It's since been edited to remove all mention of Microsoft's home console, but earlier today, the Redmond software giant was advertising for people to come help work on Silverlight stuff for the Xbox 360. What does that mean?
Silverlight - Microsoft's in-house rival to Adobe's Flash - is of course already used on the Xbox, for those animated advertisements you sometimes get on your dashboard. And the 360 is also already home to "apps", as that's basically what the console's Facebook, Netflix, ESPN and Twitter services are.
So why would Microsoft be advertising for people to be "responsible for delivering features for Silverlight on the XBOX as part of the next wave"? Could be two things. Firstly, Silverlight is how applications are written on other Microsoft platforms, like the new Windows Phone 7. Meaning a game could be written for both the 360 and WP7 at the same time, and played across both systems.
Secondly, and more obviously, it sounds a lot like more "apps" are coming in the pipeline. And while the obvious targets for those would be the above-mentioned games/applications and more TV services, would it really kill Microsoft to put Internet Explorer on the 360? Or, at the very least, a YouTube app? Most times I want to use my console to play games on,but sometimes, I just like having something hooked up to my TV I can show stupid crap to my wife.
Silverlight Future Revealed ? ? [Techtrends, via Gizmodo]