They are porting because currently their entire business depends on MS... That's not a good situation to be in, where a single third party effectively has a gun to your head.
Aren't there some games companies who published stats on how many players use Wine to run their games? I doubt anyone would use wine if there were native versions available, and the number of people using wine is relatively easy to count.
What's much harder to quantify, is the number if people who dual boot and would choose a linux version if it were available, especially if it was faster.
The desktop won't die, but it looks likely to become a niche used by people with specific needs. Depending how small that niche becomes, MS may not bother to cater to it at all whereas there will always be niche open source software.
Back to topic tho, OpenGL only makes sense, it's a cross platform API which is supported by virtually everything, even if you have no intention of producing a non windows version of your game now you can't be sure of what the future will hold, so if you use OGL then your game will still run just fine on windows, while also make porting to other platforms considerably easier. You have potential benefits, and no downsides. If you get better performance under windows then it really is a no brainer.
It hasn't been fragmented, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone are different products, that's why they have different names (that should have been your first clue).
That's even worse, it shows that MS are willing to drop products and leave users high and dry. Windows mobile didn't exactly command a large marketshare, but there were still plenty of users left hanging. And now, anyone who bought a window phone 7 device is going to be left high and dry again as they won't be able to upgrade to the latest version, which is a bit poor considering how new some of the handsets are.
Well, the presence of a local escalation hole makes other vulnerabilities more serious... Just some of the possible scenarios:
An HPC cluster with multiple non root users, could exploit this to get root... Someone using linux as a workstation, exploited via a userland hole (eg browser bug), this nullifies the advantage of running as an unprivileged user.
Sure it's not as serious as a remote root hole, but it can still be a useful hole for a hacker.
Not only is windows mobile market share declining rapidly, but its been fragmented... First with the incompatible windows phone 7 replacing previous versions, and now it looks like version 8 will break compatibility yet again.
Just being bug free doesn't mean you don't need support, support is there to help people who aren't using the software properly too. Also if the support is never used, eventually the bean counters will think its not worth the cost and cut it.
Yeah that's utterly ridiculous, i drive a classic car which as with most classic cars is not exceptionally reliable, so i always carry a set of tools around in the back. In fact, this car actually comes with a toolkit which is fitted into its own dedicated compartment of the car!
The victim can choose to ignore comments on the internet, a rape victim cannot ignore an act of rape being committed against themselves. The two are not in the least bit comparable.
People should have a thicker skin, its only words and words cannot hurt you, didn't they teach you that in school?
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me"
Does everyone who develops software for Windows "owe their very existence" to Microsoft?
Pretty much yes, MS can cut off their market whenever they want. That's what Valve don't like, and is one of the main reasons why they are making Mac and Linux versions of Steam and many of their games.
The next Amiga 500 is exactly what the world needs...
It was powerful, and yet also highly affordable. It was open to homebrew developers and also had a good selection of big name games. It came with a fully capable OS and programming languages, and encouraged you to learn about them, rather than making you scared of breaking it.
It was easy to pirate games... While this is controversial, it certainly helps the platform. All of the people i knew at the time (being in my early teens at the time) bought some games and pirated others (usually by sharing copies with friends), there's no way we could have bought more games because we simply didn't have the cash. Had we not been able to share games, we simply would have had less of them, and some games we would never have discovered at all.
It was a computer that could be used for educational purposes, not just a console - a factor that made many parents choose it.
What we need is a system that is affordable, can provide affordable and accessible entertainment but can also educate. The Amiga provided that once, but we need a modern replacement!
You could also consider, that basic software features like an OS, a web browser etc are something that everyone requires these days and should very much be free. On the other hand games are purely for entertainment, noone *needs* games. Them being non free isn't significantly harming anyone.
And instead of games being free and open up front, perhaps the ID approach would be acceptable for all concerned. Let them make their money from the game up front (its hard to argue that ID games haven't been successful), and then release the source later so that everyone can benefit from it. This was also the original spirit of copyright, give the author time to make money from his work and then release it so everyone can benefit later.
I love quake as a game, i bought a copy when it came out and thanks to the source being open i can still play it today without resorting to emulation. As an added bonus, the graphics look much better than they did originally.
They are expensive, bulky, and generally slow compared to full size laptops, and the speed is directly comparable because they run the same software.
The interface of windows is simply not suited to use on a tablet... They are trying to address this with metro, albeit in a stupid way... Touchscreens and mouse/keyboard are totally different, and therefore should have different interfaces. Forcing a touchscreen interface on keyboard/mouse users is just as bad as forcing the regular windows interfaces on touchscreen users.
Same thing with apps, sure an x86 tablet can run existing windows apps, but interacting with them is painful.
