The secret is out; Microsoft wants to own your whole home with their devices at the center of your connected living space. Of course, this is nothing new. I can remember talking with Microsoft about the “digital home” in 2007 and before. At the time they were looking to build the blocks needed to create an entire (and viable) ecosystem for the home and the enterprise. Of course back then most of Microsoft was still trying to find ways to keeps users data in their own hands. This is something that has changed (because it is not a money maker), but the original concept has remained the same.Microsoft envisioned a home where many different connected devices could share content using centralized services. Now they are showing off that technology at E3 with their “SmartGlass” feature. As many have pointed out (and we will do the same) SmartGlass is not a new display technology. It is a method for connecting different Microsoft products through the use of apps and APIs. An example would be the ability play a game using your Xbox while controlling the action (complete with stats and other display information) on your tablet. One example that was shown at E3 was the ability to use a tablet to draw up plays for Madden NFL 13 and then execute them in the game running on the XboX.
There are more examples than this though. Think of being able to watch a movie on your HD TV (powered by an XboX or Windows 8 bases HTPC) and have complimentary information about that movie on your tablet (I am sure many Star Wars and Harry Potter Fans would love this).
The unveiling of SmartGlass is the culmination of many separate and disjointed features and services. Many have seen these as uninteresting (who uses HomeGroups?) and as such they have not gained traction as individual features.
With Microsoft’s SmartGlass this is a chance to combine many different products and services into one feasible product group. The rub is that for many of these you will need to have subscriptions to Microsoft services (like XboX Live). While some will see this as a way to save Microsoft and make them more relevant there is the tiny issue that Microsoft is also alienating many by forcing their cloud services. They are even getting rid of Zune for a new XboX Music Service, although there are not many details it looks like people that own Zune players could soon be out of a way to maintain their collections as Microsoft pushes to make Windows 8 and the XboX the center of the Digital home. We hope this is not the case, but we have not seen anything to the contrary yet. *** Update We have information that Microsoft will transfer Zune Music Accounts over to the Xbox Music service once it is launched, however there is still no word on Support for older Zune Players. ***
Microsoft is certainly introducing a game changing technology (and no they are not the first to do this at all), but they have to be careful not to shove this down the consumer’s throats. Having this is not going to make people with iPads leave Apple or increase the sales of Windows Phone devices. Instead it might make people look for alternatives much like the OEM only release of Windows XP with Media Center did a while ago. We will see others develop ways to do the same thing without needing to subscribe to Microsoft run services (and be forced to use a Microsoft account) just like before.
It is also important to remember that all of this connected technology will come at a cost to the consumers. Many of the services will have a monthly fee attached to them; these all add up over time and could make them less attractive especially in a down economy. Perhaps it is time for Microsoft to take a step back and look at the direction they are trying to take and at least allow the option to connect items like SmartGlass to user hosted services (maybe through a Windows Home server). This in addition with the already planned iOS and Android functionality will be certain to attract more people that forcing everyone to stick with Microsoft for everything.
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