DACS General Meeting
March 2014
Meeting Review:
Xbox One and the Termination of Windows XP Support

By Richard Teasdale

The main topic of the evening at the DACS General Meeting for March 2014 was Microsoft's new entertainment offering, the Xbox One. Staff members from the Microsoft store in the Danbury Fair Mall described and demonstrated the product. Although somewhat unstructured, the presentation was very informative and the enthusiasm of the presenters for their product was evident.

Carolyn Bighinatti, the Community Development Specialist at the store, introduced the presenters, Dave and Nick. Dave is an "Xbox guru" and Nick is a service technician at the store. Carolyn, who is no stranger to DACS meetings, reminded the audience of the services, many of them free, offered by the Microsoft store.

Unlike its predecessor, Xbox 360, the Xbox One is more than just a gaming platform - it is a full-blown entertainment control center. "Built for the Future", the Xbox One interfaces with many other devices that the average family probably owns The name of the product is meant to symbolize Microsoft's goal of having a single device be the control center for all entertainment functions.

Xbox One consists of a computer with an 8-core processor running at 1.75GHz, controlled by a modified version of Windows 8, tied to a Kinect user interface device and a game controller. No monitor is included because the owner is expected to connect it to a TV. The characteristic tiled start screen of Windows 8 is immediately recognizable. Over time, the Kinect learns the unique body movements ("gestures") and voices of its users. The Xbox can also be controlled via smartphone and through Microsoft's tablet device, the Surface, using the free Smartglass app.

Kinect is not new with Xbox One, having been introduced several years ago for earlier Xbox models, but has been improved. It is a motion sensing and voice recognition technology which detects gestures and voice commands by the user. Despite some slow responses, the presenters demonstrated the use of Kinect; the sluggishness was attributed to the fact that the demonstration unit was brand new and had therefore not fully learned the profiles of the presenters.

Xbox One includes a built-in Blu-ray (and DVD and CD) player. In addition, it can physically connect to virtually any device which has an HDMI interface, including TVs, "Smart" TVs, computers, cable or satellite boxes, and home theater receivers. It connects wirelessly to mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets.

The Xbox One's 500GB hard drive allows many apps to be installed, e.g. Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, NFL, personal fitness applications, Internet Explorer, and even Skype, using the included Kinect camera. The camera has a very wide-angle lens and is able to detect the presence of people anywhere in the room, and "follow" specific individuals. The Xbox's operating system has full multi-tasking capability; one or more apps can be suspended while the user goes to another.

Beginning March 11, Xbox will be integrated with the online gaming site, Twitch.

All games can now be purchased from the Xbox One Game Store through digital download as well as on disk. In fact, all products purchased from Microsoft, including software, music, games, movies, etc. can be obtained via download instead of on disk. Ownership is tracked via an associated Microsoft account.

All different types of Microsoft account are integrated for single sign-on under the umbrella of a Microsoft Account, which connects the user to all Microsoft services, e.g. Xbox Live Gold,  enabling multiplayer games and some other features. (One Xbox Live Gold account can be used by all family members within the same household.) Use of Xbox One is all based on user accounts, which are portable. Once a user has established a profile, they can use it on any Xbox One device, anywhere.

An app is available for interfacing with OneDrive, Microsoft's cloud storage service, which allows media stored in a OneDrive account to be played on Xbox One.

Dave described the use of Xbox, via the Kinect interface, to control other devices, e.g. switching the cable box to watch a desired TV channel. There is no support yet for digital video recording (DVR) devices but there is a feature called "Game DVR", which continually records the most recent 15 seconds of a game-playing session and, on command, stores the recorded track for future playback and viewing.

Dave and Nick emphasized that Microsoft is making an effort to listen to its customers and make improvements to its products wherever they are needed.

Extensions to the basic Xbox One product are still in the works, e.g. Dave mentioned that a keyboard will be available in the near future. Also, Microsoft will shortly release a new stereo headset customized for use with the Xbox One.

In response to an audience question, the presenters explained that Xbox 360 and Xbox One are separate worlds as far as gaming is concerned, although media that are associated with a Microsoft Account can be transferred between the platforms. No emulation facility currently exists to allow Xbox 360 games to be played on an Xbox One (like there was for original Xbox games on the Xbox 360) but Dave and Nick did not rule it out as a future possibility.

Another question inquired about the security features of Xbox One but the presenters were unable to offer many specifics beyond the fact that the operating system includes a software firewall.

The presentation concluded with an outline of Microsoft's plans for support of users who still use Windows XP and/or Office 2003. Basic support for these products will terminate on April 8, 2014. The Microsoft product, Security Essentials, will continue to support XP for another year. Microsoft will provide a free transfer tool, PC Mover Express, for migrating system settings to a Windows 7 or 8 machine. A Professional version will be available for $24 to transfer compatible software. More information is available at www.windowsxp.com.