The fact is that despite having been available for years, windows tablets have not taken off. The iPad on the other hand sold massively pretty much as soon as it became available.
Why would they buy msoffice? Put it this way, how many users buy msoffice and then complain it wont run on their ipad?
This old "users will buy boxed software and be annoyed when it doesn't work" fud is ridiculous, as such a model is simply rendered obsolete by a repository / app store model. Why would anyone waste their time going to a store when they can just select what they want from a menu and have it installed and updated automatically?
Buying software on physical media is not what the average consumer wants, at best it will end up as a small niche occupied by an ever decreasing pool of people who can't get a fast enough internet connection.
The average guy on the street will almost certainly be using linux regularly in one capacity or another, and simply doesn't realise it... Phones, routers, televisions, set top boxes etc, many of these things run linux. Even those who do, usually don't realise that linux can be installed on regular computers.
What's really needed is a marketing campaign to raise awareness and promote the advantages and differences linux has. OEMs should really get in on this, as their current business model being 100% dependent on MS is very dangerous... Similarly Valve, if a few big names get behind linux and actively promote it you should see a big change.
Skype is a huge step backwards to phone service of the 60s or earlier, there is a single provider and you must use clients which are provided by the telco, and lets not forget that monopoly telcos never used to charge by the minute for calls originally, that was introduced later.
Today things are generally much better... There is often a choice of landline providers depending on your location, and there is usually a choice of mobile providers. The same is true of proper (ie standards compliant like SIP) VOIP service, many providers competing to offer better deals.
And they basically have to start again... The Concorde improved over its lifetime as various tweaks were made to it, had development continued there would be far more efficient versions in the skies today.
There was even a Concorde model B design that was due to go into production had more Concordes been sold, it did away with the afterburners and had a somewhat longer range... Had there been continual improvement, then today's Concorde would be massively more efficient than the original one.
If you were in Valve's position, that is their entire business is 100% dependent on microsoft, wouldn't you want to expand into areas which weren't controlled by ms? Having all your eggs in one basket is never a good situation to be in.
Piracy exists on every platform that ever had any relevant level of market share... Windows does nothing to hinder application piracy for instance.
Piracy popularises the platform, and what would you rather have, 10% of a million users, or 90% of a thousand users? Some will pay, some won't, and those who don't usually wouldn't have anyway, but on the other hand they are increasing your user base, viewing your ads and have now heard of your company and may well recommend your apps to their friends, some of whom may well buy them.
Windows succeeded largely because both it and the applications running on it could be pirated. If it was not possible to pirate windows, then a significant proportion of the world would be running something else, either linux or something else that they can pirate. Were that the case, MS would have significantly less influence over the market, their paying customers would be less locked in and a lot of those who buy software would be using alternatives too.
MS pretty much owe their existence to piracy... Bill Gates even admitted he would prefer users to run a pirated windows than a competitor. So do Adobe, if everyone who pirated photoshop used something else then it would have a lot less mindshare.
He never said he downloads music for free illegally, he just said he doesn't buy music... Maybe he downloads music which is intentionally released for free, or doesn't download music at all.
In fact, he openly states that the only thing he downloads illegally are old games which are no longer available to buy (ie abandonware)...
Abandonware is a pet hate of mine, in that i have a collection of classic computers but some software for them is hard if not impossible to find. I have even contacted former publishers offering to buy software and they've refused to supply it to me at all.
Given that old software is generally small, it would cost them virtually nothing to add it to a corner of their web store for a token price and allow users to download it. They could even release it for free, or open source it as some companies have done.
The idea that software which was once on open sale and heavily promoted, is now being locked up where it is doing noone any good whatsoever is ridiculous. There should be a law that causes copyright to automatically expire when a product is no longer available to purchase.
99 cents may not be a lot to you, but to some people it's still a sting... Especially for those in third world countries where that could be a whole day's wages... And 99 cents may not seem like much on its own, but it soon adds up... Buy a game for 99 cents and don't like it, or don't get much entertainment out of it and you end up buying another, and another, and another.... Eventually you've spent a quite sizeable amount of money.
Also iOS simply doesn't cater to the lower end of the market, while Android does, thus you will find that the average iOS user has far more disposable income than the average Android user.
The fact is piracy occurs on both platforms, and will continue to do so irrespective of what technical measures anyone implements. Android may make things easier out of the box, but there are so many places you can take your iphone to and have it cracked assuming you lack the knowledge to do it yourself.
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They are porting because currently their entire business depends on MS... That's not a good situation to be in, where a single third party effectively has a gun to your head.
Aren't there some games companies who published stats on how many players use Wine to run their games?
