After reading this again and again, the only thing I can take away from Microsoft’s endeavors from within the televison landscape is that the cutting edge, skull pounding “wow-factor” is what it takes to get ahead in many of the developing mediums. Two examples mentioned in the article linked above that come to mind include the failure of WebTv (MSNTV) and the huge success seen with the XBox 360.

The WebTV boxes, made popular in the 1990’s, were quite the invention. A set top box that gave non-geeky users full access to the Internet over a dial-up modem, but without the need to purchase an all out PC. Unfortunately by the time Microsoft had gotten around to buying them out however, the hardware provided and the attraction of the set top box had begun to show signs of losing interest among many users. PC prices were falling and the WebTv concept was losing traction fast.
The two single largest complaints being made at the time were lack of new features and security concerns over the ability to embed commands to do malicious actions via email signatures. In short, purchasing the WebTV company was a huge mistake for Microsoft. Even today, the set top box is being targeted toward seniors (no kidding, I have seen the commercials) and to some extent this may be a good market for the failed concept. Be that as it may, I would also say that the professionally trained senior with 30+ years of experience in the IT is going to find the very idea of a “newbie box” being targeted at their demographic insulting. So today, MSNTV sales remain in the toilet.

Flash forward to the XBox 360 and you will see one arena where Microsoft has made all the right moves. A solid gaming console with titles that really get the average gamer interested in spending the money needed to participate in XBox Live virtual community. Yes, Microsoft really hit a home run when they took their previous experience with the first XBox console and then applied them to the next gen console.

Another possibility is that Microsoft, took what they learned in the OS world and applied it to the gaming market. What is this magic formula? Simple - it’s all about the game titles. Granted, a console with enough horse power to push out the very best graphics is certainly important. However as they learned with XBox (the first box), good hardware alone means nothing. At the end of the day, it comes down to providing real value to your users. And this is something that the XBox 360 has been able to do with both their hardware and with the game titles.

So now we have to ask ourselves what the heck Microsoft is thinking with even considering a Yahoo buyout? Seriously, Yahoo does indeed manage to stay far enough in the black to keep things moving forward. But this habit Microsoft has of buying a solution when their initial attempt at market dominance fails is frankly, counter-productive.