Thoughts about microsoft's current direction and intent

[BlakSpectre]

Hi, I rarely post here but I had a thing I have been thinking about and wanted to probe other people on it.

Microsoft is famous for its past Embrace, extend, and extinguish policies.

 

Microsoft has been behaving too damn consumer friendly for the past half a decade, I am a software dev, I don't use windows outside of gaming and media consumption but on my mac and linux machines I still use VSCode for some stuff, even on my windows machine I can use linux subsystem if I want. Powertoys etc are back.

Their cloud offerings are fantastic, their game pass is ground breaking, they have acquired Bethesda.

 

What I want people's thoughts on:

1. Are they just playing the long con and are going to extinguish competition?

2. Are they just just being consumer friendly because they realize this is the only way forward towards better future for the company. Goodwill and word of mouth matters in the long run.

3. OP is stupid and there is something else they are aiming for or OP is just overthinking things.

 

Any thoughts (in civil language lol) are appreciated.

[heimdali]

Good questions, I've been wondering about this, too:  How do they make money nowadays?  It seems they have withdrawn themselves from the server market; perhaps there is enough money to be made from consumers and from the data they steal from the users.  But when has a company ever said "we're making enough money"?

 

[BlakSpectre]

1 minute ago, heimdali said:

Good questions, I've been wondering about this, too:  How do they make money nowadays?  It seems they have withdrawn themselves from the server market; perhaps there is enough money to be made from consumers and from the data they steal from the users.  But when has a company ever said "we're making enough money"?

 

No server (cloud/Azure) market is like one of their fastest growing markets. iirc they made USD 50 Billion from it this year (or were projected to make that). Right now they are not doing much shady stuff... I am just wondering if this is a temporary thing and they just want to establish deep enough roots to mass exploit later.

[heimdali]

I'm referring to their Windows Server software.  There isn't even a decent way to use RDP anymore.

 

[Shreyas1]

At least for gamepass and bringing games to pc my theory is that they know they'll make a lot more money just selling the games than the consoles and the games (consoles are sold at a loss iirc). Also, I think MS thinks that subscription services will gain more money in the long run (but this conflicts with them removing office from being a subscription so idk)

 

 

[metroidfan220]

I can't speak to their entire business profile, but I remember hearing that for a long time software strategy was to prioritize sales of Office. It didn't matter if you were running Windows or Mac OS, because at the end of the day, you bought the office suite from them. With all the "Xbox exclusives" also coming to PC, I think they don't care what machine you buy, as long as you buy their games, or game pass from them.

[IAMABOSS]

I really think Microsoft wants to be the Netflix of games, so they are spending what ever it takes to make it happen. Buying Bethesda is just the beginning, I think it may only get more intense from here over the next few years. There are also some big players looking at the game industry, especially game streaming, MSF, Google, Amazon, and its only going to get more crowded. I think Microsoft wants to lock up game streaming and subscription service with exclusive games, so no other competitors can jump in and do what they are able to. Heck in 10 years you could totally see Xbox game pass come out for other platforms, maybe even on a PlayStation, just like how Netflix is on everything, I think MSF could try to get game pass on everything. I have no idea if it could happen tho, I think its a genus move from a business perspective, gaming is going from "nerds" to super mainstream in a very short period of time. I think it may even overtake other forms of entertainment soon and be the one of the biggest industries as more young people exist that care less about traditional entertainment and more about games. What does Netflix have, 180 million subscribers, so napkin math time (180M X 8$) that is over 1.4 BILLION in revenue per month, every month. That is like a marvel movie every month that hits 1 billion dollars, crazy money, and would pay for Bethesda in what, a half year? This is the market MSF is after, and everything else can go to heck. I think that this much money in the right hands could fund development for games beyond anything we have ever seen before, or create another giant monopoly.

TLDR: Microsoft wants to be the Netflix of games, I think it could work, but could also be dangerous to freedom of gaming, but it makes great business sense.  

[Fatih19]

Well, if you want to build a monopoly, there are some ways to do it. Buy up your competitor, collude with the government to force your competition out the marketplace, or give the consumers and offer they can't refuse. They're simply going the third route.

[straight_stewie]

1 hour ago, BlakSpectre said:

No server (cloud/Azure) market is like one of their fastest growing markets. iirc they made USD 50 Billion from it this year (or were projected to make that).

Without going too in-depth here, All of these companies really started developing their cloud infrastructure in response to a DoD program (remember recently when Microsoft kept trying to sue Amazon because Amazon won the contract?).

The same year this program was publicly announced, the text of a bill called the "Cyber Security Information Sharing Act" was passed as part of the 2015 Omnibus Spending Bill. Among other things, this bill waives alot of a businesses data protection liabilities provided that it shares "cybersecurity threat information" with the office of the Director of National Intelligence. Basically, as long as a business shares it's "cybersecurity threat information" with the government, they cannot be held liable for data breaches.

