I hear fairly solid rumors that MS is going to scrap the forced curve in their review system. Apparently new hires are starting to ask questions about it (and s

I hear fairly solid rumors that MS is going to scrap the forced curve in their review system. Apparently new hires are starting to ask questions about it (and so they should). Beyond that, they have serious problems with Windows and its never-shrinking accumulation of legacy. Apple did a great job on iOS (certainly compared to any embedded Windows offering). If Microsoft really is serious about their concentration on devices, they're going to have to lose a ton of fat and get a good understanding of what it means to ship consumer level embedded products. (The Xbox group has a good handle on this, though they had to do a bunch of work to make Win8 be reliable and predictably performant enough for a console -- I understand that the Windows group is unhappy with this. Not surprising, it's a threat!) Maybe an outside expert will break up the internal politics enough that they can make good inroads. A strong CEO who had a clue here would do the job, too.