Gates clarifies 'Open Source' Xbox 360 comment

by Conrad Quilty-Harper { Jul 1st 2005 at 6:00AM }

Yesterday we reported on a rumor that suggested the Xbox 360 was going 'open source'. Well apparently that's complete hogwash as Gates has flatly denied that third-party manufacturers will be able to license the OS of its next-gen console, at least for the foreseeable future. According to Gamespot all the fuss was caused by one article in a Japanese daily newspaper, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, which was then picked up on by the rest of the gaming press. The idea of an open source Xbox 360 was obviously too tantalizing not to report. Who wouldn't want to be able to tweak the next-gen Xbox to play ~~high definition pr0n~~ your collection of ROMs under emulation?

You'd think that now Gates has got in touch with his homies over at Gamespot, everything would be back to normal. However, Gates has left room for third-party companies to manufacture Xbox in the future. Why anyone would want to do such a thing (Microsoft is expected to take a $75 hit on every console it sells) is beyond the average mortal's understanding. Anyone want a chunk of the expected $243.2 million Microsoft is expected to lose in 2006 due to underpriced hardware? Didn't think so.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Asz @ Dec 18th 2005 9:41PM

Why would anyone want to license the XBox? Why would you want to play XBox games on your toaster, or DVD player, or Cable box, ect. Wouldn't you feel like an idiot for not having a regular XBox? I remember running into one of those Nintendo Gateway systems (http://www.vidgame.net/NINTENDO/GATEWAY.htm) at a hotel once and felt like a complete ass playing it. Wasn't Sega going to try the same thing for Dreamcast? And didn't Sony try (and fail) it with the PSX?

Arch-360 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:41PM

well 243.2 million is alot easier to make than 1.2 BILLION that sony is in.

Deneiro @ Dec 18th 2005 9:41PM

Damn, it seems like nintendo is the only one makeing money off their produce. What good is it to be the next gen console leader if your looseing an ass amount of money. M$ and sony, damn I feel sorry 4 u.

Conrad Quilty-Harper @ Dec 18th 2005 9:41PM

I'm pretty sure that the reason MS and Sony will allow these massive losses on their hardware is the fact that they'll make it back 3 times in software sales. Software is where it's at in the console market.

E.V @ Dec 18th 2005 9:41PM

#3, Is the same thing with most products now day. Take for example printers. HP looses a lot of money, almost about $100 or more per unit! BUUUUUUUUUUUT they try to make it back with the ink. That is why they make it complicated for "refill ink" to work on printers. Plus, is a sure way to damage them any ways.