New original Xbox lore unearthed thanks to former Microsoft employee

Ed Fries, a fellow member of the team responsible for creating the first Xbox, spoke at the 2022 WN Conference in Seattle, and during his talk, he shared lots of nuggets about what went on backside the scenes at Microsoft during the original Xbox's inception, development, and release.

Fries covered a broad range of topics when discussing the original Xbox's cosmos (via GeekWire). His ties to the panel extend mode back to before the system was even a concept, as he'd worked at Microsoft since the 1980s. Then, in the year 2000, on Valentine'southward Day, the Xbox project was officially greenlit.

Some of the best $.25 of trivia Chips shared at the WN Briefing include that Microsoft failed to acquire EA and Westwood Studios, along with the fact that the original Xbox's unshrinkable blueprint hastened the release of the Xbox 360 since Microsoft couldn't copy the PS2's strategy of re-releasing a shrunken version of an existing machine.

But those pieces of noesis are just the tip of the iceberg. Fries also shared that Steve Ballmer was super jazzed about Xbox Live, enough to pound a table to the point of breaking its speakerphone during a meeting in 2003.

Fries estimated that in the early years, the Xbox initiative lost Microsoft $i billion per twelvemonth. In addition, he shared that a point of contention within the original Xbox team was whether they could interpret the popular PC FPS feel to consoles—a debate Halo put an end to.

Yous tin can notice other nuggets of info over at Geekwire, just these are among the juiciest for you to dwell on while you recall about the long road that led to the Xbox Series X and the best Xbox Game Pass games.

An internet connection will soon be required when setting up Windows 11 Pro

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An internet connection volition soon be required when setting up Windows xi Pro

Microsoft has appear that later on this year, users will be required to connect to the internet and sign-in with a Microsoft Account during the out of box setup experience on Windows 11 Pro. Microsoft has already been enforcing this requirement on Windows 11 Dwelling house since launch final October, and Windows 11 Pro is now expected to follow suit presently.