You'll have trouble measuring a real performance difference between OpenGL and Direct3D (which isn't surprising since both APIs are simply ways to queue up commands in buffers for the graphics card to execute)
Since Direct3D 9.0, both OpenGL and Direct3D are very equivalent in terms of features and ease of use. Neither is "more suited" to either games or serious use.
For long term projects OpenGL has been much more suited to "industrial" apps simply because it's a lot more stable. If you'd started a project ten years ago using Direct3D you'd have had to rewrite the graphics code three or four times by now. With OpenGL the ten-year-old code would still compile/run, no problem. This long-term stability has a downside in that OpenGL has a lot of accumulated cruft - functions which serve no real purpose these days or have better alternatives.
OpenGL ES is a cleaned-up, modern OpenGL which would be perfect for games but for some reason it's never really been pushed on desktop machines (which is a pity IMHO).
Direct3D is a teeny bit lower level when it comes to things like memory management (e.g. for fine control over where geometry/texture data goes) whereas OpenGL just says "leave it to the driver". This gives Direct3D a slight advantage for games.
The main reason Direct3D is used for games though is because Microsoft spends lots of money wining and dining the CEOs of games companies and making pretty presentations to the developers.
When you program a console you know exactly what hardware is available so you can create a "budget" for polygons which uses it 100%.
On a PC you have to program for 20 different levels of hardware capability and try to scale the graphics up/down accordingly. It never really works properly and programmers hate doing it.
There's also the issue of drivers. On a console you know what the drivers are and what bugs are present. On a PC you have no idea.
The stability/predictability of a console's environment is what gives it the edge over a PC, not raw processing power.
In the 90's you could type "Linux" into a Microsoft search engine and get half a dozen hits when Infoseek (this was before google...) gave a million-odd.
That was when Microsoft lost me as a customer for their search engines - past, present, future. I really haven't bothered to try Bing and never will.
"google" and "yahoo" could easily be generated by people typing in the search box instead of the address bar (I've seen people do it - every time they want to use google they type "google" in the search box then then click the search result to go there).
"internet explorer" I'm not too sure about. I can't imagine anybody typing that.
Yeah, I guess there's always one moron who clicks on every last Facebook app. Usually the same one who forwards every last powerpoint to your email. In that case just block/filter the person.
Facebook makes it easy to block applications - when a Farmville/Mafia wars post appears in your intray you just say "block this application" and you'll never see it again.
Microsoft hasn't shot/killed anything, they just stopped pulling the puppet strings and making the silly squeaky noises that made it look like it was alive in the first place.
I've been using computers for 30-odd years and I don't have a clue what a "start bar" is.
By deduction I think you might be referring to Windows' "system tray" but I wouldn't expect anybody's mother to understand that term either - not even if I told them in ALL CAPS.
Looking at whether math is necessary to be a good programmer could be like putting the cart before the horse. I think it's more likely that good programmers are usually good at math because that's they way their brain works.
When I read about Americans upgrading from minivans because precious little snowflake hasn't got enough legroom for the school run I just want to bash my forehead on the desk. And I've read it. Many times.
The other head-basher is when I read macho types saying they need a bigger truck for the daily commute because they have to tow something or other once a year.
Diplomats only exist because some politician or other wants to convince other people that their agenda is the way to go. They're there to spin things, hide truths, cut deals and/or get lower prices (and eat your food).
Dawkins is a bit wishy-washy when you get him to think on his feet. Sagan would have been good but he's dead.
I vote for somebody with a massive dose of common sense and fair play, eg. Penn Jilette.
a) If you install Windows from CD you won't get an OpenGL driver.
b) If you buy a machine in the shops you quite often get an immature OpenGL driver because the machines have a.graphics card which was released a couple of weeks ago.
In both cases the user has to go to NVIDIA / ATI / Intel website and download one, this requires navegating a bunch of questions about what exact model of graphics card is in the machine, which Joe Sixpack isn't going to know. On top of that, most laptop graphics drivers can't be updated with official drivers and the manufacturers don't ever provide updates.
Direct3D drivers tend to be better because a certain company oils the development process.
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I'm guessing you're about 13 years old ...
In real life there's more to 3D than games and gee-whizz.
You'll have trouble measuring a real performance difference between OpenGL and Direct3D (which isn't surprising since both APIs are simply ways to queue up commands in buffers for the graphics card to execute)
Since Direct3D 9.0, both OpenGL and Direct3D are very equivalent in terms of features and ease of use. Neither is "more suited" to either games or serious use.
For long term projects OpenGL has been much more suited to "industrial" apps simply because it's a lot more stable. If you'd started a project ten years ago using Direct3D you'd have had to rewrite the graphics code three or four times by now. With OpenGL the ten-year-old code would still compile/run, no problem. This long-term stability has a downside in that OpenGL has a lot of accumulated cruft - functions which serve no real purpose these days or have better alternatives.
