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DOOM 3DO Source Released On Github

New submitter burgerbecky writes The port that was as hellish as the game world itself, DOOM for the 3DO's source code has been released on github. The original programmer outlined the corners cut and why.

64 of 323 comments (clear)

  1. Yes another developer lead down the path .... by cold+fjord · · Score: 5, Insightful

    FTA:

    Firstly, this was the product of ten intense weeks of work due to the fact that I was misled about the state of the port when I was offered the project. I was told that there was a version in existance with new levels, weapons and features and it only needed "polishing" and optimization to hit the market. After numerous requests for this version, I found out that there was no such thing and that Art Data Interactive was under the false impression that all anyone needed to do to port a game from one platform to another was just to compile the code and adding weapons was as simple as dropping in the art.

    I'm starting to think that as a developer the automatic assumption should be that you are being hired for a death march unless there is strong evidence to the contrary.

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    1. Re:Yes another developer lead down the path .... by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      yet more on why unions as needed

    2. Re:Yes another developer lead down the path .... by MasseKid · · Score: 2

      What makes you think this is unique to developers?

    3. Re:Yes another developer lead down the path .... by cold+fjord · · Score: 2

      Didn't say that it was, but you may note the subject of the story.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    4. Re:Yes another developer lead down the path .... by ArchieBunker · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Ask all those steel workers how their union is going. Oh wait we don't have any steel workers anymore because they priced themselves out of a job.

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    5. Re:Yes another developer lead down the path .... by rockout · · Score: 3, Informative

      Another over-simplified common argument from someone that doesn't know anything about unions, just knows that they don't like them, because, uh... Ayn Rand! or something.

      Steelworker jobs disappeared as a result of automation. One quick example that you can find in 5 seconds of googling:

      “When I joined the company, it had 28,000 employees,” said George Ranney, a former executive at Inland Steel, an Indiana mill that was bought out by ArcelorMittal in 1998. “When I left, it had between 5,000 and 6,000. We were making the same amount of steel, 5 million tons a year, with higher quality and lower cost.”

      But keep spreading that myth of "unions=job loss". They're lapping it up in the red states. Amazing how so many middle-class people will vote against their own self-interests.

      --
      I've learned that they're worthless, so I don't read AC comments anymore.
  2. Re:The fact remains... by BronsCon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Someone cared enough to post the source, with a writeup about their experience with it, someone cared enough to submit it, someone cared enough to approve it, at the very least I cared enough to read it and even browse the source a bit. At least one more of the over 7 billion people on the planet will probably care, as well.

    --
    APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
  3. Neat, thanks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's interesting just to look at the overall organization of the code, although relatively few will probably invest hours in getting to know it well.

    I noticed that the source code is released under the MIT license, but the submitter/coder also points out the DOOM 3DO IP is owned by ZeniMax, who retains exclusive rights. I assume that applies to names, trademarks, and graphics only.

  4. IBM and HP, please release the source! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    While this code is historically important, and its release is excellent news, I would like to see larger companies like IBM and HP release code to old versions of useful or widely used products.

    I would love it if HP would release the source code to older versions of HP-UX, Tru64 UNIX, and older Digital software.

    I would also love it if IBM would release the source code to older versions of AIX, DB2, Informix, the Lotus products, and so on and so forth.

    This source code would be great to have available due to its historical significance, because it was the software powering some of the most critical business systems in the world.

    1. Re:IBM and HP, please release the source! by _merlin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The trouble is there's so much cross-licensing and license pollution involved. No-one would know for sure whether a codebase contains something licensed in a way that prevents them from redistributing it in source code form. Well, IBM might, but I wouldn't expect anyone else to.

    2. Re:IBM and HP, please release the source! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Chances are there's too much buried and forgotten in any decades-proprietary OS that would make any company nervous about releasing the source code at this late date, and that would apply to Windows, OS/2 and Mac OS 9 as well. Somebody could come out of the woodwork and start filing lawsuits.

