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Yes. See: Xbox. Within only two console generations, they went from having zero presence in the market outside of publishing some games for Windows, to one of

Yes. See: Xbox. Within only two console generations, they went from having zero presence in the market outside of publishing some games for Windows, to one of now only three major players in the landscape. For millions of gamers, the Xbox is their first choice for games. They pushed Xbox Live to market, after years of Nintendo and Sony saying consoles were going to go online. They weren't the first console to go online, as the Dreamcast shipped with a modem, but Xbox Live was the first wild success. Nintendo and Sony scrambled to launch their not ready for market Ethernet adapters for the Gamecube and PS2. Microsoft pulls over a billion in revenue annually with the Xbox Live Marketplace, a digital distribution avenue that didn't exist on consoles until they created it, that Sony and Nintendo again moved to emulate on their platforms. Source: http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2009/02/22/just-over-half-of-xbox-live-subscribers-pay-to-play/ http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2009/02/22/just-over-hal... Then, four years after the Xbox 360 had already been in homes across the globe, they reinvented the platform with the NXE (New Xbox Experience) update, that moved to make the console more family friendly, pushed entertainment options like Zune and Netflix to the forefront, and arguably set the ground work for what was to come with Kinect. Yes. I could see Microsoft do something big, fast. Because they did.

bretthopper 15y ago
(this reply is also to nostrademons' comment) You're both correct that Microsoft has done product launches which were big and done quickly, but that's different than what Google is in the process of doing. Yes, Google launched their big product: Google+ which would be comparable to Internet Explorer or Xbox. But Google has also redesigned all their main products, integrated many of them, and is going to rebrand other products. That's much more difficult than just launching one product. It involves more cooperation and effort from the entire company rather than just a division.
- bittermang 15y ago
  This is true, and something Microsoft has shown to lack, cohesion between units. One of the reasons Internet Explorer 4 was integrated as deeply in to Windows as it was, is that Microsoft was betting on the Internet being a big deal, but executing it in the wrong fashion. Beyond integrating the browser in to the OS, there wasn't a real plan there, and it came to be a security issue by the time we got to IE6 and XP. Microsoft tried to relaunch/rebrand Windows as a gaming platform with their Games for Windows initiative around Vista, which integrated Windows games to some degree with Xbox Live. But the idea was never fully integrated in a way that added any value for consumers, and many publishers skip the Games for Windows branding as it requires additional certification to attain the branding. Then there's the Zune, a perfectly capable device that was never able to find its niche. The Zune name lives on in the music and video marketplace on the Xbox dashboard, but a synergy between Microsoft's products, brands, and services with the Zune was never struck, and now the device is dead. So in this, Google's ability to draw everything together with a laser like focus, and actually seem to commit to this thing is a switch, for them or any company. I agree.

bretthopper 15y ago

(this reply is also to nostrademons' comment) You're both correct that Microsoft has done product launches which were big and done quickly, but that's different than what Google is in the process of doing. Yes, Google launched their big product: Google+ which would be comparable to Internet Explorer or Xbox. But Google has also redesigned all their main products, integrated many of them, and is going to rebrand other products. That's much more difficult than just launching one product. It involves more cooperation and effort from the entire company rather than just a division.

bittermang 15y ago
This is true, and something Microsoft has shown to lack, cohesion between units. One of the reasons Internet Explorer 4 was integrated as deeply in to Windows as it was, is that Microsoft was betting on the Internet being a big deal, but executing it in the wrong fashion. Beyond integrating the browser in to the OS, there wasn't a real plan there, and it came to be a security issue by the time we got to IE6 and XP. Microsoft tried to relaunch/rebrand Windows as a gaming platform with their Games for Windows initiative around Vista, which integrated Windows games to some degree with Xbox Live. But the idea was never fully integrated in a way that added any value for consumers, and many publishers skip the Games for Windows branding as it requires additional certification to attain the branding. Then there's the Zune, a perfectly capable device that was never able to find its niche. The Zune name lives on in the music and video marketplace on the Xbox dashboard, but a synergy between Microsoft's products, brands, and services with the Zune was never struck, and now the device is dead. So in this, Google's ability to draw everything together with a laser like focus, and actually seem to commit to this thing is a switch, for them or any company. I agree.