6 ms·

I don't know why you're getting downvotes. DirectX is harmful for consumers and only serves to lock in games and users to Microsoft Windows.

by swebs 9y ago

thelittleone 9y ago
Microsoft is the dominant platform for games. What financial gain would they derive from pursuing a non lock in strategy?
- justinhj 9y ago
  They have learned that in other areas of their business that using and contributing to FOSS is a win for everybody.
- shmerl 9y ago
  That's not a justification for being lock-in jerks. Would you appreciate using ActiveX instead of HTML? We are lucky, MS didn't succeed with the above.
  - dingo_bat 9y ago
    Yeah so lucky we got locked into chrome instead. Now every week I stumble upon a website that works only in chrome.
- swebs 9y ago
  What would Microsoft have to gain? Absolutely nothing. What do consumers gain. A hell of a lot. That's why it's foolish to assume Microsoft will change their ways somewhere down the line. The point is that it is us, the users that should be choosing alternatives and not celebrating vendor lock-in.
  - pjmlp 9y ago
    The same as Apple, Sony and Nintendo. I guess.
- headsoup 9y ago
  Sometimes I just wish Valve* would pop up and announce: 'oh so HL3 is coming out soon, and it will be a Steam Linux exclusive for the first 6 months.' While not likely, something like that would be a really interesting gauge of how likely genuine Linux adoption could be... * I use Valve due to their apparent Linux push with SteamOS (what's the go with that btw!?)
  - romanovcode 9y ago
    Most people are not Linux fanatics like you. 99.9% of people do not care to use Windows as long as it works.
    - swebs 9y ago
      According to the Stack Overflow developer survey, the percent of developers using Windows dropped below 50%. Nobody actually likes using Windows (except for a few Stockholm syndrome sufferers and zealots who drink the MSDN kool-aid), it's just that people are forced to use it due to third-party application support like video games. It seems like every week there's a new article on how Windows 10 is shit for users, whether it's spying on them with telemetry, serving unwanted ads, or reseting user settings after forced updates. Windows is such an anti-brand that they couldn't even get customers to buy a Windows phone after a $500 million advertising campaign. https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018#technology-developers-primary-operating-systems https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018#technology-de...
      - romanovcode 9y ago
        > the percent of developers using Windows dropped below 50%. Yeah, not sure how is this relevant. Developers are not your average CoD, LoL, WoW etc.. players. I'm not trying to defend anything as I don't even use Windows myself, it's just that from a business point of view making sure DX and "gaming" in general is locked to Windows makes absolutely 100% sense as again - most gamers do not care if they have to use Windows or not, they just want to play games.
        9y ago
partiallypro 9y ago
In Satya's Microsoft, it's pretty much guaranteed that DirectX is going to go the route of .NET and be largely open and multi-platform. I almost bet within a year, we'll get a Hacker News article with just that announcement...
- shmerl 9y ago
  If Satya wanted to do something useful, he could support Vulkan, instead of pushing DirectX.
- SXX 9y ago
  How exactly this would benefit Microsoft? They thrive on lock-in DX provide and actively use it to move people on Windows 10. It's just like they benefit from overly complicated Office formats. And needless to say that exactly with Satya Nadella they started Windows S where you can't use any API other than D3D. They opened dotnet because they wanted to get it on server-side since Windows have very limited exposure on that market. But even today .NET still not multi-platforms in term of UI and for that reason a lot of Windows-specific .NET software wasn't ported. And it's already more than 3 years after release of dotnet core.

I don't know why you're getting downvotes. DirectX is harmful for consumers and only serves to lock in games and users to Microsoft Windows.

by swebs 9y ago

I don't know why you're getting downvotes. DirectX is harmful for consumers and only serves to lock in games and users to Microsoft Windows.

thelittleone 9y ago

Microsoft is the dominant platform for games. What financial gain would they derive from pursuing a non lock in strategy?

justinhj 9y ago
They have learned that in other areas of their business that using and contributing to FOSS is a win for everybody.
shmerl 9y ago
That's not a justification for being lock-in jerks. Would you appreciate using ActiveX instead of HTML? We are lucky, MS didn't succeed with the above.
- dingo_bat 9y ago
  Yeah so lucky we got locked into chrome instead. Now every week I stumble upon a website that works only in chrome.
swebs 9y ago
What would Microsoft have to gain? Absolutely nothing. What do consumers gain. A hell of a lot. That's why it's foolish to assume Microsoft will change their ways somewhere down the line. The point is that it is us, the users that should be choosing alternatives and not celebrating vendor lock-in.
- pjmlp 9y ago
  The same as Apple, Sony and Nintendo. I guess.
headsoup 9y ago
Sometimes I just wish Valve* would pop up and announce: 'oh so HL3 is coming out soon, and it will be a Steam Linux exclusive for the first 6 months.' While not likely, something like that would be a really interesting gauge of how likely genuine Linux adoption could be... * I use Valve due to their apparent Linux push with SteamOS (what's the go with that btw!?)
- romanovcode 9y ago
  Most people are not Linux fanatics like you. 99.9% of people do not care to use Windows as long as it works.
  - swebs 9y ago
    According to the Stack Overflow developer survey, the percent of developers using Windows dropped below 50%. Nobody actually likes using Windows (except for a few Stockholm syndrome sufferers and zealots who drink the MSDN kool-aid), it's just that people are forced to use it due to third-party application support like video games. It seems like every week there's a new article on how Windows 10 is shit for users, whether it's spying on them with telemetry, serving unwanted ads, or reseting user settings after forced updates. Windows is such an anti-brand that they couldn't even get customers to buy a Windows phone after a $500 million advertising campaign. https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018#technology-developers-primary-operating-systems https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018#technology-de...
    - romanovcode 9y ago
      > the percent of developers using Windows dropped below 50%. Yeah, not sure how is this relevant. Developers are not your average CoD, LoL, WoW etc.. players. I'm not trying to defend anything as I don't even use Windows myself, it's just that from a business point of view making sure DX and "gaming" in general is locked to Windows makes absolutely 100% sense as again - most gamers do not care if they have to use Windows or not, they just want to play games.
      - 9y ago

partiallypro 9y ago

In Satya's Microsoft, it's pretty much guaranteed that DirectX is going to go the route of .NET and be largely open and multi-platform. I almost bet within a year, we'll get a Hacker News article with just that announcement...

shmerl 9y ago
If Satya wanted to do something useful, he could support Vulkan, instead of pushing DirectX.
SXX 9y ago
How exactly this would benefit Microsoft? They thrive on lock-in DX provide and actively use it to move people on Windows 10. It's just like they benefit from overly complicated Office formats. And needless to say that exactly with Satya Nadella they started Windows S where you can't use any API other than D3D. They opened dotnet because they wanted to get it on server-side since Windows have very limited exposure on that market. But even today .NET still not multi-platforms in term of UI and for that reason a lot of Windows-specific .NET software wasn't ported. And it's already more than 3 years after release of dotnet core.