Why develop a new platform that will cost billions of dollars and many years of research and testing?
Maybe so it doesn't crash so much?
would it need to have shipped as part of what was then the monopoly PC operating system, or would third party matchmaking frameworks count as well?
I have no idea what it would need to do. Tell you what; solve that problem and then I'll agree you're innovative as well.
That word is subjective, and people will spend days arguing over subjective definitions. Could you give a more objective criterion?
No. Can you can give an objective criterion for "innovation"?
And you needed an Xbox Live subscription and a copy of each game for each console to play Xbox Live.
You needed a single XBox live subscription. it worked for all games for all publishers. Did anyone else offer this? Was it integrated with the rest of the system?
Xbox Live came out in the fourth quarter of 2002. By that time, EverQuest had already been out for three and a half years. So I must be misunderstanding what you mean by "serious thing".
Everquest was niche. You need an Everquest subscription to play it. Ultima online needed another subscription. XBox Live simplified everything established and made it acccessible to casual gamers.
If you call At Ease "new".
Windows 8 looks just like At Ease. Can't tell the difference.
Nope, that was Kerry Clendinning in 1992. In System 7, Apple made each "desk accessory" run in its own process and stored them in separate files within the Apple Menu items folder instead of resources in the System file. By doing this, Apple turned the Mac's Apple menu into a rudimentary quick launch menu.
I can see how it similar, but you yourself say it's rudimentary. MS made the Star Menu part of the actual user experience.
Honestly, what company *does* innovate?
Anyone can make an omelet with eggs. The trick is to make one with none.