I doubt anyone would use wine if there were native versions available, and the number of people using wine is relatively easy to count.
What's much harder to quantify, is the number if people who dual boot and would choose a linux version if it were available, especially if it was faster.
The desktop won't die, but it looks likely to become a niche used by people with specific needs. Depending how small that niche becomes, MS may not bother to cater to it at all whereas there will always be niche open source software.
Back to topic tho, OpenGL only makes sense, it's a cross platform API which is supported by virtually everything, even if you have no intention of producing a non windows version of your game now you can't be sure of what the future will hold, so if you use OGL then your game will still run just fine on windows, while also make porting to other platforms considerably easier.
You have potential benefits, and no downsides. If you get better performance under windows then it really is a no brainer.
It hasn't been fragmented, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone are different products, that's why they have different names (that should have been your first clue).
That's even worse, it shows that MS are willing to drop products and leave users high and dry. Windows mobile didn't exactly command a large marketshare, but there were still plenty of users left hanging. And now, anyone who bought a window phone 7 device is going to be left high and dry again as they won't be able to upgrade to the latest version, which is a bit poor considering how new some of the handsets are.
Well, the presence of a local escalation hole makes other vulnerabilities more serious... Just some of the possible scenarios:
An HPC cluster with multiple non root users, could exploit this to get root...
Someone using linux as a workstation, exploited via a userland hole (eg browser bug), this nullifies the advantage of running as an unprivileged user.
Sure it's not as serious as a remote root hole, but it can still be a useful hole for a hacker.
Not only is windows mobile market share declining rapidly, but its been fragmented... First with the incompatible windows phone 7 replacing previous versions, and now it looks like version 8 will break compatibility yet again.
Just being bug free doesn't mean you don't need support, support is there to help people who aren't using the software properly too.
Also if the support is never used, eventually the bean counters will think its not worth the cost and cut it.
Yeah that's utterly ridiculous, i drive a classic car which as with most classic cars is not exceptionally reliable, so i always carry a set of tools around in the back.
In fact, this car actually comes with a toolkit which is fitted into its own dedicated compartment of the car!
The victim can choose to ignore comments on the internet, a rape victim cannot ignore an act of rape being committed against themselves.
The two are not in the least bit comparable.
People should have a thicker skin, its only words and words cannot hurt you, didn't they teach you that in school?
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me"
Even worse, bad code can lead to more paid support incidents... If the code is bug free, they will make a lot less from their support offerings.
Does everyone who develops software for Windows "owe their very existence" to Microsoft?
Pretty much yes, MS can cut off their market whenever they want. That's what Valve don't like, and is one of the main reasons why they are making Mac and Linux versions of Steam and many of their games.
The next Amiga 500 is exactly what the world needs...
It was powerful, and yet also highly affordable.
It was open to homebrew developers and also had a good selection of big name games.
It came with a fully capable OS and programming languages, and encouraged you to learn about them, rather than making you scared of breaking it.
It was easy to pirate games... While this is controversial, it certainly helps the platform. All of the people i knew at the time (being in my early teens at the time) bought some games and pirated others (usually by sharing copies with friends), there's no way we could have bought more games because we simply didn't have the cash. Had we not been able to share games, we simply would have had less of them, and some games we would never have discovered at all.
It was a computer that could be used for educational purposes, not just a console - a factor that made many parents choose it.
What we need is a system that is affordable, can provide affordable and accessible entertainment but can also educate. The Amiga provided that once, but we need a modern replacement!
You could also consider, that basic software features like an OS, a web browser etc are something that everyone requires these days and should very much be free.
On the other hand games are purely for entertainment, noone *needs* games. Them being non free isn't significantly harming anyone.
And instead of games being free and open up front, perhaps the ID approach would be acceptable for all concerned. Let them make their money from the game up front (its hard to argue that ID games haven't been successful), and then release the source later so that everyone can benefit from it. This was also the original spirit of copyright, give the author time to make money from his work and then release it so everyone can benefit later.
I love quake as a game, i bought a copy when it came out and thanks to the source being open i can still play it today without resorting to emulation. As an added bonus, the graphics look much better than they did originally.
There have been windows tablets for many years...
They are expensive, bulky, and generally slow compared to full size laptops, and the speed is directly comparable because they run the same software.
The interface of windows is simply not suited to use on a tablet... They are trying to address this with metro, albeit in a stupid way... Touchscreens and mouse/keyboard are totally different, and therefore should have different interfaces. Forcing a touchscreen interface on keyboard/mouse users is just as bad as forcing the regular windows interfaces on touchscreen users.
Same thing with apps, sure an x86 tablet can run existing windows apps, but interacting with them is painful.
