7 ms·

Too bad it wasn't open source, then someone would have fixed it for free.

by streptomycin 14y ago

MatthewPhillips 14y ago
Someone asked that in the comments, and he responded that it was licensed from a 3rd party company.
- ben0x539 14y ago
  Take the argument a step further: Microsoft "should" have required the 3rd party to provide the code under an open-source license.
  - glanch 14y ago
    I'm surprised they didn't. Why would MS trust 3rd party code enough to include it in their OS? Seems like quite an unnecessary risk.
  - kstenerud 14y ago
    In 1995? Things were VERY different back then. Open source was Microsoft's mortal enemy.
  - Firehed 14y ago
    Open source wasn't exactly a huge priority for Microsoft in 1995 when the application came into existence. In fact I think it's a testament to their backwards compatibility that pinball survived for as long as it did with little or no maintenance.
    - yuhong 14y ago
      In fact, I don't think the term even existed back then.
    - rbanffy 14y ago
      Quite the opposite. In 1995, killing open source was one of Microsoft's top priorities. It isn't much lower on the list these days.
      - Luyt 14y ago
        Indeed, and it was still on their agenda in 1998. Microsoft saw Linux as their worst enemy and developed business strategies to eradicate it (by means of 'de-commoditizing'). Then, the 'Halloween Documents' leaked. ESR writes: "In the last week of October 1998, a confidential Microsoft memorandum on Redmond's strategy against Linux and Open Source software was leaked to me by a source who shall remain nameless." This document can be read at http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/halloween1.html http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/halloween1.html Read more at http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/ http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/
crpatino 14y ago
Assuming you are not just trolling, please elaborate.
- streptomycin 14y ago
  Elaborate on what? It seems rather obvious that a popular game with a minor bug rendering it unplayable would have that bug fixed by someone for free if it was open source. Or do you want me to elaborate on why it's too bad? Well, pinball is the best game that was ever included with Windows, so it's unfortunate that it's not still there.
  - crpatino 14y ago
    First, it was not a minor bug, it is a major bug that made the whole product unusable. Second, the whole code base was one big, nasty, uncommented mud-ball. From the article: "... we simply couldn't figure out why the collision detector was not working. Heck, we couldn't even find the collision detector!" I was genuinely curious to hear how you think sprinkling fairy dust open source on top of the mess is going to magically fix the issue. I am not talking about reimplementing the whole thing from scratch (which nobody is prohibiting you by the way). I am asking about the value added to the community to fix this particular piece of crap. But, based on your response, I am going to risk even more karma and chalk it up to trolling. You did not address my question, and don't even look like having read the article or understood the issue. So... have fun!
    - ww520 14y ago
      People not in the middle of working on the program don't understand the magnitude of the problem and it's way easier to be an internet warrior shooting off their mouth. GP's comments made it appear to be trolling. In fact the problem was way worse, the program used floating point for movement computation and could accumulate floating point errors along the way and moved too much. The floating point size was changed in 64-bit and exacerbate the problem. That's probably why the collision detection didn't work. It's better to rewrite from ground up than fix it.
prezjordan 14y ago
Not Microsoft's jurisdiction, unfortunately. They license those games from dev shops. I am surprised, however, that it hasn't been cloned yet.
LeonimuZ 14y ago
It was licensed from MAXIS; I don't think EA will release the source any time soon.
ww520 14y ago
There are plenty of open source pinball games. Why can't people just download them?
- amorphid 14y ago
  Nostalgia.

Too bad it wasn't open source, then someone would have fixed it for free.

MatthewPhillips 14y ago

Someone asked that in the comments, and he responded that it was licensed from a 3rd party company.

ben0x539 14y ago
Take the argument a step further: Microsoft "should" have required the 3rd party to provide the code under an open-source license.
- glanch 14y ago
  I'm surprised they didn't. Why would MS trust 3rd party code enough to include it in their OS? Seems like quite an unnecessary risk.
- kstenerud 14y ago
  In 1995? Things were VERY different back then. Open source was Microsoft's mortal enemy.
- Firehed 14y ago
  Open source wasn't exactly a huge priority for Microsoft in 1995 when the application came into existence. In fact I think it's a testament to their backwards compatibility that pinball survived for as long as it did with little or no maintenance.
  - yuhong 14y ago
    In fact, I don't think the term even existed back then.
  - rbanffy 14y ago
    Quite the opposite. In 1995, killing open source was one of Microsoft's top priorities. It isn't much lower on the list these days.
    - Luyt 14y ago
      Indeed, and it was still on their agenda in 1998. Microsoft saw Linux as their worst enemy and developed business strategies to eradicate it (by means of 'de-commoditizing'). Then, the 'Halloween Documents' leaked. ESR writes: "In the last week of October 1998, a confidential Microsoft memorandum on Redmond's strategy against Linux and Open Source software was leaked to me by a source who shall remain nameless." This document can be read at http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/halloween1.html http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/halloween1.html Read more at http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/ http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/

crpatino 14y ago

Assuming you are not just trolling, please elaborate.

streptomycin 14y ago
Elaborate on what? It seems rather obvious that a popular game with a minor bug rendering it unplayable would have that bug fixed by someone for free if it was open source. Or do you want me to elaborate on why it's too bad? Well, pinball is the best game that was ever included with Windows, so it's unfortunate that it's not still there.
- crpatino 14y ago
  First, it was not a minor bug, it is a major bug that made the whole product unusable. Second, the whole code base was one big, nasty, uncommented mud-ball. From the article: "... we simply couldn't figure out why the collision detector was not working. Heck, we couldn't even find the collision detector!" I was genuinely curious to hear how you think sprinkling fairy dust open source on top of the mess is going to magically fix the issue. I am not talking about reimplementing the whole thing from scratch (which nobody is prohibiting you by the way). I am asking about the value added to the community to fix this particular piece of crap. But, based on your response, I am going to risk even more karma and chalk it up to trolling. You did not address my question, and don't even look like having read the article or understood the issue. So... have fun!
  - ww520 14y ago
    People not in the middle of working on the program don't understand the magnitude of the problem and it's way easier to be an internet warrior shooting off their mouth. GP's comments made it appear to be trolling. In fact the problem was way worse, the program used floating point for movement computation and could accumulate floating point errors along the way and moved too much. The floating point size was changed in 64-bit and exacerbate the problem. That's probably why the collision detection didn't work. It's better to rewrite from ground up than fix it.

prezjordan 14y ago

Not Microsoft's jurisdiction, unfortunately. They license those games from dev shops. I am surprised, however, that it hasn't been cloned yet.

LeonimuZ 14y ago

It was licensed from MAXIS; I don't think EA will release the source any time soon.

ww520 14y ago

There are plenty of open source pinball games. Why can't people just download them?

amorphid 14y ago
Nostalgia.