Personally I think Microsoft's stock is crashing less about any of this (though it is a hell of a theory IMO) and more to do with the fact that:

* They are investing in AI, both financially and by corporate communication, over and above everything else and pissing off damn near everyone in the process

* The XBox brand is tanking

* Windows is an utter disaster, according to Microsoft themselves, and Valve is so dispirited with it as the future for gaming that they've invested millions into a linux-based framework to run Windows games

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GorbachevyChase 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I’m a little impressed at how a company whose business model is to sell a product they developed in the 1990s over and over again while making inconsequential and non-breaking changes from year to year somehow still manage to screw that up. In my own opinion, they have always been a diabolical company. I’m glad to see them fail.

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johnvanommen 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> I’m a little impressed at how a company whose business model is to sell a product they developed in the 1990s over and over again while making inconsequential and non-breaking changes from year to year somehow still manage to screw that up.

Two words:

*New Coke.*

	▲	petethered 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		This wasn't nearly as bad as what's going on with Microsoft and Windows. In retrospect, Coke made mistakes, but at the time their logic was kinda sound. Market was changing, people were changing, product tested really well, etc. And they owned up to the mistake and reverted in under 90 days. Honestly, they probably came out stronger and re-affirmed the attachment that people have with the brand. In addition, they haven't made that mistake again and have been much smarter protecting their core while chasing trends. Free-style is a brilliant bit of tech, marketing, and logistics combined.

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kyorochan 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

They have been more focused on cloud stuff (and now AI) for a long time.

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wslh 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Love the last line, what Valve has done on Windows emulation is herculean, I don't know (it would be great to know) other businesses creating/investing in incredible and risky third-party compatible technologies to run their real business on top of it.

I worked in what other calls "Adversarial Interoperability" [1] but the scale of Valve is on another level.

[1] https://www.nektra.com/main/2020/01/12/reflecting-on-16-year...

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tomstockmail 4 hours ago | parent [-]

On the hand at one point the emulation layer becomes the target. Hopefully game developers will realise this and start using native Linux technologies before they are tied to a single companies abstraction layer. Again.

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johnvanommen 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The XBox was named after a Microsoft API. Definitely one of the more clever ways to force developers to eat your dogfood.

	▲	georgeecollins 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		When it was created DirectX was a really useful thing for game makers. It made it easier to write hardware accelerated applications that were also consumer friendly. Contemporary Windows is full of anti-patterns. MSFT just can't seem to resist sticking things into it that make it less pleasant to use in support of MSFT's ecosystem. It's no wonder Valve invests into trying to be independent of that.

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foobiekr 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Wine is more stable as an API to target than any of the native Linux technologies.