danvm

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  • Microsoft's new app store pledge preserves its walled garden on Xbox

    So don’t sell at a loss, and produce enough of them? (Instead of artificial shortages that are obvious ploys to boost desirability.)

    The “robust and viable ecosystem for game developers" argument is such horseshit if you look at where indie developers are actually making money (or rather not making money…) Does anyone buy the idea that MS is soooooo into gaming that it loses billions of $$ on a passion project? (Or that that would be legal, given it’s duty to shareholders.) 

    I’d argue that MS and others like it intentionally create the economic circumstances that make working for AAA studios the only sad “viable” option for most developers. The only people that are benefiting here are investors.  
    If consoles weren't sold at a loss, they would cost 50% more and far fewer people would buy them. You folks don't understand: not very many people buy consoles. About 50 million XBox One consoles were sold over 7 years. That is probably about the number of Google Pixel phones that sold in that timeframe. And no, these shortages aren't artificial. First off, these shortages did not exist with the PS4, XBox One, PS3, XBox 360 etc. These shortages are due to TSMC being the only foundry capable of making an integrated SOC for these devices that don't overheat. This is the same TSMC that also can't fill all of Apple's orders, forcing Apple to prioritize iPhones over iPads, remember?
    AMD's Zen 4 chips were supposed to launch in November 2021. At this rate AMD will consider themselves lucky if they launch in October 2022, and they have even had to shift some orders to Samsung, just as Intel - who will use TSMC's fabs for some orders in 2023 - considered doing and Nvidia did last year for Ampere GPUs.

    The console business model is totally different from the mobile device one. Samsung alone sells more smartphones in 1 year than the entire console industry - Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and the minor players - sells in an entire generation. Yes, the Nintendo Switch sells at a profit. But do you know why? The Nintendo Switch is actually the Nvidia Shield K1 Android tablet from 2015 running the Nintendo 3DS operating system (based on FreeBSD) along with some Android components and Nvidia software. The Nvidia Shield K1 tablet was $200 when it originally launched! 

    I can see you bashing Microsoft - decades of hate I guess - but you realize that by doing this you are also trashing Sony, whose console costs the same, whose shortages are even worse, and who has nothing to do with these app store battles with Epic Games and regulators. The PlayStation is their last big money hardware product left. The iPod and iPhone killed off the Walkman, boom boxes and the other consumer audio products that were massive for them in the 80s and 90s. Streaming - and streaming boxes - killed off their VHS, DVD and Blu-ray line. They so badly botched their attempts to make Android devices that they don't even bother to distribute more than a few units outside Japan (iPhone 70% market share) anymore. Their TV line is being battered by South Korean and Chinese competition. They are also only "one among many" when it comes to selling headphones (where they get crushed by AirPods) and speakers (getting devalued by smart products from Amazon, Sonos, Google and Apple). And they ditched their PC line ages ago because they could no longer compete with HP, Dell, Lenovo and Apple (Toshiba made the same decision). 

    If you have some business plan or strategy where Sony could make $200 per unit on the PS5 and still sell enough to make money selling $70 copies of the Spider-Man game go ahead and share it. My guess is that you don't, and you don't care what happens to Sony or the console market so long as Apple gets to keep doing whatever Apple wants. You are probably ROOTING for the console makers to fail so Apple could take their place. Just as pretty much everyone on this site was rooting for Nintento to fail 5 years ago so Apple could buy them and make Mario, Link, Pokemon etc. exclusives on Apple TV (so that people would actually start buying them), iPads and iPhones.
    You say that the console business is different from the mobile business.

    So.. Why do we have to listen to Microsoft then??? Microsoft clearly tried to launch smartphones with their own Window OS, which failed. Their fault. Not Apple´s fault. 

    Microsoft is giving a lot of BS this time because Microsoft is jealous that AAPL and GOOGL are so successful with their smartphones and smoothly running OS, which Microsoft wished to have. 


    Not only did MS wait too long, missing the boat on mobile, they failed even with Apples example in front of them, just like with Zune. 

    And so they decided to BUY NOKIA. And they KILLED NOKIA. It basically died. So sad. 

