Xbox 360: Was I right or what?

[TA 3D]

Okay let me refrase myself seeing as I caused some confusion. XBOX 360 is probaliy only Direct X seeing as Microsoft made it and ATI is the graphics provider for it. Side note: ATI mainly codes there video cards to support Direct X more then OpenGL, but they still support it. Thats why games that use OpenGL tend to have performance issue patches to run on ATI cards. OpenGL is a standard graphics langage used by all but Microsoft. It supports 100 times better performace and stabality. It aslo it 100 times more effence for using the hardware on a videocard to it's fullest potental. Direct X is more of a software graphics langage(and all the rest of its parts), while OpenGL is more hardware oriented. Thats why Quake 4 sucks on XBOX 360 is because it was ment for OpenGl not Direct X.

Even the origanl devolpers of Direct X's Direct 3D code, Qube Software strickly use OpenGL for all there projects(one of which is LEGO Digital Designer, which is OpenGL). A lttle about them here and free devoper kit: Qube Software

As for the next version of Windows called Vista, they are not even supporting fulll intigration. Its only going to be SOFTWARE EMULATION, that will be extreamly combersome. All the videocard manufactures on in protest, and I could very well see them all droping Direct X support entirly, and moving to Linux, Uniux, ect... Basiclly as aGorm said, Microsoft is trying to make everyone "only use" their formats and code. RISE UP EVERYONE AND PROTEST!!!

Sorry that was a long one, but I hope it clears things up.

[SinbadEV]

Okay... I wasn't planning on paying for Vista anyways, so me switching to Linux will, i suppose in some freak/backwards way, be better for Microsoft in the end... hmmm... interesting moral dillema, do I support Microsoft by stealing their software? or support their hold on the Copywrite by NOT stealing their software, but also harm their market share in the process?

[AF]

I doubt they'll drop directx entirely, but they will make changes. For example making their drivers handle a lot of stuf windows handled previously to get at the hardware.

But eitherway most people who buy games dont knwo how to use linux or have never heard of it. They're the sort of people who'll play a game, maybe against soemone else, btut hey arent likely to downlaod 3rd party maps and untis or change thgisn aroudn to eperiment.

To drop MS is to alienate a huge portion of their itnended audience and hurt sales badly.

[FizWizz]

so sad, so true...

[SwiftSpear]

I doubt they'll drop directx entirely, but they will make changes. For example making their drivers handle a lot of stuf windows handled previously to get at the hardware.

But eitherway most people who buy games dont knwo how to use linux or have never heard of it. They're the sort of people who'll play a game, maybe against soemone else, btut hey arent likely to downlaod 3rd party maps and untis or change thgisn aroudn to eperiment.

To drop MS is to alienate a huge portion of their itnended audience and hurt sales badly.

Yes and no... A company could still make a revolution/PS3 release and then port to lunix compleatly ignoring anything even microsoft related entirely. The question needs to be begged though, are gamers really ready to switch to lunix, and is lunix really ready to handle a gamer boom? I'm admitantly out of the loop, but lunix seems really ragtag and confusing for the most part.

Like I say before, this move really hurts the game developers most. They can't develop to the openGL system for a console compatable port any more, they need to develop both openGL and DX systems, which is just a massive hassle from hell that no one even wants to look at aside from epic who would just do it anyways because they're gluttons for punishment.

[AF]

Those developers working on games for windows do so because widnows is the dominant Operating system. The avst majority fo consumers would thus buy these enw games which didnt run on microsoft systems, then put them in their cd drives and see an error message and blame microsoft, ro mroe likely think they're computer is crap rot he game is crap. They wotn udnerstand all this linux and openGL stuff. They havent got a degree in computr science, or a primer on what linux is, most arent even aware that windows is an operating system, or what an OS is.

Aside fromt he fact that to get linux you usually downlaod ti or get it off a friend burned to disc. Most people wouldnt be able to get linux or wouldnt udnerstand how. And of those who managed it they'd get baffled when the installer queried them about partitions. People find XP install complicated enough just waiting and answering questions about timezone and language.

Then the whole hardware support thing. I wanted to get my modem working udner linux and the amount of research I did was great. I still ahvent gotten it working and have moved on since then. Imagine your parents trying to do it? Drivers in windows, bung the cd in adn runt he installer and heypresto. I tried installing new graphics card drivers and foudn i needed the kernel source cus I hadnt installed it. It was very messy when I found ym install disc was scratched, and I doubt any person en to linux who ahsnt got the experience people like us have is going to like the command interface being used to a GUI on a windwos desktop.

My only foreseeable setback to this would be a small lag in the PC gamer market as manufacturers and vendors try to undo the damage microsoft is doing witht he OpenGL implementation, and a decline in develoeprs willing to use any non desktop platforms specifically using vista style openGL controls, such as media hub systems.

[SinbadEV]

I still say... if someone could make a version of Linux as easy to use as Windows (installation, use, maintenance, adding new hardware) then everyone WOULD start switching to linux... and all it would take is for harware manufacturers to start providing linux support with their hardware... I still don't understand why you have to recompile your kernal to install a video card properly, but if the process could be automated sufficiently I don't see why the average home user wouldn't do it... aside from not wanting to learn something new, and most gamers would be okay with learning something new so that becomes a non-issue in this situation... blah blah blah... never mind, just dreaming... can we go back to how much Microsoft sucks again?

[AF]

Well microsoft is making a big effort to nto be crappy, it's realising that Opensource software is replacing it in the organisational fronts, companies are mroe willing to use linux in their networks as far as the desktop the end user uses. And thats a big bad for MS, coupled with government iniatiatives to use opensource software and opensource formats because they're free...

And then the problem on the consumer side where the MSN IE monopolies are being threatened by the likes fo Firefox and Google, Of which google has expanded far too quickly for microsoft ot be happy. If microsoft continues as it has done then google will trample all over Microsoft, pulling the ever popular firefox in its wake as it capitolizes on anti IE conventions.

Microsoft is panicking. It's obvious. Windows and office are their only secure territories, possibly joined only by MSN Messenger.

[PauloMorfeo]

I still say... if someone could make a version of Linux as easy to use as Windows (installation, use, maintenance, adding new hardware) ...

Already done, i'm using it right now, Suse Linux! There are others that are making much success right now, like Ubuntu, and others in the past that have been known as very easy to use, such as Mandrake.

The problem is that they don't feel the exact same as Windows, nor have the exact same options, and people have a very strong tendency to «if it doesn't work exactly as it worked in Windows, it is broken».

... I still don't understand why you have to recompile your kernal to install a video card properly, but if the process could be automated sufficiently I don't see why the average home user wouldn't do it...

You don't on every distro. In Suse, you have the YOU (Yast Online Update) that updates your OS. Although Suse does not installs by default the comercial ATI/nVidia drivers, you can install them through YOU. Even easier than in Windows, go figure. (of course you're still installing new kernel stuff which requires a new boot to be loaded)

[smokingwreckage]

I'm using windows because as yet Linux isn't great for gaming. So, were I just a home user with a net connection, Word, etc, I'd be into Linux much faster.

[Kixxe]

Back ontopic?

...





XBOX 360 SUCKS!

[SinbadEV]

Games I've played on my computer in the last month or so... NES Emus and Spring... if you get spring ported over to linux their is a good chance i'd give it a go again... honestly I havn;t tried suse and unbutu made my computer REALLY SLOW... so yeah...