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I don't know if I should be happy or scared about what he said there... I swear, there must a small detail in those plans that will be the next big shitstorm on the internet.

 

[Zedox]

Steam and Xbox Live have a lot of things in common, but there are more differences than you mentioned here. Xbox Live is a closed ecosystem. This means Microsoft determines almost everything: if you're allowed to bring your game to Xbox Live or not, when it's gonna be released, what servers you should use, if it can be part of a sales action etc... Microsoft also has a shitload of rules and limitations you need to follow if you want to bring your game to Xbox. The parity clause and forbidding cross-platform play with other ecosystems are the best known, but there are many, many more. Several devs mentioned that it's about 1000 times easier to bring a game to Steam than to Xbox.

Also for gamers, an open ecosystem like Steam has lots of benefits: games are (much) cheaper, are lowered in price faster and there's nothing like Steam Sales on Xbox or any other console. Games can also be patched faster and more often, and of course there's Steam Workshop with unlimited support for mods and community content.

While it's very true that Steam needs competition, Microsoft needs another bunch of U-turns to make that actually happen. And we both know that's not gonna happen. First of all Microsoft still likes to force people to their ecosystem by moneyhatting (the TR exclusivity deal for example). And as I already said, they are not gonna make Xbox Live much more attractive on pc than on their own console.

I agree with what you said and MS needs to make U-turns in certain directions...but a lot of what you are talking about is from the Xbox console side of things and not the PC space of things, in which (from //build/) seems more Steam like so it seems it is heading into that direction, but I don't think it will be fully like Steam.

 

[VincentMatts]

Yeah i like him a lot. Just the fact that he put Phil in charge of xbox tells me that this guy knows what hes doing. I like how xbox has been evolving, i like how win10 is looking too. This guy seems to know what hes doing.

 

[Durante]

Steam and Xbox Live have a lot of things in common, but there are more differences than you mentioned here. Xbox Live is a closed ecosystem. This means Microsoft determines almost everything: if you're allowed to bring your game to Xbox Live or not, when it's gonna be released, what servers you should use, if it can be part of a sales action etc... Microsoft also has a shitload of rules and limitations you need to follow if you want to bring your game to Xbox. The parity clause and forbidding cross-platform play with other ecosystems are the best known, but there are many, many more. Several devs mentioned that it's about 1000 times easier to bring a game to Steam than to Xbox.

Also for gamers, an open ecosystem like Steam has lots of benefits: games are (much) cheaper, are lowered in price faster and there's nothing like Steam Sales on Xbox or any other console. Games can also be patched faster and more often, and of course there's Steam Workshop with unlimited support for mods and community content.

While it's very true that Steam needs competition, Microsoft needs another bunch of U-turns to make that actually happen. And we both know that's not gonna happen. First of all Microsoft still likes to force people to their ecosystem by moneyhatting (the TR exclusivity deal for example). And as I already said, they are not gonna make Xbox Live much more attractive on pc than on their own console.

All of this is true, but you are missing the single most essential difference between Steam and every other relevant DD platform:
Developers can generate Steam keys without paying a fee and distribute them however they want.

I feel like this is not nearly talked about enough, but it is on par in importance with e.g. Steam being free for customers, with all features (which is also incredibly important of course, but does get brought up in most discussions).

 

[Azih]

I honestly don't think Windows Phone is going anywhere at least for the next few years. Windows Phone is doing really well in developing nations and Nadella's mantra is 'mobile-first cloud-first'. Dude repeats that every chance he gets.

The main issue with windows phone is that MS doesn't give the platform a chance to stick and gain any traction. Windows Phone 7 is really great but oh wait stop everything you gotta get Windows Phone 8 instead which is really the bes... oh wait Windows Phone 8.1 changes it all up and we're really pushing Nokia Lumias as... Ah damn hold on about a year and a half while we buy Nokia's handsets division and put everything on pause while we absorb the division and change the branding and marketing.. ok now Microsoft Lumia is how we're... Dammit forget 8.1 now it's going to be Windows 10 Mobile!

IF Windows 10 Mobile actually sticks around for a while (which it should) then maybe it'll actually be able to do something and I think MS recognizes that they've jerked the platform around too much to make it even possible for it to succeed so far.

And MS is a way stronger hardware company now. Just take a look at the keyboards and mice and controllers they're pushing out. Why not use that hardware and OS and cloud expertise to keep trying to crack the most ubiquitous computing devices of modern times, phones.

 

[Ge0force]

I should probably have been more specific, once they have their cross-platform structure put in place theyll likely stop releasing games on Steam and only on their store. I dont seem them pulling anything from Steam but same as EA with Origin they dont want a cut of their profits going to Valve. Also like i said Gears and Killer Instinct are coming to the Win10 store and I could be wrong but ive heard nothing about them coming to Steam.

Edit: Also this makes sense with them giving Win10 free to Windows users, they want them on their new ecosystem where their store is going to be.

