an irate reader tipped me off to the fact that Microsoft has changed the privacy settings for Hotmail.
What that means for subscribers to Microsoft's Internet service and millions more who use its free Hotmail e-mail service is that the company can share a Hotmail address with its partner Web sites.
In short, if you are already signed up for and use Hotmail, Microsoft has given itself the right to share your e-mail address and other data with outside companies -- even if you explicitly told Microsoft not to do so when you signed up. you really can't blame them; after all, if Microsoft is so willing to do this to their own customers, you can bet your last dollar they'll do it to EA's customers. If I were EA, I would not want to risk upsetting my customers over something I had no control over. Darrell Spice, Jr.
[link|http://home.houston.rr.com/spiceware/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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Post #39,285
5/20/02 1:00:59 PM
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Microsoft is in a jam
Microsoft's real need for ever accelerating revenue growth is running into a whole bunch of problems all a once: - The economy is down and will stay down for a bit, so business holding back on expenditures.
- The desktop market is saturated and there is no longer any market to take away from competitors, so to increase revenue they must increase prices and license enforcement which angers their customers and reduces trust.
- The server market is being strongly defended by Unix and Linux. Microsoft expected to dominate this market by now - instead they are fighting to keep their current share.
- People are no longer upgrading whenever a new version comes out because they know it isn't going to offer anything compelling. Microsoft must force everyone to subscription, which angers their customers and reduces trust.
- Microsoft is trying to "buy in" to a huge market that's well defended, but that drains money they need to show revenue growth.
- Ongoing antitrust action continues to tarnish Microsoft's public image and reduce trust.
- Microsoft is trying every angle they can think of to take other people's profits, further reducing trust.
- To win in new markets Microsoft need the trust of other companies, but nobody trusts Microsoft any more - at all. My Services is a major case in point, and now on-line gaming.
Microsoft is a company looking a very severe crisis in the eye. They've been forced to turn down the screws before they were ready, and now face open rebellion by both customers and "partners" while there are still options avalable to them. [link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #39,342
5/20/02 8:44:30 PM
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I wish that many of your summaries were more widely
disseminated (maybe they are?)
I've sent a few business types to aax.net in the past - they could understand you! while at technical <novice level. So it isn't just I who believes that yours could be a valuable (drop in that bucket) counter to the spin and BS purchased everywhere.
Not that I imagine self smart enough to suggest "what you Ought to do" with your time - and maybe you've deduced that the unravelling, when it comes -- will be characteristically self-inflicted anyway [??] But a lot of the critics with 'columns' lack both your experience in how stuff Really works and often enough - they don't write as well either IMhO.
If your take is correct, I can't think of a better encrypted-key to the dark cavern where a M$ Heart would have been, than - an irreversibly negative consensus that ... they don't know shit about security AND they'd sell their own grandmother's name to a spammer, and bill her for the Service after disabling her XP and scheduling her for an audit: on Mother's day.
How could more people get chance to see some $%@#&^ Rebuttals Out There ??? (A question asked by legions of flacks with something to sell. I know :(
Ashton
Knowledge is power. D'Oh. But as President [link|http://www.filmsite.org/drst.html|Merkin Muffley] shouts to the tippling Soviet ambassador.. after the existence of the Doomsday Device\ufffd has been revealed, What &*$%& use is a Doomsday Device IF NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT IT !?!
Y'know? Gawd I Miss Peter Sellers... and Alec Guinness and .. .. the tooth fairy.
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Post #39,345
5/20/02 8:59:05 PM
8/21/07 6:42:09 AM
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Dead on
Wonderful way of saying "What goes around comes around".
After years of scarfing their neighbors lunches, suddenly MS finds itself not so popular at the dinner table. Community censure is just what they've earned.
The average hunter gatherer works 20 hours a week.
The average farmer works 40 hours a week.
The average programmer works 60 hours a week.
What the hell are we thinking?
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Post #39,362
5/21/02 12:16:05 AM
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I hope you are right
And suspect you are.
If so, it will be interesting when the public as a whole notices the fact that the shift has happened and stops factoring, "But everyone does it" into their thinking.
Cheers,
Ben
"... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything."
--Richard Feynman
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