Well, I have to admit I don't care for any of this. I think the change in terminology from "buying" to "licensing" pretty much sets the stage for the rest of the announcements since they are trying to push the issue that you don't actually own anything you pay for in their very terminology now, and once you accept that your pretty much agreeing to flush your rights down the toilet.
I do not like the idea of having to keep my XBoxone online and do daily "check ins" to use it, unless Microsoft is giving out free internet to anyone who has their system, the allegation that everyone has easy access to the internet is false. Especially in the current economy that's one of the first things a lot of people are deciding to go without, and you know... some people might want to invest in a gamebox they can use with just a TV and electricity in case the worst happens and they want to play games but need to make the choice to go without internet service. I suppose one could argue that they plan to make this a toy for the fairly privileged, with increasing steps as time goes on, basically saying "all users will have Broadband" which pretty much shuts out everyone on the bad end of the digital divide is
one of the first steps in that direction. A poor person won't even be able to really to get one used, since they would also have to spring for a monthly connection.... this is likely to have no real effect on me of course, but I don't like the idea of it.
The really disturbing thing here though is in response to the whole "will my Xbox be spying on me" thing. The answer is pretty much "yes". The basic point here is that you have to trust in Microsoft's honesty that they won't gather or do anything with the information being gathered, that the machine is indeed not recording when you say it's off. Pretty much the entire thing amounts to "trust us" and well... that's a touchy issue nowadays. Especially seeing as the new Xbox is supposed to be kept "on" in a passive power saving mode where it will constantly be in touch with the internet anyway to keep itself updated. Looking at all the back doors in windows, the playstation, and other things, even if one was to trust Microsoft itself (which they haven't exactly earned) one can't trust their engineering to ensure that nobody will find ways of hacking into it anyway and spying on people or gathering data that way.
In regards to this latter point my basic attitude is WTF does a game console need to have this kind of surveillance technology attached to it? The idea is a system for people to play games on, if you want to do Facebook, you have facebook on a PC, and let's be honest... people get into enough trouble with that as it is, even without a whole spy system cranked up in their face. I suppose you can always turn it off/unplug it when your not using it, but they seem
to have designed it to make that inconvenient to say the least.
At any rate I eagerly await the announcement that the name of the Microsoft CEO's position has officially been changed to "Big Brother".