6 ms·

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.
      - headsoup 9y ago
        This is exactly the problem. Gamers are paying for Windows, just to play games, because the free options aren't usable, because of DX. They're not choosing Windows because it does X or Y better or because it's a consciously preferred choice, they're choosing it because it's the option they get by default and because it keeps being reinforced through support of proprietary systems like DX. Though only anecdotes, I sure do see a lot of comments around people willing to support/use Linux if not for lack of games/particular apps. As you state, gamers don't care what OS they use as long as it works. And well, Linux is free and works, it's just not well enough supported because of the chicken and egg of no market size vs no products available so no market size. I.e. if AAA games were developed with full Linux support, gamers wouldn't care if you gave them Linux as default instead, would they?

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.
    - headsoup 9y ago
      This is exactly the problem. Gamers are paying for Windows, just to play games, because the free options aren't usable, because of DX. They're not choosing Windows because it does X or Y better or because it's a consciously preferred choice, they're choosing it because it's the option they get by default and because it keeps being reinforced through support of proprietary systems like DX. Though only anecdotes, I sure do see a lot of comments around people willing to support/use Linux if not for lack of games/particular apps. As you state, gamers don't care what OS they use as long as it works. And well, Linux is free and works, it's just not well enough supported because of the chicken and egg of no market size vs no products available so no market size. I.e. if AAA games were developed with full Linux support, gamers wouldn't care if you gave them Linux as default instead, would they?