“From the user perspective, the operating system on a games
console should be entirely invisible. Whatever happens behind the
scenes should be irrelevant because the user will never program it
directly, or interact with it except through the external
interface. The subsidiary question is why should the IT profession
concern itself about a games machine anyway?”
“…the games console will not just be used for gaming, but
will be the de-facto Internet access device for most
households with an average or above average disposable income.
It will therefore be the client end of the eCommerce platform.”
“So far Microsoft has kept quiet about the nature of the
operating system inside the X-Box. Given the other things that are
happening to Microsoft right now, is it likely that Java will be a
supported environment? Probably not. It is generally expected that
Microsoft will use the X-Box as another means for raising the
profile of DirectX. If the X-Box gains a large slice of the market,
future Web sites will have to take this into account when they
build their content. And if DirectX components are deployed instead
of Java applets, then this will have a knock-on impact on other
types of device used for client access.”