      Not to mention the SCO courtroom shenanigans surrounding the murky tale of the opening of the Unix IP in stages over four (!) decades. Nobody wants to risk revisiting that.

    3. Re:IBM and HP, please release the source! by ArsonSmith · · Score: 2

      I worked at Motorola about 10 years ago on a team that was just there to keep old applications written in the 80s and 90s around so that when non-upgraded customers wanted changes they could pay through the nose for us to dig up their applications and make changes. This was big money for Motorola and I guess the customers thought it was better than going through the upgrades.

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
  5. Unions, a case study. by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Result before unions:

    Sometimes programmers hired on death marches, feel free to leave and find better work.

    Result after unions:

    All programming now inherently a death march because unskilled "coders" most senior members of any team, cannot be fired and also direct architecture.

    Leaving a job where the petty minded rulers feel like you slighted them means you will never work as a coder again because other union shops are told not to work with you.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Unions, a case study. by Weirsbaski · · Score: 2

      Result after unions:
      ...
      ... where the petty minded rulers feel like you slighted them means you will never work as a coder again because other union shops are told not to work with you

      What's this have to do with unions? Do non-union industries have some mystical property that makes hiring-managers inherently non-petty?

      --

      I am not a sig.
    2. Re:Unions, a case study. by dreamchaser · · Score: 2

      I believe the reference is to union leaders, not managers. In most cases managers are not union members.

    3. Re:Unions, a case study. by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 2

      All programming now inherently a death march because unskilled "coders" most senior members of any team, cannot be fired and also direct architecture.

      You do realize that you can create your own union however you want. Make it easy to fire bad coders. The problems you listed are pretty specific to the UAW and government job unions. Look at German Unions. Everyone is in a union over there.

      Model the union however you want when you create it.

  6. HP-UX by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    I had some opportunity to work with HP-UX (built GnuMake on it for a in-company build/QA system), it was always an interesting and very different beast. Is it still around in any form?

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:HP-UX by Guy+Harris · · Score: 4, Informative

      I had some opportunity to work with HP-UX (built GnuMake on it for a in-company build/QA system), it was always an interesting and very different beast. Is it still around in any form?

      Yes.

  7. IB4 Michael Hardy by Nyder · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://youfailit.net/?p=49

    My guess is this guy will start selling this game, claiming he programmed it, and a 3DO emulator source he'll also claim as he did.

    --
    Be seeing you...
    1. Re:IB4 Michael Hardy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why is this rated Troll?

      It may be unlikely that the individual named in that series of articles will actually rip-off this project, but I found the articles to be "Informative", even if it's "Off-topic".

      Now, slightly-more on-topic (but not really), and in a more positive tone: Ms. Heineman, thank you for releasing this. And thank you as well for Bard's Tale III. I spent many hours watching my father play it during my youth. Many fond memories there... (Except for the memories of trying to figure out that we needed the Rainbow Dragon's blood. :) )

  8. Re:Can't blame him/her by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Funny

    If I had 10 weeks to port Doom to the 3DO I would have cut my dick off too

    Please, don't let that stop you!

    At least this way you won't be as much of a dick :-)

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  9. Anti-worker would mean against, not for... by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yea, cause that is totally how unions work.

    Reply modeled after real world examples, including Teachers Unions.

    If you don't think any group with power over workers prevents "troublesome" workers from finding work, you are simply naive.

    nice anti-workers rhetoric

    What could be more pro-worker than protecting workers from predation? Being anti-union is inherantly being for the workers, not the overseers.

    I forgot to add the third aspect of "after union" - you make 20% less pay and your union leader lives in a mansion.

    are you just a temporarily embarrassed millionaire?

    A) Never be ashamed at having a strong opinion.

