7 ms·
Microsoft has changed, they now know what will bring the antitrust hammer down. They no longer sabotage or hamper competition actively like they have in the pa
by cptskippy 11y ago
Microsoft has changed, they now know what will bring the antitrust hammer down. They no longer sabotage or hamper competition actively like they have in the past. Instead they're trying to be everything to everyone and cater to everyone's needs.
Does that mean they're altruistic and want to save the world at their own expense? Definitely not. But they also recognize when when they're not going to win a fight and have started to compete in markets they can't own.
That being said if they own a market (e.g. PC Gaming) they aren't going to exchange money for warm fuzzies.
- shmerl 11y agoVulkan is not "warm fuzzies". It's something that can make life easier for everyone. But it reduces their lock-in, that's why they ignore it and want to force developers to do double work if they want to target their closed platforms like Xbox.
- Delmania 11y agoThe same can be said for Apple, Metal, and iOS. I'm also certain most companies use a tool like Unity which does that double duty for them.
- shmerl 11y agoAgreed. Apple isn't any better in this aspect. > I'm also certain most companies use a tool like Unity which does that double duty for them. That doesn't justify the lock-in tactics of MS, Apple and the like. If that burden shifts to engine developers, it's still a burden and effort that could be spent on something more useful like improving actual features of the engine. In the end, it's simply a tax that everybody will be paying.
- cptskippy 11y agoMind share and Market share are the justifications. Once you have a developer comfortable with a platform, it can be hard to impossible to get them to switch. These are businesses with an interest in making money, not people with an interest in making the world a better place. I'm not saying it's right, just that it makes business sense.
- shmerl 11y ago> Mind share and Market share are the justifications. Rather herding their market share and mind share, and making it hard to go outside the herd. I.e. if you want to be cross platform - pay the tax. That's the whole purpose of their lock-in. > Once you have a developer comfortable with a platform, it can be hard to impossible to get them to switch. Yes, and it's disgusting to use development tools for lock-in. MS do it like forever.[1] > These are businesses with an interest in making money Lock-in is a crooked method of making money. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Microsoft#Vendor_lock-in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Microsoft#Vendor_...
- cptskippy 11y agoRight because that isn't the case with every other vendor or platform out there?
- shmerl 11y agoIt isn't. Not everyone is a jerk.
- Delmania 11y agoName one major technology company that doesn't try to lock you into their recurring subscription platforms.
- shmerl 11y agoAnything that uses interoperable technology. Lock-in implies something that you can't replace for no valid reason. Standards are aimed at such interoperaibilty and luckily we have a lot of standard technologies which are interchangeable. It would have been a nightmare, if literally everything would have been locked-in MS style. I.e. imagine you bought a light bulb and can't use it because it's XYZ lightbulb that can't work with fixture ABC and requires you to rewire the whole house. What a wonderful MS style experience. Luckily it's not the case most of the time.
- cptskippy 11y agoTo Microsoft it is. Vulkan and DX12 set out to achieve many of the same goals but DX12 has the added benefit of momentum and market lock-in. DX12 has been available since July where as support for Vulkan is spotty at best. Why drop DX12 for Vulkan besides warm fuzzies?
- shmerl 11y ago> Why drop DX12 for Vulkan Because they can make life easier for developers and also benefit from the shared effort. But their whole goal is to make life harder for developers (i.e. those who don't want to be limited to MS walled gardens) as a way of taxing them for not falling in line. A usual crooked monopolistic behavior that MS is so accustomed to.
- KirinDave 11y agoHow does Vulkan make life better for developers today? Isn't that more on hardware devs?
- shmerl 11y ago> How does Vulkan make life better for developers today? Assuming Vulkan drivers are ironed out (now they are still fresh), it makes life easier by removing the need to implement different APIs for each platform. By sabotaging such option, MS taxes developers which want to target their Xbox for instance requiring them to use DX12 instead.