The fact is that despite having been available for years, windows tablets have not taken off. The iPad on the other hand sold massively pretty much as soon as it became available.
Why would they buy msoffice?
Put it this way, how many users buy msoffice and then complain it wont run on their ipad?
This old "users will buy boxed software and be annoyed when it doesn't work" fud is ridiculous, as such a model is simply rendered obsolete by a repository / app store model. Why would anyone waste their time going to a store when they can just select what they want from a menu and have it installed and updated automatically?
Buying software on physical media is not what the average consumer wants, at best it will end up as a small niche occupied by an ever decreasing pool of people who can't get a fast enough internet connection.
The average guy on the street will almost certainly be using linux regularly in one capacity or another, and simply doesn't realise it... Phones, routers, televisions, set top boxes etc, many of these things run linux. Even those who do, usually don't realise that linux can be installed on regular computers.
What's really needed is a marketing campaign to raise awareness and promote the advantages and differences linux has. OEMs should really get in on this, as their current business model being 100% dependent on MS is very dangerous... Similarly Valve, if a few big names get behind linux and actively promote it you should see a big change.
I fail to see the correlation...
Skype is a huge step backwards to phone service of the 60s or earlier, there is a single provider and you must use clients which are provided by the telco, and lets not forget that monopoly telcos never used to charge by the minute for calls originally, that was introduced later.
Today things are generally much better... There is often a choice of landline providers depending on your location, and there is usually a choice of mobile providers. The same is true of proper (ie standards compliant like SIP) VOIP service, many providers competing to offer better deals.
And they basically have to start again...
The Concorde improved over its lifetime as various tweaks were made to it, had development continued there would be far more efficient versions in the skies today.
There was even a Concorde model B design that was due to go into production had more Concordes been sold, it did away with the afterburners and had a somewhat longer range... Had there been continual improvement, then today's Concorde would be massively more efficient than the original one.
If you were in Valve's position, that is their entire business is 100% dependent on microsoft, wouldn't you want to expand into areas which weren't controlled by ms? Having all your eggs in one basket is never a good situation to be in.
And it was just bloated and slow garbage for users of AmigaOS and Unix...
And in many countries, it was a pirated version (and a bunch of pirated apps) that come bundled.
Piracy exists on every platform that ever had any relevant level of market share...
Windows does nothing to hinder application piracy for instance.
Piracy popularises the platform, and what would you rather have, 10% of a million users, or 90% of a thousand users? Some will pay, some won't, and those who don't usually wouldn't have anyway, but on the other hand they are increasing your user base, viewing your ads and have now heard of your company and may well recommend your apps to their friends, some of whom may well buy them.
Windows succeeded largely because both it and the applications running on it could be pirated. If it was not possible to pirate windows, then a significant proportion of the world would be running something else, either linux or something else that they can pirate. Were that the case, MS would have significantly less influence over the market, their paying customers would be less locked in and a lot of those who buy software would be using alternatives too.
MS pretty much owe their existence to piracy... Bill Gates even admitted he would prefer users to run a pirated windows than a competitor.
So do Adobe, if everyone who pirated photoshop used something else then it would have a lot less mindshare.
He never said he downloads music for free illegally, he just said he doesn't buy music... Maybe he downloads music which is intentionally released for free, or doesn't download music at all.
In fact, he openly states that the only thing he downloads illegally are old games which are no longer available to buy (ie abandonware)...
Abandonware is a pet hate of mine, in that i have a collection of classic computers but some software for them is hard if not impossible to find. I have even contacted former publishers offering to buy software and they've refused to supply it to me at all.
Given that old software is generally small, it would cost them virtually nothing to add it to a corner of their web store for a token price and allow users to download it. They could even release it for free, or open source it as some companies have done.
The idea that software which was once on open sale and heavily promoted, is now being locked up where it is doing noone any good whatsoever is ridiculous. There should be a law that causes copyright to automatically expire when a product is no longer available to purchase.
99 cents may not be a lot to you, but to some people it's still a sting... Especially for those in third world countries where that could be a whole day's wages...
And 99 cents may not seem like much on its own, but it soon adds up... Buy a game for 99 cents and don't like it, or don't get much entertainment out of it and you end up buying another, and another, and another.... Eventually you've spent a quite sizeable amount of money.
Also iOS simply doesn't cater to the lower end of the market, while Android does, thus you will find that the average iOS user has far more disposable income than the average Android user.
The fact is piracy occurs on both platforms, and will continue to do so irrespective of what technical measures anyone implements. Android may make things easier out of the box, but there are so many places you can take your iphone to and have it cracked assuming you lack the knowledge to do it yourself.