    B) Not even close to a millionaire, temporary or otherwise. I work for a living thank you very much.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Anti-worker would mean against, not for... by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 3, Interesting

      IMO the reason unions are anti-worker is because unions work in the best interest of the union management. Take for exapmle the whole mess with Hostess where the union bosses called it a success because the workers stood their ground, even though their members were all jobless after that (but the union bosses still retained their higher paying jobs...)

      Unions are also anti-worker because most of the ones that exist today started via mafia style tactics (threatening workers who didn't join the union and pay dues with violence, in addition to threatening business owners with violence.)

      Yes, pushing for higher wages is part of their motivation, but that's only because the higher your wages, the more dues they collect from you. They don't give a shit if you're a bad employee, just so long as you're a dues paying member.

      Oh and who remembers the Obamacare provision that permitted union management to keep "Cadillac" health insurance plans while nobody else was allowed to?

    2. Re:Anti-worker would mean against, not for... by rockout · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Being anti-union is inherantly being for the workers, not the overseers.

      I forgot to add the third aspect of "after union" - you make 20% less pay and your union leader lives in a mansion.

      Both of these assertions are such complete bullshit and make it obvious that your entire knowledge of unions is based on no real-world experience with them.

      Let's start with your "like teachers' unions" analogy. Right there you've equated a union in a public service job (government paycheck) with all unions, which is ridiculous. Yes, it's true that it's tougher to fire a teacher than it is to fire a McDonald's employee. It's also true that you have no clue about how private sector unions are formed, or why they're formed. Their primary purpose is not protectionism, it's to get paid more. You can't just lump all unions into one box and declare they're all evil. Are some corrupt? Yes, of course. Do people like you then erroneously believe they're all corrupt, just because you've got some right-wing dogma implanted in your Archie-Bunker-like skull? Yes, you do.

      When the people with 99% of the money dictate what you should be paid, and their decrees have nothing to do with your fair market value, because they're a near-monopoly that believes in getting workers for the absolute minimum amount possible, the only way to push back is with a union. You can't do it yourself, period. I'm in a union of freelancers (not programming or IT related, but I am a technician) and before the union was formed, the people in charge of setting the rates for freelancers had a "take it or leave it" attitude, even though their profits was very very comfortable - that didn't matter, they wanted more. Well, guess what? Us freelancers wanted more too. We got the union formed, and my day rate went up about 30% almost overnight. And was there less work as a result? Not at all. The execs and shareholders making the money are still making money, they're just making a little bit less profit than they were before. It's not like they were going to say, "Oh we were getting .26 on the dollar before, and now we're only getting .23 on the dollar.... fuck it! let's shut the whole operation down."

      Everyone wants to make more money. Unions are the only way for the workers to push back - if workers don't push back, they'll just make less and less and less over time. Take your anti-union rhetoric and toss it back to Fox News where it belongs. The real world is much more complex than the simple cliches you've trotted out.

      --
      I've learned that they're worthless, so I don't read AC comments anymore.
    3. Re:Anti-worker would mean against, not for... by DexterIsADog · · Score: 4, Funny

      B) Not even close to a millionaire, temporary or otherwise. I work for a living thank you very much.

      Mmm, not to nitpick, but plenty of us who are millionaires also still work for a living. And some of us despair a little as we slide closer to retirement, knowing we will likely have to settle for a lesser lifestyle when we stop working.

    4. Re:Anti-worker would mean against, not for... by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Interesting

      When the people with 99% of the money dictate

      And you accuse me of dogma... trigger warning people!

      The Hostess example the other guy posted shows clearly enough the same thing applies when unions are in the public sector.

      It's not being inherently anti-union, it's understanding human nature. Unions are simply another kind of company that over time uses workers to maximize union income. Note I did not say union worker income... that may be a side benefit, though usually a short-lived one.

      Everyone wants to make more money. Unions are the only way for the workers to push back

      That is not at all true. You can either ask for a raise, or find somewhere else to work for more money.

      Programmers (and I include myself here) traditionally find it difficult to ask for more money, even though it can be very effective. But they don't find it very difficult at all to look for work, because there is usually a good range of choice as to where a programmer can work. So programmers have not really needed unions because getting more money is easily done, if desired...

