Why doesn't Microsoft sell Windows for XBox?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-05-21 01:55pm

Can anyone tell me what the Windows logo button on the Xbox 360 remote does then?

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2006-05-21 02:25pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:Can anyone tell me what the Windows logo button on the Xbox 360 remote does then?

Perhaps it's the Ctrl+Alt+Del button...

Instant Sunrise · Post by **Instant Sunrise** » 2006-05-21 02:29pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:Can anyone tell me what the Windows logo button on the Xbox 360 remote does then?

That's used for the Media Center Extender functionality.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-05-21 04:54pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:Can anyone tell me what the Windows logo button on the Xbox 360 remote does then?

It's for streaming stuff between a Windows Media Center PC and the XBox 360.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2006-05-21 04:54pm

I believe you can also use it with the normal Windows Media Centre. And vice versa.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2006-05-26 03:14am

One possible reason I can think of Microsoft not putting Windows on the X-box would be to not piss off their OEM partners like Dell who target the home user markets.

An X-box with a fully functional install of Windows might make some folks less likely to buy a seperate PC. Although, I'm not sure if this is a valid concern it is what comes to mind.

RThurmont · Post by **RThurmont** » 2006-05-26 07:17pm

One possible reason I can think of Microsoft not putting Windows on the X-box would be to not piss off their OEM partners like Dell who target the home user markets.

This is the reason. There are two groups of companies that Microsoft more or less depends on: OEMs like Dell and HP who effectively propagate the Microsoft operating system as a de facto standard, and commercial software companies (which have a "coopetitive" realtionship with Microsoft) who build out the library of Windows-compatible titles, effectively ensuring the dominance of the Windows platform. Microsoft has been a competitor in application software from the beginning and that has never really scarred other developers out of writing for Microsoft operating systems (perhaps foolishly so, considering in the 1990s Microsoft crushed its competitors in many categories such as productivity software). However, if Microsoft began to directly sell Windows-boxes, that probably would disturb the Dells of the world quite a bit.

As far as consumer brand preference is concerned, Microsoft has a strong brand, but so do some of the major OEMs, and the reputations of both groups are equally tarnished. At any rate, the mere possibility of alienating the OEMs is something that I don't think Microsoft is stupid enough to risk at this point in time-it would just mark a huge departure from their business model.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2006-05-27 09:07pm

Darth Wong wrote:You can already play Divx and WMV and Internet streaming video on your big screen with an XBox?

Yes. A modded XBox can play DivX, WMV, run emulators for other consoles and a whole lot of other stuff. It's actually pretty damn cool.

But as others have said, it could potentially piss off the OEM vendors. There would also be a huge anti-trust issue. Microsoft would be providing both Windows and the hardware it runs on, and they'd be selling at a loss. Why buy a Dell PC for $1000 when you can get the XBox 360 for gaming and basic home PC functions for $400?

Praxis wrote:The 360 is an impossibility for a working setup; if you did rewrite WinXP for PPC, it would still have binary incompatability with every Windows app on the market, so you'd get a copy of Windows XP that can't run any programs currently on the market. No games and no apps other than what Microsoft bundles with it.

Unless Microsoft made something similar to Rosetta, Apple's PowerPC emulation layer for their x86 machines. With the emulated programs calling APIs implemented in the native machine language, you get a big boost in performance. Not native speed, but perfectly usable. (Except for games, probably.)

Laird · Post by **Laird** » 2006-05-27 11:09pm

I put Xbox Linux on my Xbox after I picked up a 360.

Archaic` · Post by **Archaic`** » 2006-05-28 09:19am

Windows XP runs on PPC based Mac's with that "Boot Camp" thing installed, doesn't it? Has anyone tried some sort of implimentation of that to get WinXP onto the 360?

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-05-28 09:26am

Archaic` wrote:Windows XP runs on PPC based Mac's with that "Boot Camp" thing installed, doesn't it? Has anyone tried some sort of implimentation of that to get WinXP onto the 360?

WinXP only runs on the Mac's that use Intel CPUs.