I'm afraid that's exactly what they want. And I'm not convinced that's a good this for pc-gaming, I explained my reason for that in my previous post in this topic.

But Spencer also said they don't wanna compete with other gaming ecosystems on pc, but rather embrace them. He said it was up to Valve if they allow games using Xbox Live on Steam or not. So there's a sparkle of hope...

All of this is true, but you are missing the single most essential difference between Steam and every other relevant DD platform:
Developers can generate Steam keys without paying a fee and distribute them however they want.

I wasn't even aware of that tbh.

 

[justsomeguy]

Me too, and Surface.

Although I love the SP3, and still think it's one of the best "laptops," I feel like it may be on the chopping block - it's not core to the new mission; that said, neither is XBOX...

It'll be interesting to watch the analyst / streets reaction to this in the coming days.

Devices just got moved into the Windows org, I would say they are getting closer aligned. Surface Pro and the like are vital to the success of Windows IMO - imagine if MS hadn't launched it and we were just left with all those "me too" unimaginative tablets/hybrids from the traditional vendors?

Been using a Surface Pro 2 the last few days, and am utterly sold on it. Hoping we see SP4 soon as I'll be all over that bad boy.

 

[ReBurn]

It doesn't make sense to me that they would drop gaming-focused devices from their Windows device ecosystem. Not everyone wants to sit in front of their PC to play Madden or have their PC in the living room. I think that this should make building the next Xbox easier.

If they unify the PC and Xbox ecosystem under Windows 10 then the next Xbox is a mid-range APU-based device that is geared to controller-based input and lives in the living room. It reduces R&D investment because the architecture has already been designed. They just choose the specifications and push out a new box every five years or so.

Having the gaming platform unified and sticking to x86 and compatible gfx standards means that backward compatibility with old games is easier to achieve, maybe automatic, sweetening the pot for people who want to keep their games when they upgrade.

I'm optimistic.

 

[McHuj]

If they unify the PC and Xbox ecosystem under Windows 10 then the next Xbox is a mid-range APU-based device that is geared to controller-based input and lives in the living room. It reduces R&D investment because the architecture has already been designed. They just choose the specifications and push out a new box every five years or so.

I'm optimistic.

I agree with this.

I don't think MS will have an open spec like Steambox. I think they will still want to build their own device, but it will be just be more off the shelf than the Xbone. Think a MS version of the Alienware Alpha.

 

[CoG]

"Today, I want to share more on the overall context and connective tissue between our mission, worldview, strategy and culture."

"We fundamentally believe that we need a culture founded in a growth mindset. It starts with a belief that everyone can grow and develop; that potential is nurtured, not predetermined; and that anyone can change their mindset."

"This in turn enables us to attract applications to our cloud platform and attach our differentiated capabilities such as identity management, rich data management, machine learning and advanced analytics."

Who writes this shit? Whether it's a mission statement email or their E3 presentationsm Microsoft employees always come off like they are reading of a teleprompted Word document written by a committee of authors.

I've also noticed that most of the ex-Microsoft guys I work with today who have 10+ years under the belt use the same irritating writing style where they use hundreds of fluffy, buzzy words to say what can be said concisely in one sentence.

 

[TechOne]

Windows10 - the all-in-one-entertainment-OS

The next watercooler?

 

[Deleted member 471617]

Haha, this is funny. Windows 10 is coming out this summer and I just bought a Windows XP disc for my Toshiba laptop. Real question will be - is Windows 10 better than XP? I seriously doubt that it will be. And a side question - what the hell happened to "9"? To go from 8.1 to 10 and skip 9 is just weird to me.

 

[Lazaro]

With Windows 8 XBL games I can share them with my relatives and we can play games with each other without me logging out and them having to purchase a copy. That's one advantage I like over Steam.

You can share up to 81 other PCs.

I'm pretty sure once Windows 10 comes out they'll drop it down to like 10 or 6 PCs.

 

[Crayon]

Haha, this is funny. Windows 10 is coming out this summer and I just bought a Windows XP disc for my Toshiba laptop. Real question will be - is Windows 10 better than XP? I seriously doubt that it will be. And a side question - what the hell happened to "9"? To go from 8.1 to 10 and skip 9 is just weird to me.

Jesus, dude. eight plus one is nine.

I only stopped using xp last year. I switched to open source stuff. Now I can make my computer as backwards and old fashioned as I like. Miss those viruses, tho.

 

[skasaha]

Haha, this is funny. Windows 10 is coming out this summer and I just bought a Windows XP disc for my Toshiba laptop. Real question will be - is Windows 10 better than XP? I seriously doubt that it will be. And a side question - what the hell happened to "9"? To go from 8.1 to 10 and skip 9 is just weird to me.

Um you're not serious right? XP is EOL...and 10 (or 8.1) works really well even on old computers. Considering 10 is coming out in a month or so I suppose the effort to upgrade to 7 or 8.1 might not be worth it, but please don't remain on Windows XP