      Which brings up another point; programmer pay is high enough usually that a union giving them more pay is seen as kind of pointless, when most feel like they make a good living already. Base pay for programming is high enough that salary is usually a secondary concern to other factors.

      Take your anti-union rhetoric and toss it back to Fox News where it belongs.

      I haven't watched Fox News pretty much ever; take your blindly applied stereotypes and your squawking parroting of talking points and bat them around the little bubble of unreality you live in.

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    5. Re:Anti-worker would mean against, not for... by dbIII · · Score: 2

      Looks like a fun game you are playing, but after seeing dozens of such posts it's boring for the rest of us reading your roleplaying efforts pretending to be an ignorant, two dimensional reactionary that hates everything that happened ever since the British got thrown out.
      Please just be yourself and write what you think instead of pretending to be that far too stupid to breathe character you write as.

    6. Re:Anti-worker would mean against, not for... by AuMatar · · Score: 2

      Then keep working. That's what retirement is- deciding not to work anymore and live off savings, because you prefer that lifestyle with less work and less money. Since you won't be bringing in a salary anymore, that means a lesser lifestyle money-wise. When that tradeoff is worth it is up to you.

      --
      I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
    7. Re: Anti-worker would mean against, not for... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Unions are also anti-worker because most of the ones that exist today started via mafia style tactics (threatening workers who didn't join the union and pay dues with violence, in addition to threatening business owners with violence.)

      You fully realize that at the time, the business owners were using violence themselves? Not to mention ignoring safety, paying in scrip, and all sorts of wonderful conduct that gets handwaved today, though if you have any doubts about the continued practices in this world, I'll sell you a ticket to Bangladesh.

    8. Re:Anti-worker would mean against, not for... by rockout · · Score: 2

      You're right, I should've stuck with my real-world example of when unions work, and work well - which I notice you conveniently ignored.

      I'm so tired of hearing the same "squawking parroting of talking points" from anti-union types such as yourself that I let me emotions get the better of me, and sank to your level. For that, I apologize, it was the wrong road.

      However, the fact remains that a few bad unions are constantly cited by assholes as being the rule, rather than the exception, and it's just not true. You do most Americans a disservice by attempting to paint all unions with that same brush. My family and I are better off because I'm in a union. If I wasn't, you know who would be better off? Rupert Murdoch, Disney shareholders, Viacom shareholders... the list goes on. I care about their pockets exactly the same amount as they care about mine - zero. The question is, why do YOU do care that they should be making more money than they already are? Why don't I and my fellow union members, in your view, have the right to seek more profit, just like they do?

      --
      I've learned that they're worthless, so I don't read AC comments anymore.
    9. Re:Anti-worker would mean against, not for... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Didn't Apple, Google, etc. just get busted for waging fixing and agreeing not to scalp each other's employees?

      Oh sure, when companies form organizations and agreements, it's just looking out after their own interests. When employees do it...

      And this completely ignores the conditions that makes unions look attractive in the first place, that apparently only have a very limited recourse in the law. Oh sure, you can always quit and find another job, because jobs are always plentiful, and you are like the Lone Ranger, able to wander the world, free of obligation or responsibility.

      You are little better than the people that blame guns as being inherently evil.

    10. Re: Anti-worker would mean against, not for... by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 2

      Unions are also anti-worker because most of the ones that exist today started via mafia style tactics (threatening workers who didn't join the union and pay dues with violence, in addition to threatening business owners with violence.)

      You fully realize that at the time, the business owners were using violence themselves? Not to mention ignoring safety, paying in scrip, and all sorts of wonderful conduct that gets handwaved today,

      That's justification for union organizers/leaders threatening and physically attacking workers?

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    11. Re:Anti-worker would mean against, not for... by lgw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Disney shareholders, Viacom shareholders... the list goes on. I care about their pockets exactly the same amount as they care about mine - zero.

