I see where the Xbone was going really. And in the long run I think we are all going to wind up there.
Here is what I think the intended destination of the Xbone was:
Not too distant future people buying a T.V. and "content box" will be pretty standard. Streaming movies and television services, digital game download services, Cable t.v., and Internet access is all going to be presided over by a single device. This device will essentially be a console/ living room. That is somewhat true already, the only difference is this will be the primary living room setup that everyone will be using.
The issue right now, is the current market topology is a mess. There are a ton of overlapping services and each one wants their monthly fee. If microsoft wanted to wow the shit out of people with this generation, they would have shown all of the services that would have been included with a yearly XBL membership, with a healthy discount compared to buying them separately. This would have required an insane ammount of third party wrangling, but the result would have almost instantly created a non gamer market for the next gen consoles.
Long long run... I see all current cable programming moving to a streaming service format. Cable companies become internet providers. Console makers become network managers. Think Verizon versus AT&T versus Sprint. The living room pc/console market opens wide and tons of different manufacturers show up, building boxes that cater to a specific network's specifications much like cellphones today. The console networks would still release standard Sony and Microsoft brand boxes and peripherals, but they would only be options in a larger market.
That sounds sexy as hell to the console manufacturers right now and I can see why Microsoft was pushing the hard sell on it. But instead of luring the mule with the carrot, they tried cramming it up the ass's ass. And got kicked hard for it.
