From DailyTech: While many people scoffed at or failed to recognized the significance of Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) talk of a "unified" development path for Windows, Xbox, and Windows Phone, the real world rammifications of that approach are now becoming clear and they're significant.
A pre-order page from Dell for the Xbox One "accidentally" (and, it appears, officially) revealed that Windows 8.1 apps will run on the Xbox. This is a major boost as it means that reverse is also likely true -- most Xbox One (non-game) apps will run on Windows 8.1.
The Dell page states:
"Consider the game officially changed. With all your favorite Windows 8 apps able to be run on and synced to your Xbox One, now your phone, desktop, tablet and TV can all give you a unified web and entertainment experience."
This follows with the virtualized approach discussed by Microsoft with respect to the Xbox One hardware -- an approach in which essentially a full Windows 8.1 virtual machine (with slightly tweaked UI and remapped I/O) runs alongside a game engine virtual machine.
This virtualized hardware approach means that the Xbox One is in essence a "special PC" in that it has a purpose built gaming VM sharing resources with a more traditional Windows VM.
For Windows 8.1 this could provide a substantial boost as Xbox has been a strong selling line in the console market and prior to recent controversies has had one of the best brand images of a Microsoft product. At the same time, while much maligned, Windows 8 has seen decent adoption, even if adoption rates remain poor by Microsoft's standards. Allowing any Windows 8.1 app to run on the Xbox One will mean a wealth of apps will be available at launch day without having to woo developers to commit, and without developers having to write custom code.
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