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Little-reported but extremely interesting: <b>Microsoft turned a profit on the Xbox this past quarter.</b>
That's <b>two</b> years after starting out. Not bad, really.
More interesting is the recently announced deal between IBM and Microsoft where IBM will be making the chips for "Xbox Next" aka Xbox 2. It's widely speculated that IBM's Power 970 chip, aka "G5" will be the basis for the machine, since fabrcation processes are already in place for it and it boasts excellent performance in games.
With ATI providing the graphics for Xbox 2, Sony may actually have something to fear. From the looks of it, Microsoft is really trying to use their (admittedly small) foothold to crush Sony's PlayStation.
Compatibility with older games will be a major selling point. How will Xbox 2 handle running x86 applications on PowerPC? Why, with VirtualPC, of course. Microsoft purchased Connectix, maker of said product, earlier this year. This is all being mentioned in the press. What isn't being mentioned is that Connectix used to make an excellent PlayStation emulator for the PC that - get this - actually made it through the courts. HMMMMMMMMMM.
Another player in the field may be the former manager of Microsoft's MacBU (Macintosh Business Unit), responsible for all of Microsoft's Mac software. Guess where he got transferred to? Yes, the Xbox division. His experience with the PowerPC architecture is almost certainly being tapped for what Microsoft presumably expects will be their PS3 killer.
I think this will be <b>very</b> interesting.
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