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I was listening to Friends per Second (game industry podcast) the other day and they were discussing the future of Xbox. They addressed some of the common stuff everyone is talking about, like is Microsoft going to stay in the console business, squandered IP’s, shuttering financially successful/critically loved studios (Tango with Hi-Fi Rush), things like that. But as usual they had a more nuanced take that also introduced some things I hadn’t considered.
One of the host’s said (more or less) “it seems like we’re no longer seeing a distinct brand and mentality with Xbox, and instead are seeing the transition to ‘Microsoft gaming.’”Just calling if that made a lot of things click into place, and it makes a lot of sense watching that occur while also seeing what they are doing with windows 11 and AI integration/ad saturation.
It’s not as simple as “Microsoft wants everything to be a subscription.“ They want a lot of pulls at the fountain. They want to put ads in front of you, they want to image your computers and scrape every bit of data that isn’t bolted down, they want to trap you in their ecosystem, they want it all. Take any single or two-pronged strategy by any similar company and just dump it into the pile: Microsoft wants all the revenue streams of all kinds at all times. And even if someone doesn’t fully recognize exactly what’s happening, I think a lot of us are getting the sense that they are just getting greedy in a very real sense and that it’s accelerating.
I don’t know if there will be any consequences, I don’t expect some massive exodus from Microsoft/windows any time soon, but it does make me happy to see articles condemning their moves almost every day and a lot of chatter in my own communities about people wanting to find ways to reject these changes, even if their pushing back is small and isolated. Even my parents are asking me about ways to better protect their privacy and deal with these changes, and they are not the most tech savvy in the world (good enough to get in trouble lol).
It’s interesting to say the least.
but it does make me happy to see articles condemning their moves almost every day
Did you read this article? It's a pro-Microsoft article published on MSN (Microsoft Network).
Ya got me. I didn’t read it actually. I was just musing because the title made me start thinking about it.
There are moments I'm grateful for ADHD. Basically their changes since Vista till now are what forced me out to Linux. I wasn't even trying much, but using Windows was simply a torture and too inefficient.
It’s an interesting take, but maybe they have to. While Windows PCs dominate for consumers, os there really any point to them for most people? Does Microsoft fear the market they dominate disappearing?
So many people here talk about keeping Windows only for gaming. My laptop is Windows for one game, plus tax prep, and most of my electronics time is smartphone or tablet. Even productivity software is mostly as a service now: from school Chromebooks, my kids have grown up with free online office apps, etc. no need for Windows. For hobbyists, most of us use Linux, so very few Windows home servers.
I do wonder whether the Windows PC market is sort of like cable TV. Everyone pays for it out of habit, but most use cases have better/cheaper alternatives. Could we be on the verge of a collapse of that category?
LLMs performance are getting closer to plateau due to lack of data easily available. OpenAi is going around trying to license some data, but it won't be enough.
The company with more touch points with users is better positioned to transform these into Data Probes. Msft has windows, Apple has iOS and Google... Well Google is fucked because the other two have OS level access and can restrict what Google collects.
Now that LLM Foundation models are out, the game will be "who can get the most data" to retrain, optimise and ultimately monetise these models. And there's another whole "can of worms" with the legality of training models with unlicensed data collected trough "system snapshots". I.e.: Collecting NY Times data through windows snapshots of users that visit the site.
I mean I’m cool with that. I get a lot of use out of it as is.
Many won't. Btw, Adobe just joined the party: https://apple.news/Azi4JUBMZQg-MVqYTrv-5jw
Wow no warning. Lucky for me I just switched my department over to resolve in the last 2 mo 😬 guess it’s better to be lucky than smart sometimes
I assume they aren't doing any of this in the corporate environment? Because there would be real world consequences for that.
If they aren't doing any of this advertising and collecting in the corporate realm, then I just don't see it making a lot of sense in the private realm. So many people don't use personal computers. People are burned out already from 8hrs at work, they usually use a phone or tablet at home. Very few things require sitting down with a computer now.
Because so much usage is through mobile now, it seems a dangerous play for the payoff. Every time someone switches to Linux, it makes it easier for the next person. I see a very unlikely, but still possible risk that some minor companies might just switch to some sort of Linux alternative. Especially if they are worried about employees taking sensitive data home and it getting snagged by Microsoft.
It’s more of a “vibe” and philosophy than an actual rebranding.
My company may not be representative, but network, services, products are all Linux, and engineering laptops are Mac. Only management and HR use Windows