Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Losing Ground On Windows Store and UWP For Gaming
Vigile writes: Microsoft has big plans to try and merge the experiences of the Xbox One and Windows for gaming but the push back from the community and from major developers and personalities is mounting. Earlier this week PC Perspective posted a story that detailed the controversy around DX12 performance analysis without an exclusive full screen mode, changes to multi-GPU configurations and even compatibility issues with variable refresh that crop up from games from the Windows Store. Microsoft's only official response so far as been that it is listening to feedback and plans to address it with upcoming changes. Now today, Epic's Tim Sweeney has posted an editorial at The Guardian with an even more dramatic tone, saying that UWP (Unified Windows Platform) "can, should, must and will, die..." Clearly the stakes are being placed in the ground and even damage control from Phil Spencer on Twitter isn't likely to hold back angry PC users.
Here is a list someone made:
No SLI/Crossfire,
Windows 10 store download is buggy,
No refund policy explained,
Vsync is always on,
Always borderless fullscreen,
Game files are protected,
Can't launch it via the exe (So adding it as a non steam game will not work)
No fps/hardware monitor software works with it,
You need to take control of the folder as admin if you want access to the files
Mouse software which lets you create custom binds for each game doesn't work
Say bye to using sweetfx and mods
Since no fps/hardware monitor software works, this means overlays meaning no Steam Controller since you can't use Big Picture Mode
I like using Linux for most things, but Windows 7 is my main OS because it plays all my games reliably, Linux is still lacking in this area. I'd love if this UWP fiasco finally pushed gamers and developers off of Windows for good,
If Microsoft has their way, it will be ALL OF US. This is why Steam OS exists, to try and help stave off this future where Microsoft controls the PC gaming market. You saw what plans they had at the Xbox One launch shitshow, they havent abandoned them, just delayed.
Good-bye
Remember Windows RT? This is Windows RT repackaged. It's the slow to a boil cooking method. Once they reach critical acceptance they will deprecate the Win32 API in Windows and ONLY UWP API's will work. This will take years but Microsoft has always gone for the long game. Remember when they lost the browser wars to Netscape or the time they were five years late to the internet?
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
Nothing can beat the bandwidth of a truck full of blu rays.
Since it's /. I get to geek out and say nuh'uh
BDXL = 128GB = 120mm Dia x 1.2 mm = 9MB/mm^2
2.5" HDD = 4TB = 100mmx70x19 = 27MB/mm^2
3.5" HDD = 10TB = 146mmx102x25 = 30MB/mm^2
microSDXC = 200GB = 15mmx11x1 - 1212MB/mm^2
Flash wins by three orders of magnitude :)
26' uHaul truck (since we're geeks not CDL drivers) holds 7400lbs or 3357KG .25g so you can carry 13,428,000 (by volume is 2x higher but...max weight)
uSDXC weights
2,685,600,000GB or 2.7EB
Let's say we're going 100km/hr and going NYC to SF for 4700km or 47 hours or 169,200 seconds
So that's about 16000GB/s
The approximate bandwidth of a 26' uHaul is 127tbps.
Those cards are $100 each so it'd only cost $1.3 billion (plus gas, tolls, and rental)
Let me know next time you want to move 2.7EB from NYC to SF - I'm down.
You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.