OpenGL ES is a cleaned-up, modern OpenGL which would be perfect for games but for some reason it's never really been pushed on desktop machines (which is a pity IMHO).
Direct3D is a teeny bit lower level when it comes to things like memory management (e.g. for fine control over where geometry/texture data goes) whereas OpenGL just says "leave it to the driver". This gives Direct3D a slight advantage for games.
The main reason Direct3D is used for games though is because Microsoft spends lots of money wining and dining the CEOs of games companies and making pretty presentations to the developers.
The whole of geek debating is based on the Highlander principle.
When you program a console you know exactly what hardware is available so you can create a "budget" for polygons which uses it 100%.
On a PC you have to program for 20 different levels of hardware capability and try to scale the graphics up/down accordingly. It never really works properly and programmers hate doing it.
There's also the issue of drivers. On a console you know what the drivers are and what bugs are present. On a PC you have no idea.
The stability/predictability of a console's environment is what gives it the edge over a PC, not raw processing power.
In the 90's you could type "Linux" into a Microsoft search engine and get half a dozen hits when Infoseek (this was before google...) gave a million-odd.
That was when Microsoft lost me as a customer for their search engines - past, present, future. I really haven't bothered to try Bing and never will.
"google" and "yahoo" could easily be generated by people typing in the search box instead of the address bar (I've seen people do it - every time they want to use google they type "google" in the search box then then click the search result to go there).
"internet explorer" I'm not too sure about. I can't imagine anybody typing that.
By this time next week they'll be claiming "Market share for Bing jumped by 19%.in the last month".
Does the greasemonkey script do that?
Yeah, I guess there's always one moron who clicks on every last Facebook app. Usually the same one who forwards every last powerpoint to your email. In that case just block/filter the person.
C++ can be as safe/secure as any other language, it's just up to the programmer to do the right things and use the right constructs.
Many don't because they still think it's "just C with extras".
Facebook makes it easy to block applications - when a Farmville/Mafia wars post appears in your intray you just say "block this application" and you'll never see it again.
Microsoft hasn't shot/killed anything, they just stopped pulling the puppet strings and making the silly squeaky noises that made it look like it was alive in the first place.
I've been using computers for 30-odd years and I don't have a clue what a "start bar" is.
By deduction I think you might be referring to Windows' "system tray" but I wouldn't expect anybody's mother to understand that term either - not even if I told them in ALL CAPS.
Life's too short to dignify every last quack with a dignified reading/listening.
e.g. When an article says somebody can identify a pedophile's typing "within ten keystrokes" then, um, I'm not reading.
I'm pretty sure chat programs send the message in chunks, not individual keystrokes. /Didn't dignify the article with a reading.
Looking at whether math is necessary to be a good programmer could be like putting the cart before the horse. I think it's more likely that good programmers are usually good at math because that's they way their brain works.
PS: Yes, I agree. Tax-exemptions for SUVs is bad/stupid. Epically so.
That still doesn't require a BIG vehicle.
When I read about Americans upgrading from minivans because precious little snowflake hasn't got enough legroom for the school run I just want to bash my forehead on the desk. And I've read it. Many times.
The other head-basher is when I read macho types saying they need a bigger truck for the daily commute because they have to tow something or other once a year.
And yes, it's a USA thing.
Why not go all the way and add two extra wheels?
You know, like a Smart car - weighs the same, measures about the same, is also made of plastic... and is available today.
OTOH if you can't understand stuff like big-O notation you'll never be a good programmer.
Ummm...because "64" was the amount of RAM. It's unlikely they'd have made a machine with 65k of RAM.
They did make a more advanced machine with 128k RAM and 2MHz CPU called ... wait for it... the Commodore 128!
But at the end of the day the Amiga killed them both off.
You can do all that with a C64 emulator, yes.
Charismatic, pragmatic, plenty of common sense, tells it straight and you'd have a hard time pulling a fast one on him.
Diplomats only exist because some politician or other wants to convince other people that their agenda is the way to go. They're there to spin things, hide truths, cut deals and/or get lower prices (and eat your food).
Dawkins is a bit wishy-washy when you get him to think on his feet. Sagan would have been good but he's dead.
I vote for somebody with a massive dose of common sense and fair play, eg. Penn Jilette.
a) If you install Windows from CD you won't get an OpenGL driver.
b) If you buy a machine in the shops you quite often get an immature OpenGL driver because the machines have a.graphics card which was released a couple of weeks ago.
In both cases the user has to go to NVIDIA / ATI / Intel website and download one, this requires navegating a bunch of questions about what exact model of graphics card is in the machine, which Joe Sixpack isn't going to know. On top of that, most laptop graphics drivers can't be updated with official drivers and the manufacturers don't ever provide updates.
Direct3D drivers tend to be better because a certain company oils the development process.