And just like that, everyone had this big cloud infrastructure, and this great way to never be held truly liable for faulty data protection policies. Suddenly, the way to make money was to be nice to people: Convince them that you are friendly and trustworthy, and that they can trust that you will protect all of their cloud backed data. It didn't hurt that having an open mind when it came to the definition of "privacy" bought you friends in high places.

Of course, the key to all of this is to convince people that you are nice and friendly, and that you can be trusted. For Microsoft to do that requires them to get away from the common perception that they are big bad evil Micro$oft.

[thrasher_565]

so my thoughts are that there are going to be mega company and its a race to be the top dog. they will offer just about everything, movies, music, games, books, guides, news, grocery all under one roof. sounds good at first but it will be just like the cell, tv and internet serves were you got 1 or 2 chooses and that's it. turf nut.

 

want to look up a recipe? too bad you have to buy a subscription for that. want to look up a honest review of a product nop all will be paid advertised. and you will be ads to death too boot. but that's imo  

 

so in short Microsoft is going to be buying w/e they can get a hold of.

 

remember when netflixs was $7.99 and now $15 and with alot less moves on it. well it be like that at first you get alot for cheap but the price will just keep climbing.

Edited October 4, 2020 by thrasher_565

[Morrie Sells Wigs]

They aren't offering game pass, as an example, out of the goodness of their heart.

Microsoft, I'm sure, probably think they can eliminate a lot of their competition in the long term - and having deep pockets, they are willing to lose money in the short term to achieve that.

 

However, game pass is far from the finished article, and is not quite as strong as some make out.

I myself have game pass for pc, and don't get me wrong, for the price it's a great short term deal.

 

But, there is a relatively small number of truly amazing games that people will actually pay to subscribe for the privilege of playing. 

Therefore, I would suggest that unless, or until, they increase the amount of quality AAA titles, to the point they can rival someone like Steam for quantity (I know, big ask) it is not something I see people keeping once they've played those 15-20 big names titles and are left with Gameloft mobile games and candy crush clones.

 

I want to play stuff like Control, or Marvel Avengers, or replay ps4 titles like Read Dead 2, Horizon Zero Dawn, Death Stranding, and none of them are on game pass and look likely to be anytime soon...if ever.

 

So, it needs to do more to really cement it's place as the only game in town (if you pardon the pun).

 

Anyway, that's just my opinion. 

[Mark Kaine]

well, I don't agree with your overall perception, they're just hiding it better now, they've never stopped EEE as their main motivator ...

 

Good example is the recent buyout of Bethesda, you think it's a "good thing", I think they bought them to kill them off or at least put them into irrelevancy, like they did for example with Rare...  (so ironically, I do agree it's a "good thing", but only because I strongly dislike bethesda and not because of any productive values...)

 

 

"Microsoft wants to be the Netflix of games"

 

Another example of what people think that I'm not seeing at all with the meager game output...  you just need to compare to stuff that Sony or Nintendo outputs ... it's not even close ...

 

 

[Morrie Sells Wigs]

8 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

well, I don't agree with your overall perception, they're just hiding it better now, they've never stopped EEE as their main motivator ...

 

Good example is the recent buyout of Bethesda, you think it's a "good thing", I think they bought them to kill them off or at least put them into irrelevancy, like they did for example with Rare...  (so ironically, I do agree it's a "good thing", but only because I strongly dislike bethesda and not because of any productive values...)

 

 

"Microsoft wants to be the Netflix of games"

 

Another example, I'm not seeing that at all with the meager game output...  you just need to compare to stuff that Sony or Nintendo outputs ... it's not even close ...

Definitely. 

 

To be the "Netflix of games" they need to have a lot more games...like A LOT MORE.

[Donut417]

To me over the last decade or so they have been trying to pull away from just Windows and MS Office. They are trying to diversify what they do so they can stay relevant. Thats why they started to change. I remember when Microsoft didn't really care about PC gaming. I mean originally the Xbox was suppose to kill off PC gaming, but PC gamers would not go down. So Microsoft started to embrace both Xbox and PC gaming as they knew they could potentially be successful on both platforms. 

 

As far as the linux sub system goes, Linux is used heavily in the server world. My guess is they wanted to maybe add some compatibility and quite possibly some of the features that Linux has as well. As far as the cloud is concerned, well they needed to compete with Google and others. The fact that they can integrate it in to the OS like Apple did makes things a bit nicer. 

 

In the end they are just trying to figure out how to make more money. Thats why MS Office is now a subscription. Why Windows 10 collects all that info. Thats why they provide games that will work on both PC and Xbox. And why they decided to make game pass, as you can subscribe like Netflix. The new age Microsoft is going to be about what "Services" they can offer. As thats the way to make money. 