      Why do you hate retired people? No, seriously - that's the vast majority of shareholders in the modern world. More than half of Americans own stock, usually as part of some 401k or pension plan (it was up to nearly 2/3s before the 08 collapse). The "owning class" is, well, everyone these days.

      Sure, ownership is unduly concentrated, but time and a broad interest in investing will fix that. All you have to do is buy stock, no 1%er can stop you.

      Why don't I and my fellow union members, in your view, have the right to seek more profit, just like they do?

      Hey, go for it, whatever. I can always sell my stock, and work elsewhere. Just don't take over an industry, that's a monopoly practice as bad as any other. I think you'll find most software developers rather enjoy the idea of meritocracy, and aren't particularly eager for a system based solely on seniority, but maybe there some group somewhere who aren't - people who think they're below average are sure to like the concept!

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    12. Re: Anti-worker would mean against, not for... by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 2, Informative

      Would you prefer they continue to suffer without offering resistance then? Do you believe they had some readily available option which they refusedf to use? That is a bit hard to say from the perspective of people over a century later.

      You could ask Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, even Moses, their thoughts as well.

      Well let's have a look at the times before modern labor unions:

      In the eighteenth century something approximating permanent labor organizations or trade unions were beginning to emerge from the industrialization of Great Britain. But in colonial America, as a general rule, the laborer procured the terms desired without having to combine with others. When American workers did take concerted action, it was invariably for a specific grievance and did not result in a permanent organization. The cases where master carpenters set up price scales for their trade are the exception. In certain trades, master workers combined to secure or maintain a monopoly of business operations and to prevent others from entering their trades, but such restraints were rapidly diminishing as the eighteenth century advanced. In the licensed trades, those who acted in concert were generally the employers. They combined with others in the same trade to secure better fees or prices, which were customarily regulated by local authority for the public interest. Today such combinations would be subject to antitrust laws.

      http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdo...

      Which by the way, this also explains why trade unions were VERY unpopular during the early years of America. Ben Franklin in particular was outspoken against them.

    13. Re: Anti-worker would mean against, not for... by dywolf · · Score: 2

      again you display your ignorance.
      the old trade guilds are a very thing different thing from unions (no seriosuly, you should the difference between craft and industrial unionization).
      and ben franklin's opinion is largely irrelevent, as are the opinions of pretty anyone else in pre-industrial pre-corporate america who could nto envision how the life of a typical citizen would change. in their time, a few people would learn an actual trade, and everyone else would farm for their supper; and even many of those who were tradesmans still grew their own food.

      the agrarian/craftsmen oriented America died out in between the things you are referencing. when america industrialized and when corporations and big businesses began taking over a different america emerged. one in which industrial workers were often little more than slave labor. where people would die in factory fires because the doors were locked. one in which workers demanding rights, or better treatment, were fired. and if they organized in an attempt to get equal footing with the company, they were frequently beaten or killed. often by the government, or at least with its tacit approval. so while intimidation, and even violence against scabs did occur, far far more was done as a result of anti-labor retaliation. things like snipers randomly shooting in tent cities of strikers. brutal bands of pinkertons and other "private" agencies (basically company armies). even outright massacres.

      Companies had special armored cars with machine guns on them for dealing with strikers. No, I'm not making that up. That was considered appropriate response. Imagine if Blackwater were used for security inside the United States, and killed american citizens, and got away with it, never getting punished. That was reality back then, and few people were ever prosecuted for it.

      You think the stuff in Ferguson is a big deal, people so disillusioned and unsatisfied and distrustful of their local governemnt and police, that they no longer ascribe any sort of authority to them, allowing a state of semi-lawlessness? Now imagine that the police response was to spray bullets into the crowds. Because that's what often happened to strikers.

