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[3rdamention]

A few people here have never worked a Corporate or Government job before I see. My agency has literally bought over 20 of these.

http://www.jtfbus.com/jtf/item.cfm?ID=7991

Just for Skype and Powerpoint presentations.

Then you are missing the part about "Small Business" since there is no way a "Small Business" would spend over $100,000 on that. This article is about small businesses. Large Corporate or Government positions should already have this technology in place.


Or simply use Google Hangouts or Skype!

 

[Rubezh]

So what happened to the whole games thing?

 

[Suikoguy]

It's a good idea in terms of practicality and cost. I think it has the potential to move a decent number of units.


Where it's a liability is with gamers. Many people have already felt like the xbox brand was a Trojan Horse for Microsoft to get into hardware. Couple tvtvtvtvtv with 'But Have YOU SEEN POWERPOINT!?!' and it starts to feel like Microsoft are breaking up with us. Whether that's true or not is irrelevant... it's whether people feel it's true. And I think this thread and the mockery therein is a sign that people feel that way. I know I've felt that way basically since the kinect was released. Microsoft's values and my values don't seem to be lining up anymore... which in itself is fine, I have plenty of other options and they won't miss one customer. But if the pool of people feeling like I do grows
... that's bad news for MS.

Yes, the lack of focus from MS can do sustained damage to the Xbox brand.
My marketing professor (she launched Colgate Total among other products) would be so confused at Microsoft lately.

 

[von zipp]

Make one business related Skype call and you're fine.

Exactly!

 

[Easy_D]

And people were upset when Steam started selling software that isn't games.

 

[fallingdove]

I just don't want my boss to be able to detect that I lack a pulse during their unbearably long meetings.

 

[Suikoguy]

And people were upset when Steam started selling software that isn't games.

Brands can widen, especially if it fits.

On the other hand, you don't see steam selling Business software do you?

 

[DericLee]

A company trying to make money?!?!?

HOW DARE THEY!

 

[KageMaru]

I really don't see anything wrong with this, though I'm sure many here already tried to spin this as a negative.

 

[Suikoguy]

I really don't see anything wrong with this, though I'm sure many here already tried to spin this as a negative.

No spin involved, if you have taken any marketing classes you can easily see how this is an odd, if not bad, decision.

Unless of course MS actually WANTS to expand it's Xbox brand into businesses... which would be a very strange decision.

Most product brands are not marketed at both consumers and businesses.

Sony touted the use of the PS3 by universities as an asset to how powerful the PS3 was (it was fantastic at number crunching). This added to the PS3 brand as a powerful machine. This does not add to the Xbox brand as a gaming machine, let alone a consumer product. It muddies the water on your messaging.

 

[pr0cs]

Seems like a good idea to me.
A lot of smaller companies don't have much of an IT department but still need to inter-communicate.
Having them buy 2 xboxes that are ridiculously easy to set up and use Skype for interoffice communication is something that isn't going to break the bank nor require much technical skill to do.

It could work.

 

[Can Crusher]

Xbox is finally a real MS product.

 

[The Blue Jihad]

Still unclear on one big point:

Unless there is a MASSIVE revamp of SkyDrive, why in the hell would anyone use SkyDrive to share docs in an office/professional setting? SkyDrive in its current form is pretty much a consumer-level service. It has *some* business-oriented potential, sure, but I've found it to be far more suited to strictly non-business use.

SkyDrive Pro is the SkyDrive for business. But that hooks into an existing SharePoint config/environment.

If your business already has a SharePoint environment, why the hell would you putz around with anything else for online collaboration? Or presentations? Or even just sharing a deliverable?

This whole press release doesn't make sense to me. There's either something in the pipeline to truly bridge all of these pieces together or XB1 truly is a device that cannot be marketed in one, clear, definable way.

 

[nightstorm]

Xbox is finally a real MS product.

Wright.Xbox one presents real MS.

 

[makingmusic476]

Or create a Google account that does all this on a myriad of devices.

 

[Arkam]

Videoconferencing for $499 - why not... it's not that people don't already have those things called PCs to do that.

Just a friendly real world heads up almost no one uses a "regular" pc, a webcam and skype for corporate video conferencing. Every company I have worked for always has dedicated video conferencing equipment. All much more than $500.

Not saying XboxOne is any way a replacement for that stuff, but if it were it would be a decent deal. And sadly a nicer camera lol

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Or create a Google account that does all this on a myriad of devices.

What.

 

[tfur]

Not attractive at all.

Not interested in getting behind the Microsoft pay wall with Xbone or with Windows 8, in the corporate environment.

Every year it gets easier to move away from Microsoft products. It will only get better as the mobile space continues to expand beyond the MS operating system market share.

 

[PanicFreak]

Exactly what I was thinking. What about Skype? What about Google Hangouts? Both are free, software based video chat clients that cost NOTHING. I would assume most/all small businesses have a computer. So all you need is a webcam.


If I were a small business, I would think spending $500 on a gaming console (that includes a camera, I know) just to Video Conference, Network, and/or browse the Internet as they are saying, would not be a fiscally responsible decision, no matter how Microsoft spins it. There are much cheaper alternatives (FREE) that use your existing hardware and webcam.

I think your definition of small business is a little different from Microsoft's definition. The SBA says that a "small" construction company can have yearly revenue of $20 million and still be classified as a small business: Source.

I work with tons of large and medium size companies and most have conference rooms dedicated to video conferencing where you can have 5 or more people in one room using the same camera, talking to people on 70 television screens.

