I totally agree with it. As a game developer who uses Linux 24/7 at home, I wouldn't like anything better than to see the Linux game market grow.
However, one thing that most posts are missing is that the lack of Linux versions is not a technical issue. Direct3D vs. OpenGL? Give me a break! All reasonable code bases are going to have a nicely abstracted platform layer. We can run games on the PC, PS2, Xbox, whatever... Making a Linux version would be pretty trivial technically, even if the Windows version used DirectX.
The problem is that companies don't see it as a profitable move. They would have to deal with support on a new platform, different installers, different packaging and manuals, different patches, etc. All for what, 10K units? It's just not worth it.
The best thing you can do is to let game companies you want to buy Linux games. Email them if you want, but the most convincing way to telling them is with your wallet whenever there's a Linux version of a game.
Still no optional lock and merge tracking
on
Subversion 1.1 Released
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· Score: 5, Interesting
Optional locks and merge tracking are the two features that are holding Subversion back from being a real candidate for production code.
The most prominent improvements are, not surprisingly, in the most popular component: KMail. In KDE 3.3, KMail now supports HTML mail composing with a completely rewritten composer engine.
And that's supposed to be an improvement? I always loved KMail because it was simple and just had text mail. I certainly hope the default is still plain text!
Almost invariably, unless the really good programmer puts an uncommonly high amount of effort into such things, the output of a single really good programmer will look like unmaintainable trash to most other programmers, especially mediocre ones, which are the norm in the industry.
That's totally wrong, and as long as people keep thinking that way, we aren't going to make any progress.
You write code for other programmers, for human beings, not for the computer. If you're working on a team and most programmers can't understand the code you write, then the code is garbage.
TMBG is one of my favorite groups, so I was ready to go ahead and buy whatever they had there to support them (I already have all their albums).
But no, they had to go and make a flash-only site. Sorry, but you lost my sales. I have no flash installed and I have no interest in having it, thank you very much.
This raise alot of questions. The key question is What does a pHD actually mean?
A pHD is supposed to mean not just that you're knowledgeable in the area (a Master's degree means that), but that you've actually *advanced* the field in some way.
If he did falsify the data to fit his pet theory, then I totally see why they would strip him of his title. And being fired makes a lot of sense because of what that shows about his work ethics.
They get to spend 20% of their time in their own project. I wonder what that means. 20% of what time? From what I understand, people at Google work very long hours (out of choice mostly).
Someone who worked 40-hour weeks at a regular company would have a lot more time to spare in their own projects.
Having said that, I really agree with the sentiment of hiring the best and brightest and letting them do their own thing.
Agreed, the emphasis today should be on avoiding bugs, not on fancy debuggers.
I really think that using a traditional debugger should be something fairly rare nowadays. With the common usage of unit tests (especially when doing test-driven development), and type-safe languages, if you find yourself debugging a lot, it's a sign there's something really wrong in your code.
I used to rely on the debugger all the time years ago, but ever since I started doing TDD and making heavy use of refactoring, I've only had a couple of serious debugging sessions in the last few years.
Slashdot Mirror
Or maybe the process actually works and he has free time to have a life outside of work and share his insights with other companies.
I work with Rory (the author) and he's an invaluable member of the team. So something has to be working right.
Anybody in the game industry (in the US anyway) can get Game Developer Magazine for free anyway, so that was never much of an incentive.
The local IGDA chapters can be great, but it's hit and miss depending on your local one.
To me, the thing that made me join a few months ago, was seeing that they're continuing to push the issue of quality of life in the game industry.
Last year they put out the Quality of Life Whitepaper, and now they're following it up with a summit at this year's GDC. All of which is much more relevant every since ea_spouse stirred the hornet's nest.
I for one, I'm very glad they're around and pushing the issue, and will gladly give them some support so they can continue doing so.
I totally agree with it. As a game developer who uses Linux 24/7 at home, I wouldn't like anything better than to see the Linux game market grow.
However, one thing that most posts are missing is that the lack of Linux versions is not a technical issue. Direct3D vs. OpenGL? Give me a break! All reasonable code bases are going to have a nicely abstracted platform layer. We can run games on the PC, PS2, Xbox, whatever... Making a Linux version would be pretty trivial technically, even if the Windows version used DirectX.
The problem is that companies don't see it as a profitable move. They would have to deal with support on a new platform, different installers, different packaging and manuals, different patches, etc. All for what, 10K units? It's just not worth it.
The best thing you can do is to let game companies you want to buy Linux games. Email them if you want, but the most convincing way to telling them is with your wallet whenever there's a Linux version of a game.
I wrote about it here a few months ago http://www.gamesfromwithin.com/articles/0407/00002 6.html.
Fortunately, both those features are coming up soon by looking at Subversion's roadmap http://subversion.tigris.org/roadmap.html
Chck out http://dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=12228 for a review of the image quality of the DVDs.
Overall, they look fantastic.
The most prominent improvements are, not surprisingly, in the most popular component: KMail. In KDE 3.3, KMail now supports HTML mail composing with a completely rewritten composer engine.
And that's supposed to be an improvement? I always loved KMail because it was simple and just had text mail. I certainly hope the default is still plain text!
Almost invariably, unless the really good programmer puts an uncommonly high amount of effort into such things, the output of a single really good programmer will look like unmaintainable trash to most other programmers, especially mediocre ones, which are the norm in the industry. That's totally wrong, and as long as people keep thinking that way, we aren't going to make any progress. You write code for other programmers, for human beings, not for the computer. If you're working on a team and most programmers can't understand the code you write, then the code is garbage.
TMBG is one of my favorite groups, so I was ready to go ahead and buy whatever they had there to support them (I already have all their albums). But no, they had to go and make a flash-only site. Sorry, but you lost my sales. I have no flash installed and I have no interest in having it, thank you very much.
This raise alot of questions. The key question is What does a pHD actually mean? A pHD is supposed to mean not just that you're knowledgeable in the area (a Master's degree means that), but that you've actually *advanced* the field in some way. If he did falsify the data to fit his pet theory, then I totally see why they would strip him of his title. And being fired makes a lot of sense because of what that shows about his work ethics.
They get to spend 20% of their time in their own project. I wonder what that means. 20% of what time? From what I understand, people at Google work very long hours (out of choice mostly). Someone who worked 40-hour weeks at a regular company would have a lot more time to spare in their own projects. Having said that, I really agree with the sentiment of hiring the best and brightest and letting them do their own thing.
Agreed, the emphasis today should be on avoiding bugs, not on fancy debuggers. I really think that using a traditional debugger should be something fairly rare nowadays. With the common usage of unit tests (especially when doing test-driven development), and type-safe languages, if you find yourself debugging a lot, it's a sign there's something really wrong in your code. I used to rely on the debugger all the time years ago, but ever since I started doing TDD and making heavy use of refactoring, I've only had a couple of serious debugging sessions in the last few years.