Here are 2 blurbs from Paul Thurrott's weekly edition, one on XP the other on the 2nd generation of the XBOX, enjoy!
Microsoft Reports Revenue Thanks to Strong XP Sales
Microsoft announced record revenues of $7.74 billion for the quarter ending December 31, exceeding expectations. But Microsoft's profits were down to only $2.28 billion, compared to $2.62 billion for the same quarter a year before, thanks in part to a $660 million charge related to consumer class action lawsuits. The company said that revenues were driven by strong sales of Windows XP and the Xbox, two of its most successful products ever. Thanks to XP, Windows client sales are up 24 percent, and Microsoft reports that its Xbox game console sold 1.5 million units during the holiday season. All in all, it's pretty clear that the Microsoft juggernaut has weathered the recession pretty nicely, thank you very much.
Report: Xbox HomeStation is Real
According to Prudential Securities, reports that Microsoft will release a second generation Xbox called the HomeStation are true, and the device will open up Xbox to a wide range of new capabilities, including Web browsing and email, Digital Video Recording (DVR), and DVD playback. Microsoft's play into the living room was supposed to be announced at CES, but apparently some manufacturing commitments haven't been finalized yet. This leads one to wonder: Was the Freestyle UI we saw really for the Xbox HomeStation? After all, the Xbox is basically a PC anyway, and it could probably be made to work with XP. And the Xbox HomeStation would be an easier sell in the living room than a PC. Stay tuned.
News source: Wininformant