Cisco sells state of the art equipment for these purposes and you have to submit a request for proposal for them to sell it to you. I think Microsoft is right in thinking that a small business would have use for a relatively inexpensive device that will allow conference skyping and have uses for HR, Finance, and Management, while facilitating communication to third party service providers.

 

[calder]

As someone who works for a videoconferencing outfit.... I got a chuckle out of this.

It makes no sense for almost any 'proper' VC setup I can think of, but I'm on the public sector side and our needs are well beyond the capabilities of any consumer level web conferencing for the foreseeable future. Maybe for small business who want to Skype it makes sense, but really what kind of market is that? Why would a small business need to Skype but not just have a PC sitting there and the option to go buy a $30 webcam?


We see new VC outfits come up occasionally in the field. Some have a cool little niche for a while, but it seems they inevitably either disappear or just get bought by Cisco or Polycom (who I think have some sort of partnership with MS to try to stop the inevitable Cisco hegemony) if they seem even remotely viable. If nothing else MS/Skype have the wherewithal to play the long game, but there are already serious indications that Cisco is going to be their usual assholey self and try to hinder any videoconference market penetration by MS.

 

[PanicFreak]

As someone who works for a videoconferencing outfit.... I got a chuckle out of this.

It makes no sense for almost any 'proper' VC setup I can think of, but I'm on the public sector side and our needs are well beyond the capabilities of any consumer level web conferencing for the foreseeable future. Maybe for small business who want to Skype it makes sense, but really what kind of market is that? Why would a small business need to Skype but not just have a PC sitting there and the option to go buy a $30 webcam?


We see new VC outfits come up occasionally in the field. Some have a cool little niche for a while, but it seems they inevitably either disappear or just get bought by Cisco or Polycom (who I think have some sort of partnership with MS to try to stop the inevitable Cisco hegemony) if they seem even remotely viable. If nothing else MS/Skype have the wherewithal to play the long game, but there are already serious indications that Cisco is going to be their usual assholey self and try to hinder any videoconference market penetration by MS.

Agreed. Cisco is the dominate force in the market so that's why I think Microsoft is targeting small companies for conference rooms only. Get them on your tech while they are small and hope that they don't switch.

$500 is pretty good for a group conferencing system that requires very little to set up.

 

[SneakyStephan]

Hahahahaha.

 

[FonkyByNature]

Does it require Gold to use Skype ? if yes, that is a major fail for MS.

 

[TheClimaxan]

This could actually be a very smart idea if they do it right. As someone who has worked in a small ad agency and tried to set up video conferences, I've experienced the clusterfuckish nightmare they become. Ms claims that Kinect delivers 1080p skype calling. If this turns out to be true and it works seamlessly, certain kinds of businesses will eat it up.

 

[balohna]

PCs ... and smartphones ... and tablets ... hell, even those Smart TVs have Skype apps now.

But yeah, no, sure ... small businesses are definitely going to buy the shit out of a $499 box with 150 watt power consumption JUST to have Skype. There's no way around it, Microsoft finally found a demographic!

If you're starting from nothing or upgrading from garbage, $499 is actually pretty reasonable. Buying a PC just to stick it in a conference room so you can do video calls is kind of lame. That said, you might want to bring up an excel sheet or powerpoint or something and then you'd be Xboned.

 

[BigDug13]

I couldn't imagine a company trying to get their conference call started, they get to the main XBO screen where they see "recommendations" to get the new Star Trek movie or next Rhianna album or latest copy of Halo. Real professional.

 

[calder]

Does it require Gold to use Skype ? if yes, that is a major fail for MS.

I hadn't even thought of that. Most any professional desktop based VC solution (Jabber from Cisco, whatever Polycom replaced PVX with) will have an ongoing licensing fee associated with it, but it would still be funny to have a company subscribing to Xbox Gold somehow.

And yeah, as balohna mentioned the One would need a way to send powerpoint to be an even remotely viable option, and if you need to plug a laptop into it to share the screen then you're a half step away from just using the laptop to run Skype anyway.


Oh and while not really related to this discussion, this is by far the funniest image in the history of modern videoconferencing. As someone who works in a hospital environment, while I know why this is the way it is it's still funny/tragic to me lol:

The 'joke' being that there is about $20,000 worth of Cisco videoconferencing on that cart and they are literally using the codec as a stand for a laptop running Skype.

 

[Pillville]

Will there be business related achievements or leaderboards?

DLC for Excel?

Can we file a complaint against business gamertags and get them banned and disrupt their business?

 

[Nikodemos]

Just the right thing for Microsoft to spy on small businesses then steal their concepts and patent/market them first (dem resourcez). Also, just the right thing for the US gov't to spy on foreign businesses then provide their ideas to US businesses (for a generous donation).

 

[ari]

Just the right thing for Microsoft to spy on small businesses then steal their concepts and patent/market them first (dem resourcez). Also, just the right thing for the US gov't to spy on foreign businesses then provide their ideas to US businesses (for a generous donation).

Just stop.

 

[xxracerxx]

Just stop.

Well they do give away information.

Microsoft secretly gave the NSA, CIA, FBI access to Skype, Outlook, Skydrive

 

[BlastProcessing]

Well, it is the new watercooler.

 

[StoopKid]

Xbox is finally a real MS product.

lol this.

 

[Katana_Strikes]

Well, it is the new watercooler.

Haha, so that's why she said that XD

It all makes sense all of a sudden... Not by much though

 

[twobear]

This hasn't been rumored at all.

The new definition of rumored is 'something I imagined while I ate lunch', get with the times.