      1200 people treated as little more than slaves, killed by camp guards and the National Guard, in 1914. : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...
      Frank Little, organzier, pulled from his bed and lynched: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F...
      1897, more coal miners killed, this time killed by the local Sherrif and his deputies, most of them shot in the back: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...
      1927, Colorado state police open fire using machine guns on strikers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...
      1920, in Montana, company gaurds open fire on strikers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    14. Re: Anti-worker would mean against, not for... by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 2

      the old trade guilds are a very thing different thing from unions (no seriosuly, you should the difference between craft and industrial unionization).

      They were lamented because they attempted to create a monopoly on labor. They still attempt to do the same thing today (look at the screen actor's guild for example.)

      and ben franklin's opinion is largely irrelevent, as are the opinions of pretty anyone else in pre-industrial pre-corporate america who could nto envision how the life of a typical citizen would change. in their time,

      Actually corporations in his time had even more power than they do today. For example, they had the power to jail and even execute people who were in arrears, in addition to being able to raise an army and declare war. The East Indian Trading Company did all of these things in fact.

  10. Wow great! It's awesome these old ports by 0xdeaddead · · Score: 2

    come back out. It's interesting to compare the various ports of doom that have been released over the years.

    Thanks for the hard work!

  11. Cars got made by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    and continue to get made well in Germany with Union Labor. Also, I'm fed up with the guys putting parts on at the assembly line getting blamed for for shitty American Cars. They just tightened the bolts people. Yes, it's hard, mind numbing work; but at the end of the day it was management going to engineering to say "Make a car _this_ cheap that we can sell for _this_ much that created shitty American Cars. Engineers just do what they're told, and Management wasn't unionized.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Cars got made by Kobun · · Score: 2

      To play Devil's Advocate (just a little bit) - there are cultural differences (sometimes huge) between the USA and Germany, and a HUGE cultural difference between their respective labor unions. There may be more to a German car being built well than whether or not a Union was involved.

    2. Re:Cars got made by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 4, Interesting

      and continue to get made well in Germany with Union Labor. Also, I'm fed up with the guys putting parts on at the assembly line getting blamed for for shitty American Cars. They just tightened the bolts people.

      My father worked for GM and was in the UAW. It never stopped him from telling us how bad his coworkers and fellow union members were. Stupid and lazy people are not excluded from union membership.

      One of my teachers in high school also had UAW experience. One story I remember was of the spot welders that were supposed to make a dozen precise welds as the frame moved down the assembly line. Some days the workers just didn't care, and made eight welds that were near where they were supposed to be. Those cars would rattle from the missing and misplaced welds. Also, he mentioned the senior union members who came in late, left for lunch early, and never returned. Or worse, returned from lunch drunker than they were earlier.

      So, for all the good than someone can point out in unions' favor, there are just as many examples of how they eventually fail. As another post points out, it is more the character of the worker than his membership in a union that determines the quality of his work.

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    3. Re:Cars got made by lgw · · Score: 2

      GM was bankrupt because of their union pension plans, full stop. The pension plans cost more than all the active union workers. Blame anyone you want to for that, the future of manufacturing is all robots anyhow.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    4. Re:Cars got made by Antony+T+Curtis · · Score: 2

      GM was bankrupt because of their union pension plans, full stop. The pension plans cost more than all the active union workers. Blame anyone you want to for that, the future of manufacturing is all robots anyhow.

      Not true. They went bankrupt because they sold crappy cars which cost them a fortune in warranty repairs.

      I purchased a GM car in 2005. By the time we got rid of it in 2009, it had received the following repair warranties:
      2 wheel bearings, 3 steering columns, 2 ECUs, 5 replacement door hinges, 2 brake discs, 2 auto transmissions and 1 door window motor.

      In compensation, we were promised a $400 check but we never did receive it and to be honest, I don't care. We don't have the deathtrap anymore.

      With all the billable hours that the vehicle spent in the shop, the vehicle must have been a big fat loss. Given how busy they were fixing up other vehicles, ours wasn't a unique case. This is what made GM go bankrupt.

