Microsoft Job Advert Hints at Apps for Xbox
Microsoft is looking to expand its Silverlight web platform to Xbox 360, according to a recent job advertisement placed by the company. — “Silverlight is looking to hire motivated developers with a passion for creating ground breaking …
Context & Ripple Effects
The signal here comes from Microsoft itself rather than rumor channels: a posted software development engineer role explicitly tasked with bringing Silverlight to the Xbox 360, picked up by WMPoweruser the day before Gadget Lab's write-up. That matters because Silverlight is already the development foundation for Windows Phone 7 and runs on the desktop, so the console would be the third screen on one runtime.
It also fits Microsoft's broader November 2010 posture of pushing its platforms outward — from the Windows 25th-anniversary messaging to Windows Phone 7's first holiday season — with the living room as the remaining device where its web-application stack had no presence.
First-order effects
- Developers who already build Silverlight apps for Windows Phone 7 and the desktop gain a plausible path to the Xbox 360 without learning a new toolchain, since the same skill set and code assets would carry over.
- Microsoft's own hiring plan confirms it is staffing to extend Silverlight beyond PC and phone, making the Xbox team a direct consumer of the platform group's roadmap.
Second-order effects
- If the runtime lands on the console, the cost of porting a Windows Phone 7 app to Xbox drops sharply, which pushes independent developers toward treating Microsoft's three screens as one distribution surface rather than separate markets.
- Non-game content built on web technologies starts competing for dashboard attention alongside traditional titles, changing what the Xbox 360 storefront effectively sells.
Third-order effects
- Consoles drifting from sealed game boxes toward general application platforms, with the vendor's chosen web runtime deciding which outside developers get in — a structural shift in who can ship software to the living room.
- For Microsoft, success would reinforce consolidating its device strategy on a single development platform, raising the strategic stakes riding on Silverlight itself.
The trend: Microsoft is converging its devices on Silverlight as a common runtime, extending a stack proven on the desktop and Windows Phone 7 into the living room via the Xbox 360.