    And that’s what they are doing now. They try, they struggle, so they buy. And we know what happens next. 
    If we considered what happened LinkedIn, Mojang and Zenimax, I suppose the acquisition of Activision / Blizzard will be very successful.
    Xbox is their saving Grace. But they pump a ton of money into Xbox. And the 70 BILLION acquisition is a very desperate move. There are a lot of nervous folks at Microsoft over that one. It HAS TO succeed. If not, there will be big trouble. 


    I don't see it as a desperate move.  Instead it's shows a strong commitment to gaming and to expand GamePass library.  I don't see how is that a bad thing.
    Microsoft still has no real mobile platform no matter how much they try. 

    And that’s why you hear the thick, bitter jealousy wafting out from Redmond now. 
    I find impressive how successful MS is without a mobile platform.  I don't see why they should have to be jealous of Apple.  If that's the case, I suppose Apple is jealous of MS business / enterprise business, right?
    Beatsmuthuk_vanalingamcanukstorm
  • Microsoft's new app store pledge preserves its walled garden on Xbox

    So don’t sell at a loss, and produce enough of them? (Instead of artificial shortages that are obvious ploys to boost desirability.)

    The “robust and viable ecosystem for game developers" argument is such horseshit if you look at where indie developers are actually making money (or rather not making money…) Does anyone buy the idea that MS is soooooo into gaming that it loses billions of $$ on a passion project? (Or that that would be legal, given it’s duty to shareholders.) 

    I’d argue that MS and others like it intentionally create the economic circumstances that make working for AAA studios the only sad “viable” option for most developers. The only people that are benefiting here are investors.  
    If consoles weren't sold at a loss, they would cost 50% more and far fewer people would buy them. You folks don't understand: not very many people buy consoles. About 50 million XBox One consoles were sold over 7 years. That is probably about the number of Google Pixel phones that sold in that timeframe. And no, these shortages aren't artificial. First off, these shortages did not exist with the PS4, XBox One, PS3, XBox 360 etc. These shortages are due to TSMC being the only foundry capable of making an integrated SOC for these devices that don't overheat. This is the same TSMC that also can't fill all of Apple's orders, forcing Apple to prioritize iPhones over iPads, remember?
    AMD's Zen 4 chips were supposed to launch in November 2021. At this rate AMD will consider themselves lucky if they launch in October 2022, and they have even had to shift some orders to Samsung, just as Intel - who will use TSMC's fabs for some orders in 2023 - considered doing and Nvidia did last year for Ampere GPUs.

    The console business model is totally different from the mobile device one. Samsung alone sells more smartphones in 1 year than the entire console industry - Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and the minor players - sells in an entire generation. Yes, the Nintendo Switch sells at a profit. But do you know why? The Nintendo Switch is actually the Nvidia Shield K1 Android tablet from 2015 running the Nintendo 3DS operating system (based on FreeBSD) along with some Android components and Nvidia software. The Nvidia Shield K1 tablet was $200 when it originally launched! 

    I can see you bashing Microsoft - decades of hate I guess - but you realize that by doing this you are also trashing Sony, whose console costs the same, whose shortages are even worse, and who has nothing to do with these app store battles with Epic Games and regulators. The PlayStation is their last big money hardware product left. The iPod and iPhone killed off the Walkman, boom boxes and the other consumer audio products that were massive for them in the 80s and 90s. Streaming - and streaming boxes - killed off their VHS, DVD and Blu-ray line. They so badly botched their attempts to make Android devices that they don't even bother to distribute more than a few units outside Japan (iPhone 70% market share) anymore. Their TV line is being battered by South Korean and Chinese competition. They are also only "one among many" when it comes to selling headphones (where they get crushed by AirPods) and speakers (getting devalued by smart products from Amazon, Sonos, Google and Apple). And they ditched their PC line ages ago because they could no longer compete with HP, Dell, Lenovo and Apple (Toshiba made the same decision). 