      I have never had a vehicle which was so unreliable before or since. As a consequence, I shall never buy another GM vehicle.

      --
      No sig. Move along - nothing to see here.
    5. Re:Cars got made by Vintermann · · Score: 2

      People blamed Japanese cars eclipsing American ones on cultural differences too. But fact it, it was an American business theorists, W. Edwards Deming, who was the father of Japanese car manufacturing's business practices. And if you look at his preaching, you'll see - well, that it is preaching, in a sense. There is a distinct moral tinge to it, directed almost exclusively at leaders.

      Deming was an avid Episcopalian and psalm writer. Turns out is was a light codification of "protestant work ethic" in business language which worked for Japanese car industry, not any innate collectivism.

      And why did he go to Japan? Because no one would listen in the USA. Something something prophet without honor...

      --
      xkcd is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
    6. Re:Cars got made by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 2

      Isn't being drunk at work something you can be fired for, union or otherwise?

      In a rational world, yes it would be. But here in America, unions make their own rules. Senior union members would have to do much worse than being drunk to get fired. However, new union members would not necessarily have that protection. That would still be at the discretion of the union bosses though, not the employer.

      There clearly has to be a balance, and just because American did it wrong doesn't mean the concept is broken.

      That is true, but most of us here on /. are American living in America, so we give our slant to it. Personally, I don't reject the concept of unions, and I know what conditions they were formed to fight against, but their current manifestation in the US is not good. It's party politics, but with people's jobs.

      People are suggesting throwing the whole idea out when it just needs some improvements, but that seems to be the normal polemic nature of American political "debate".

      The improvements can't happen, because the unions themselves, along with their political benefactors, insist they are already perfect. The improvements would take power from the union, since it isn't likely that the needed fix is to give the union more power over the workers and employer. And any change that would limit the power of the union is treated as a deathmatch, to be fought with every available resource.

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
  12. Re:Can't blame him/her by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In case people are missing it:

    In the book "Masters of Doom" about the formation and early years of Id Software, there was a character mentioned called Burger Bill, who had a penchant for nibbling on an old cheeseburger he kept in his desk draw.

    I remember reading in the comments on a story here years ago that Burger Bill was now Burger Becky, who it seems is the person who did this port.

  13. yes I know it's a SHE by PJ6 · · Score: 2

    I reserve the right to use 'he' as a neuter pronoun when code is involved.

    ...

    OK, you got me. I posted before seeing the very bottom of the article, and I'm totally sexist for assuming it was a dude.

    Hey at least I read it.

    1. Re:yes I know it's a SHE by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 2

      .. and she should be congratulated for having the courage to submit this, knowing that, this being slashdot, some jerks would post totally uncalled for crap like this.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  14. if ohshit by rwven · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, I've been looking for like 5 minutes and already found this gem:

    https://github.com/Olde-Skuul/...

    1. Re:if ohshit by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Cue all the programming nazis^purists who thing that "you should never use a goto in c".

      The code's very readable - bonus points for style.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    2. Re:if ohshit by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Informative

      The code's very readable - bonus points for style.

      Seriously? It has a DO loop inside of a GOTO loop inside of another GOTO loop. Those are the ones I've found so far. Also, it doesn't actually abort when it goes to ABORT.....from there it jumps back to AGAIN. The structure of that code is exactly why GOTOs are considered evil.

      And for the record, I don't oppose gotos, but I do oppose them used in ugly code.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    3. Re:if ohshit by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 2

      I like the style because it reads like the assembler I used to write. If you read her bio, she spent a LOT of time doing assembler, so any c code is going to have some carry-over. YOU might not like it, but it works, it's easy to understand, and easy to understand beats adding more conditional flags any day.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  15. Re:Can't blame him/her by haruchai · · Score: 4, Informative

    You're correct - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...

    S/he was born William Salvador Heineman

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  16. Re:The fact remains... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    All 5 of them?

