3 ms·
I am still confused why Microsoft dipped its toes into the toy business waters. It didn't fit into their mission and it didn't fit with the rest of their produc
by breadwinner 3y ago
I am still confused why Microsoft dipped its toes into the toy business waters. It didn't fit into their mission and it didn't fit with the rest of their products.
- toast0 3y agoIt's a way to connect with youth, and to demonstrate their prowess with technology. Same reason TI put out the Speak-n-Spell.
- Zeetah 3y agoThis. The voice chip on the ActiMates was a derivative of the TI Speak-n-Spell chip.
- esprehn 3y agoPresumably the thinking was it would raise brand awareness and sell Windows licenses. Schools in that era were also Mac heavy so focusing on PC toys was possibly a way to get kids into the MS ecosystem.
- qingcharles 3y agoXbox didn't fit in with anything else they were doing, but now look.
- fransje26 3y agoXbox was there to push DirectX as the de-facto graphics standard and lock-in a big part of the available market. If you care enough you can find some interesting blog posts by Alex St. John where he writes about it.
- kevin_thibedeau 3y agoInteractive WebTV was the future.