[Pixel5]

11 hours ago, heimdali said:

  How do they make money nowadays? 

 

licenses are their main money source.

the company i work for has an extra person that does nothing else but keeping track which licenses we have and how many we actually need to check when it makes sense to switch to enterprise licenses.

We alone pay millions a year to Microsoft for windows, office and some azure cloud ressources.

[Lurick]

4 minutes ago, Pixel5 said:

licenses are their main money source.

the company i work for has an extra person that does nothing else but keeping track which licenses we have and how many we actually need to check when it makes sense to switch to enterprise licenses.

We alone pay millions a year to Microsoft for windows, office and some azure cloud ressources.

They are a cloud company first. Licenses make up some of their revenue but nowhere near what Azure and other cloud products do.

[BlakSpectre]

4 hours ago, Maury Sells Wigs said:

They aren't offering game pass, as an example, out of the goodness of their heart.

Microsoft, I'm sure, probably think they can eliminate a lot of their competition in the long term - and having deep pockets, they are willing to lose money in the short term to achieve that.

 

However, game pass is far from the finished article, and is not quite as strong as some make out.

I have myself game pass for pc, and don't get me wrong, for the price it's a great short term deal.

 

But, there is a relatively small number of truly amazing games that people will actually pay to subscribe for the privilege of playing. 

Therefore, I would suggest that unless, or until, they increase the amount of quality AAA titles, to the point they can rival someone like Steam for quantity (I know, big ask) it is not something I see people keeping once they've played those 15-20 big names titles and are left with Gameloft mobile games and candy crush clones.

 

I want to play stuff like Control, or Marvel Avengers, or replay ps4 titles like Read Dead 2, Horizon Zero Dawn, Death Stranding, and none of them are on game pass and look likely to be anytime soon...if ever.

 

So, it needs to do more to really cement it's place as the only game in town (if you pardon the pun).

 

Anyway, that's just my opinion. 

Yeah, long term eliminating of the competition is my concern, that is what they used to do with EEE, enter a competitive field, destroy the competition and become the defacto.

When they were on the verge of making themselves irrelevant, they turned themselves into a genuine good force for the industry, with multiple efforts. 

 

I am just wondering if this "genuine goodness" is just a long con to take over the industry without caring for the damage they do or are they just trying to stay competitive.

From the looks of it, they are trying to be actual good citizens of the internet and are trying to do good by Developers, gamers, and general office users (and of course the server market.

PS: No I do not forgive your pun, see yourself out now. ;).

3 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

well, I don't agree with your overall perception, they're just hiding it better now, they've never stopped EEE as their main motivator ...

 

Good example is the recent buyout of Bethesda, you think it's a "good thing", I think they bought them to kill them off or at least put them into irrelevancy, like they did for example with Rare...  (so ironically, I do agree it's a "good thing", but only because I strongly dislike bethesda and not because of any productive values...)

 

 

"Microsoft wants to be the Netflix of games"

 

Another example of what people think that I'm not seeing at all with the meager game output...  you just need to compare to stuff that Sony or Nintendo outputs ... it's not even close ...

 

 

That overall is my biggest concerns...

 

3 hours ago, Donut417 said:

To me over the last decade or so they have been trying to pull away from just Windows and MS Office. They are trying to diversify what they do so they can stay relevant. Thats why they started to change. I remember when Microsoft didn't really care about PC gaming. I mean originally the Xbox was suppose to kill off PC gaming, but PC gamers would not go down. So Microsoft started to embrace both Xbox and PC gaming as they knew they could potentially be successful on both platforms. 

 

As far as the linux sub system goes, Linux is used heavily in the server world. My guess is they wanted to maybe add some compatibility and quite possibly some of the features that Linux has as well. As far as the cloud is concerned, well they needed to compete with Google and others. The fact that they can integrate it in to the OS like Apple did makes things a bit nicer. 

 

In the end they are just trying to figure out how to make more money. Thats why MS Office is now a subscription. Why Windows 10 collects all that info. Thats why they provide games that will work on both PC and Xbox. And why they decided to make game pass, as you can subscribe like Netflix. The new age Microsoft is going to be about what "Services" they can offer. As thats the way to make money. 

 

Yeah, I dont blame them for wanting to make money, that is what companies want to do, right now they are positioning themselves as the decent guy... (well except for windows 10 calling home every 30 seconds). The main concern was if they are trying to stay relevant and competitive or are they trying to go back to their monopolistic ways. I am assuming you are leaning towards the latter and I am inclined to agree.

[BlakSpectre]

based on what I read so far in the thread, the consensus seems to be that microsoft is still going the EEE route and are still a wolf in sheep's clothing, their disguise is just better than what it used to be?