Sony questions MS’ motives should it join Folding@Home project

Jack Tretton questions MS' motives on joining Folding@Home - Image 1Can the Xbox 360 outperform the PlayStation 3 (PS3) when it comes to Folding@Home? We don’t know for certain yet as Microsoft is yet to jump in, so to speak, but Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Jack Tretton is questioning Microsoft’s motives and mentioned that he’d be very disappointed if they are just seeking out good PR.

Tretton added that if big MS is indeed just trying to create a good image for itself then that is a rather shallow reasoning. And he suggested that MS might be doing this only because Sony is doing it. Tretton explained:

I think to look at it as a marketing platform is something that a company certainly wouldn’t want to do. I’m certainly not insinuating that’s Microsoft’s motivation, but I’m not even sure how relevant it is to what we’re doing. Would they be even having this conversation if we weren’t doing it? I don’t know.

More interestingly, Tretton went on to question as well the processing abilities of the 360 and doubts if it is capable to take part in such project. The official claimed that Stanford University is not even sure if Microsoft will be able to help them in this endeavor. According to Tretton:

I would guess that the medical community would take help from anywhere they could get it, but the commentary that I heard is that Stanford isn’t sure that would help them very much. Which is odd to me because if it helped at all, it seems like they would welcome it with open arms.

It should be remembered that earlier this month, Peter Moore suggested that Microsoft is willing to join the project provided that they can “truly believe that they can in some way marshal the resources of a much larger installed base of Xbox 360 owners.” In the end, Tretton lamented that he just wished MS is not trying to milk the medical community:

It’s really ugly territory to get into, but let’s take fighting a disease and see if we can get some credit for that. It’s not a cool game to play one way or the other so I don’t want to even give the impression that that’s our motivation, and I’d be very disappointed if they’re looking for PR value or to try to suck off some of the goodwill that we’re doing.

Jack Tretton questions MS' motives on joining Folding@Home - Image 1Can the Xbox 360 outperform the PlayStation 3 (PS3) when it comes to Folding@Home? We don’t know for certain yet as Microsoft is yet to jump in, so to speak, but Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Jack Tretton is questioning Microsoft’s motives and mentioned that he’d be very disappointed if they are just seeking out good PR.

Tretton added that if big MS is indeed just trying to create a good image for itself then that is a rather shallow reasoning. And he suggested that MS might be doing this only because Sony is doing it. Tretton explained:

I think to look at it as a marketing platform is something that a company certainly wouldn’t want to do. I’m certainly not insinuating that’s Microsoft’s motivation, but I’m not even sure how relevant it is to what we’re doing. Would they be even having this conversation if we weren’t doing it? I don’t know.

More interestingly, Tretton went on to question as well the processing abilities of the 360 and doubts if it is capable to take part in such project. The official claimed that Stanford University is not even sure if Microsoft will be able to help them in this endeavor. According to Tretton:

I would guess that the medical community would take help from anywhere they could get it, but the commentary that I heard is that Stanford isn’t sure that would help them very much. Which is odd to me because if it helped at all, it seems like they would welcome it with open arms.

It should be remembered that earlier this month, Peter Moore suggested that Microsoft is willing to join the project provided that they can “truly believe that they can in some way marshal the resources of a much larger installed base of Xbox 360 owners.” In the end, Tretton lamented that he just wished MS is not trying to milk the medical community:

It’s really ugly territory to get into, but let’s take fighting a disease and see if we can get some credit for that. It’s not a cool game to play one way or the other so I don’t want to even give the impression that that’s our motivation, and I’d be very disappointed if they’re looking for PR value or to try to suck off some of the goodwill that we’re doing.

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