> I think robotics research is probably a reason why they're discontinuing it. Why support something that only exists outside the walled garden?

This is pretty unfair. Microsoft released Kinect 2.0 for Windows[1], with a developer SDK, specifically for the community to hack on. It even supports Windows Embedded.

I can't in my wildest dreams imagine that they thought that product would be a money maker.

[1] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=445...

Similar deal as Sony removing PS3 features after launch: people found a product they loved, for reasons not envisioned by Sony, who was then hell-bent on shutting it down.

Even though it seems like Sony's interest to foster a community of high-tech nerds interested in AI and parallel processing, and even though it seems like it's Microsoft's interest in fostering a community of robotics and computer vision nerds, it turns out the Giant Corporations need lock-down control on products and have no long-term vision for supporting ecosystems or communities.

The main reason Sony killed OtherOS was that they began to think it could be used to circumvent copy protection for games. In Kinect's case I'm guessing the pricing was set at least in part with the idea that the games would make up for low-to-negative profit margins.

I'm not so sure it was so cut and dried as that. The air force was using them to create a supercomputer using other-OS and Sony was selling it as a loss.

I think they were worried about people buying them up and not purchasing games.

A professor in my college also did exactly this: https://lacal.epfl.ch/112bit_prime

They used about 200ps3 to find some prime number (cryptography related)

I think it is but for a more base reason. If they cut it, no man hours have to care for it. Simple monetary explanation. It sucked when they cut it.