  17. Re:My hat is off to you, sir! by burgerbecky · · Score: 5, Informative

    The ARM linker for the 3DO will link each and every function in the source file if only one function in a file was used. It was common practice in the 80s and 90s to write library code with each function in its own source file to get around the problem of accidental code bloat. Look to the early GNU stdlib implementation and you'll notice they did the same thing. Modern linkers with Link Time Code Generation don't suffer from this issue since they will remove every piece of dead or unused code wherever it is, which is why Burgerlib 5 is in a lot fewer source files than Burgerlib 1, 2 or 3.

  18. Re: The fact remains... by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 2

    I'll toss my hat into the ring on this one. I thought it was very interesting to see what issues they had to work around, and how they did just that.

    --
    If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
  19. Background: Dijkstra's case against goto by tepples · · Score: 3, Informative

    And if anybody doesn't understand: The goto statement is considered harmful, except when it's not. When used in situations where structured programming (while and friends) expresses the intent more cleanly, it's harmful. But when used as the backend of a coroutine macro library, it's not. And when used to jump to cleanup code in exceptional conditions, as seen here, it's not.

  20. Re:Best music by jones_supa · · Score: 2

    Here's the soundtrack in YouTube.

  21. Re:The fact remains... by Elad+Alon · · Score: 2
    --
    News for merdes. Shit that matters.
    Ask me about my sig.
  22. Re:The fact remains... by ray-auch · · Score: 2

    Biological sex is not binary, so it is difficult to arbitrarily say that an individual is biologically one sex or another.

    It's in the chromosomes. It's all about the X's and Y's.

    Er, yes, for many/most people, but for a significant minority, it is not, which is the point (and actually even if it is all about the chromosomes, you still have the trisomy etc. conditions).

    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medline...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I... (see definitions section)

  23. Re:Hint: Too High Wages are Too High by dunkelfalke · · Score: 2

    And automation was cost effective because automation is always cost effective. Even in China's sweatshops workers are increasingly replaced by automation as soon as automation for a given task is available. In the long term, only volunteering is cheaper than automation.

    --
    "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  24. Re:The fact remains... by rujasu · · Score: 3, Informative

    "burgerbecky" is Rebecca Heineman, who programmed The Bard's Tale III and Dragon Wars, two of my favorite old computer RPG's. I had no idea she worked on 3DO Doom.

  25. Re:Unions prime example of concept by dywolf · · Score: 2

    However since unions make workers over time poorer, not richer, and exist (again over time) primarily for the benefit of union leadership, they are a prime example of supporting the rich over the common folk.

    Everything you just stated is counterfactual to actual historical fact and actual economic trends and correlations. Higher union membership rates is correlated with higher average wages across the nation, for everyone not just union workers. And union workers in equivelent fields earn an average of 200 more per week, which is 10k a year.

    Higher membership rates also correlates (directly, as in the flip is easily seen when plotted: http://ashcraftandgerel.com/wp... ) with less moeny going to the executives and owners of the companies..which means more is going to the workers. IE, they kept a bigger piece of the pie...that they made.

    Know that chart showing how american worker productivity just keeps climbing higher and higher, while the workers wages have stayed flat for 40 years....but the rich's incomes have climbed (ie, they get all the increased revenues from the higher productivity)...ya, that break point corresponds very closely with the successful re-breaking of the unions in this country around the same time.

    When union membership started falling, wages fell too.
    and a lack and lowering of union protections is also correlated to a rise in improper firings and other abusie practices by companies.

    So you arent protecting workers.
    You're just protecting corporations from those pesky employees that make their companies successful.

    --
    The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
  26. author interview by Bobtree · · Score: 2

    Gamasutra did a great interview with Burger a few years ago: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/...

  27. Re:Well, Now I Have to Read The Thing... by burgerbecky · · Score: 2

    If you're ever in Seattle, we have to head to a coffee shop and cry our eyes out on the crap we had to deal with developing for the 3DO!!!