    If you have some business plan or strategy where Sony could make $200 per unit on the PS5 and still sell enough to make money selling $70 copies of the Spider-Man game go ahead and share it. My guess is that you don't, and you don't care what happens to Sony or the console market so long as Apple gets to keep doing whatever Apple wants. You are probably ROOTING for the console makers to fail so Apple could take their place. Just as pretty much everyone on this site was rooting for Nintento to fail 5 years ago so Apple could buy them and make Mario, Link, Pokemon etc. exclusives on Apple TV (so that people would actually start buying them), iPads and iPhones.
    You say that the console business is different from the mobile business.

    So.. Why do we have to listen to Microsoft then??? Microsoft clearly tried to launch smartphones with their own Window OS, which failed. Their fault. Not Apple´s fault. 

    Microsoft is giving a lot of BS this time because Microsoft is jealous that AAPL and GOOGL are so successful with their smartphones and smoothly running OS, which Microsoft wished to have. 


    If MS is jealous of Apple and Google smartphone business, then I suppose Apple and Google are jealous of MS successful cloud business and their enterprise / business ecosystem, right?
    canukstorm
  • Microsoft says that if Apple isn't stopped now, its antitrust behavior will just get worse...

    genovelle said:
    Beats said:
    Not like MS is a competitor to Apple or anything.

    And MS is right! Let’s also open up all of Microsoft’s stores to 3rd parties! I wanna be able to sell my crappy games on Xbox without giving them money!!

    Microsoft has a monopoly on Windows!! Microsoft, police yourselves!
    Microsoft doesn't put the same controls on Windows that Apple puts on their platforms.

    For one you can install whatever you want on their devices. For another they allow third party payments for when you do use their store.
    Windows is Not a mobile device that stores all your data and can be easily stolen or misplaced. When windows phone existed they had a similar store but it failed miserably and they a jealous now. 
    If MS is jealous of Apple mobile market, I suppose Apple is jealous of MS enterprise market, right?
    They are afraid Apple will finally get serious about enterprise software and compete with Office in a concerted manner. They also see the Mac install base increasing significantly since the pandemic. That means fewer windows licenses. What’s crazy is that if Apple doubled their install base Microsoft would still have 80% of the market, but they are just greedy and want it all. 
    Do you really MS is afraid of Apple enterprise software? Apple has a lot work to do if they want to get close to MS in the enterprise, specially when you consider the ecosystem MS have for enterprises.  

    And yes, Mac installed based grew, but looks like Windows too, considering Windows 10 / 11 are installed in 1.5B devices.  
    CheeseFreeze
  • Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard in $68.7B gaming deal

    Japhey said: Do they not need a console, or should they turn the ATV into one? 
    Correct answer: they don't need a console. Apple is on the right track with Apple Arcade in terms of wanting the games to be playable on the entire range of devices: desktop/laptop, phone/tablet, and TV. That's the model that makes the most sense, and also a model that nobody else was even attempting previously. 
    From what I know, that's the same thing that MS is doing with Xbox Cloud Gaming, having their games in every device.
    patchythepirate
  • Microsoft details macOS vulnerability that allowed protected data access

    rob53 said:
    aatb said:
    rob53 said:
    And we’re congratulating the largest vendor of malware for what reason? 
    Following the notification process correctly and helping MacOS be more secure?  
    Vulnerability had to do with software Microsoft didn’t like so they tried to work around it. When they discovered how to attack it, one employee had the ethics to tell Apple about it. Microsoft doesn’t do anything that isn’t of value to them. They spent decades not patching their software because they felt there wasn’t an alternative. Now they have a good income stream from Mac users so they’re trying to keep it.

    5 posts??
    Did you read the security blog?  Because I didn't see anything about a MS software they didn't like.  And it wasn't one employee that told Apple, but the MSVR,
    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/msrc/msvr?rtc=1
    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/msrc/cvd?rtc=1

    And I agree, Microsoft doesn’t do anything that isn’t of value to them.  Considering many of their customer use macOS, it will benefit to secure and protect them, which at the end helps to improve the security in business and enterprises that use the MS ecosystem.  It also help to improve Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, that has a macOS client.  

    BTW, I have +1200 posts.  Is that good enough?
    ctt_zhmacxpressMplsPdewme