Nintendo and Microsoft unveil indie games services
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft, playing to its traditional strengths in software development for
| personal computers, began offering game production tools to amateurs and
| hobbyists about 18 months ago under an initiative dubbed "XNA."
`----
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=nintendo-and-microsoft-un
XBLA's leaders quit the company (see links below) and many others quit the
company rather secretly.
Free labour again. Same with Silverlight and students. They want people to
carry anti-Linux water for them. And they ban free content for the XBox (see
below), so it's all for Microsoft, not the exploited
developers^Hdevelopers^Hdevelopers.
Related:
Microsoft forbids free Xbox content
,----[ Quote
| Tim Sweeney disclosed how Microsoft is barring their efforts to
| offer free content for owners of Gears of War. Guys from Epic
| created six maps (two of which have been released to gamers)
| for this hit-title which earned Microsoft millions of dollars,
| but now Epic cannot release the remaining four maps. Reason is
| very simple: money.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38823
XBLA's Ross Erickson leaves Microsoft, heads over to Sierra Online
,----[ Quote ]
| Of course, this follows XBLA General Manager Greg Canessa's
| departure a couple weeks back. While having two of the most
| senior Xbox Live Arcade execs jump ship in a two week time
| span after a particularly long string of subpar Wednesdays
| -- nothing, Ms. Pac-Man, Lumines add-on, nothing, Root Beer
| Tapper, Paperboy, nothing -- might seem to imply certain
| disaster, Ross insisted that he and Greg's decided to
| leave under entirely different circumstances.
`----
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/20/xblas-ross-erickson-leaves-microsoft-heads-over-to-sierra-onli/
http://tinyurl.com/25s6he
XBLA main man jumps ship
,----[ Quote ]
| In somewhat surprising news, Greg Canessa, the big guy behind
| Xbox Live Arcade, has left the Microsoft compound for PopCap Games.
`----
http://www.destructoid.com/xbla-main-man-jumps-ship-29716.phtml
,----[ Quote ]
| It's weird that Mini and all the commenters here have failed to notice the
| mass exodus from the Xbox team in 2007. By my count, more than 15% of the
| product team (dev/PM/test) have left Microsoft for Apple, Sony, Google,
| Yahoo, MySpace, Amazon, and various other companies (including several
| startups, local and in the Valley).
`----
http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2008/01/raikes-and-other-exits.html
Microsoft's DreamSpark – What a Giveaway
,----[ Quote ]
| The rest of the $44.6bn (£22.3bn) deal would be financed with an undisclosed
| amount of credit.
|
| What that means is that it must squeeze as much money as it can from its
| operations to fund that debt and still pay dividends to shareholders, who
| will be looking for some payback from the Yahoo takeover. Giving away
| software is the last thing it would want to do in these circumstances, and
| the DreamSpark announcement shows just how worried it is about the future.
`----
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/microsofts-dreamspark-%E2%80%93-what-giveaway
Microsoft's stingy DreamSpark program
,----[ Quote ]
| DreamSpark would have been cool...20 years ago. Today it's an admission, as
| Glyn Moody writes, in "the plainest possible terms that its business model
| has failed." Sorry. Maybe you'll catch up next century.
|
| These days, dear Mr. Gates, you must give away the core. No one is interested
| in mere complements anymore. Those are the tools necessary to drive revenue
| around the core being open sourced. Look around. Everyone (Google, Yahoo,
| MySQL, Red Hat, etc.) is doing it.
`----
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9874171-16.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=TheOpenRoad
Microsoft's Last Big Beat: Internet Domination or Death
,----[ Quote ]
| What can $44.6B USD mean? Well, for Microsoft (MSFT) it may mean the cost of
| survival.
`----
http://seekingalpha.com/article/63876-microsoft-s-last-big-beat-internet-domination-or-death?source=yahoo
Microsoft says to borrow money for Yahoo deal
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp said on Monday it may borrow money for the first time in its
| history to fund a portion of its $44.6 billion unsolicited offer for Yahoo
| Inc.
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN0455692920080205
Will Microsoft Survive the Next 10 Years?
,----[ Quote ]
| I am not really an expert in this but when I read all the negative
| headlines and articles I ask myself if Microsoft really will survive
| the next 10 years.
|
| [...]
|
| I am pretty sure that the Open Source Community, the new Ubuntu,
| Google and of course Apple are those companies that are ready for
| our century and they will get more and more people that know what
| they really want.
`----
http://websquirrel.blogspot.com/2007/03/will-microsoft-survive-next-10-years.html
P. Graham: Microsoft is Dead
,----[ Quote ]
| A few days ago I suddenly realized Microsoft was dead. I was talking
| to a young startup founder about how Google was different from Yahoo.
| I said that Yahoo had been warped from the start by their fear of
| Microsoft. That was why they'd positioned themselves as a "media
| company" instead of a technology company. Then I looked at his face
| and realized he didn't understand. It was as if I'd told him how much
| girls liked Barry Manilow in the mid 80s. Barry who?
|
| Microsoft? He didn't say anything, but I could tell he didn't quite
| believe anyone would be frightened of them.
`----
http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html
|
|
