Or "why Microsoft's new Xbox video service is stupid".

The Xbox is the best thing Microsoft has done in ages. And one of the few things they've consistently done smartly and right. I'm not an Xbox user, but I'm not about to sit here and say that Xbox Live wasn't a total success and that the Xbox user interface isn't a complete win. I may be a Windows basher, but I'll readily admit that I was wrong wrong wrong when I predicted MS would blow it and the Xbox would suck.

However, and bear with me, my mom does not want an Xbox. My sister does not want an Xbox. The girl sitting next to me at lunch does not want an Xbox. But they all want movies and many want TV shows. And they're all Microsoft customers (Windows, to be precise). And while they might all agree that the Xbox interface is nice, that high-def is cool, that ease of use is something they'd like -- they do not want an Xbox.

So Microsoft's announcement that they're rolling out Movies and TV shows that you can download... on your Xbox... is incredibly short-sighted. Word on the street is that the Zune will also have some Xbox-only functionalities. You know, the Zune. the media player with wireless... that only connects wirelessly to other Zunes... and doesn't play your 'Microsoft guaranteed to play' content.

How can a company with so much money make such stupid moves? If Microsoft wants to compete in this space they can't expect to do so by narrowing their offerings down to a subset of their customers. Sure, buying and watching movies and shows on an Xbox will be rad. For people who own Xboxes. But just because this is the 'one', the thing they got right, the thing with real zing doesn't mean it's suddenly going to become a part of mainstream A/V gear. They've talked some pie-in-the-sky talk about it being your digital hub, but they blindly ignore one simple fact: If you're not a gamer you _are not going to buy an Xbox_. Hub bub.

Well, here's my guess on what's behind this idiocy. Microsoft wants to compete in this space. They [smartly] realize it's not going to be done over the web. You need an app (iTunes store and eMusic have proved this). "Let's build a Microsoft Live video and music store!", says the eager product manager. "Sure! Awesome idea! As long as we don't step on the toes of the companies driving this on the PC side", cautions the licensing manager. "And let's not over-step any of our partnership boundaries", adds the marketing partnerships manager. "Well, I guess we could just do it on Xbox...", says the deflated product guy, "it does have an awesome interface, even if it doesn't have much of a hard drive and is only a small portion of our user base." "Splendid", agree the others.

"Well, that will kill it inside 6 months", predicts the technology wag.

When Microsoft is bold, they're abrasively so. When they're not and should be, they're a bunch of fucking idiots.

Finally, one good thing may come from this, though. because of the Xbox's relatively small hard drive, they're saying that you can delete and re-download content you've bought (except those programs which 'expire' - sorry, 'buy' doesn't mean 'own' in the MS world. You 'rent' movies for 24 hours only). This might help get studios used to this idea, get a good case study on how effective this is and the bandwidth hit and it might encourage other companies to follow suit eventually. But don't forget to re-download it all before the service goes belly up in... oh... around June of next year. Or maybe I'll be wrong again. The Xbox is, after all, my real blind spot. But don't expect this little endeavor to go head-to-head with the iTunes store. To do so, MS needs to stops thinking small and stop thinking Xbox is the magic pill.