June 30^th, 2005 (3:59pm) - According to Bill Gates, the operating system running the XBox 360 might be licenced out by Microsoft for use by third parties, similar to the way the company licenses out Windows to PC manufacturers.

The program’s extensive media and network capabilities which allow users to download movies and music over the internet would be perfect to license out according to Gates.

It’s important to note that this isn’t a final decision, and Gates is just refering to some of the options being explored by the company.

This news also strenthens some people beliefs that Microsoft is planning on producing a line of XBox 360 compatable devices.