Games Thirst – Amazing Life
No, nothing’s wrong with the title, Microsoft is actually pitching its latest console, Xbox One, to small businesses, stating in an open letter that Skype and Kinect make the machine a perfect tool for offices.
Written by Microsoft’s director of Consumer Camp Marques Lyons, the letter adds that Xbox One is entirely justifiable as a business expense.
What is being positioned as an excellent entertainment device can be just as enticing for you and your small business.
In fact, it’s entirely justifiable to make the Xbox One a business expense. The Xbox One, priced at $499 [£429], is an affordable option for small business owners, as there are many features built into the console that could help it rival even the most modest of video conferencing and networking platforms.
Lyons honed in on Skype with Kinect on Xbox One as particular interest to small businesses, enabling video meetings with more fluency than, say, a laptop with a camera.
Utilize the size of that nice TV screen to see every smile and nod as your next great plan comes together. The Xbox One with Kinect, as a Skype provider, is just as capable as a PC with an attached/included microphone and webcam. The difference here is that Xbox One and Kinect gives you the open space to move, gesture, show examples, and see everyone more clearly.
Lyons also mentioned SkyDrive, Microsoft’s cloud-based document-sharing platform, which on Xbox One works with Kinect and enables voice and hand gestures.
With SkyDrive via Internet Explorer, you can use it with the Office Web Apps to open that Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint,” he said. “Use the Kinect voice and hand gestures to navigate to websites. Now you’re free of clickers and light pens to use your hands to for more expressive gestures.
Smartglass was also mentioned by Lyons, which could be used to send presentations to a TV and navigate PowerPoint presentations with a tablet. And then there’s Internet Explorer, available on Xbox One, as is the case on Xbox 360.
If you host clients at your home, use the power of IE and the size of your TV to showcase your new redesigned website, or snap IE to the side while using SkyDrive to present sketches you’re working on. Because Internet Explorer has access to the Office Web Apps, pair that with a Wi-Fi keyboard and mouse and you have the means to edit documents, when necessary, even if you aren’t near your PC.
And while, according to Lyon, what comes ready with Xbox One this November offers great value, more applications will be added post launch that will be beneficial to small businesses.
The app story of Xbox One has yet to be written, therefore it is entirely possible to find apps down the road that could be of benefit for you and your business. With the processing power, snap mode, and connection to a large screen, that the Xbox One has, this device is capable of going from the ‘break room’ to the ‘board room’.
