| |||||||||||||
Con Kolivas returns with a new schedulerCon Kolivas returns with a new schedulerPosted Sep 2, 2009 2:13 UTC (Wed) by PaulWay (✭ supporter ✭, #45600)In reply to: Con Kolivas returns with a new scheduler by drag Parent article: Con Kolivas returns with a new scheduler
All of this is an amusing, but somewhat biased viewpoint.
DirectX has been changing constantly with every release. Not only do new features get added but they've changed how things worked and removed old stuff. I've had endless problems trying to get old games to run on versions of DirectX later than the one they were designed for. And this still doesn't address the issues of getting the best performance out of the hardware - Windows game designers often have to write special code to work with different graphics and sound hardware because of 'special' features, just as hardware drivers have been known to add in workarounds for some games' broken behaviour...
So realistically this isn't actually dissimilar from the 'chaos' you describe in Linux. Sound and video 'just works' on Windows or OS X is just a myth. I've seen far too many Windows developers harp on about how difficult it must be to program for different kernel versions, sound drivers, etc and gloss over huge swags of 'custom' code. OpenGL makes this look like a piece of nice, stable cake by comparison.
And then you've got the fact that Microsoft has been shown to be redoing its APIs just so that it can get a development lead for its own products at the cost of its competitors. I'd rather deal with the Linux developer community, arguments and stormings-off and outright refusals and all, than be told outright "we've just redesigned the fundamental API that your product uses, and we're releasing a product that competes with yours that uses that API, and its coming out at the same time that you're getting the API specs."
Have fun,
Paul
(Log in to post comments)
Con Kolivas returns with a new scheduler Posted Sep 2, 2009 5:01 UTC (Wed) by zlynx (subscriber, #2285) [Link]
Every version of DirectX back to freaking *5* is still supported. I can play Master of Orion 2, a 1996 game, on Windows 7 13 years later.
Microsoft is the *master* of backward compatibility.
Con Kolivas returns with a new scheduler Posted Sep 2, 2009 5:44 UTC (Wed) by PaulWay (✭ supporter ✭, #45600) [Link]
*shrugs* Well, I can't play Battlezone (1996, DirectX 5) or Battlezone 2 (1997, DirectX 7) on my Windows XP (DirectX 9c) machine. Both games bork out complaining that DirectX is not installed. So I guess those masters of compatibility missed something somewhere.
Have fun,
Paul
Con Kolivas returns with a new scheduler Posted Sep 2, 2009 8:07 UTC (Wed) by zlynx (subscriber, #2285) [Link]
I won't say MS is perfect at it. I will say that I think they are the best at backward compatibility.
For DirectX, I can say that my older games seem to work fine.
A Google search shows me people playing all sorts of Battlezone on XP, Vista and Vista64. It looks like there are patches.
Con Kolivas returns with a new scheduler Posted Sep 2, 2009 8:03 UTC (Wed) by trochej (guest, #35052) [Link]
There are companies that are much better at backwards compatibility than Microsoft. I use a kernel module compiled specifically for Sun Solaris system released eight years ago. I load it in the kernel of the latest development release of OpenSolaris. It just works and it is guaranteed. You can link code compiled with the latest release of compiler suite with libraries produced by years older release. If you can't, it is a bug and you fill it. Heck, I can link my SunStudio code with gcc produced code, to some extent and it was designed that way. So you really can do this. I suspect that there are companies even better at this than Sun.
Con Kolivas returns with a new scheduler Posted Sep 2, 2009 14:34 UTC (Wed) by jordanb (guest, #45668) [Link]
FWIU IBM z/OS is compatible with every OS in its linage back to the OS/360 from the 1960s.
Con Kolivas returns with a new scheduler Posted Sep 2, 2009 16:15 UTC (Wed) by zlynx (subscriber, #2285) [Link]
AFAIK, IBM does it with virtualization. When running 1960's software it is running the 1960's OS on simulated 1960's hardware.
Con Kolivas returns with a new scheduler Posted Sep 3, 2009 4:56 UTC (Thu) by k8to (subscriber, #15413) [Link]
Isn't that kind of aside from the point? I mean how they do it is pretty much their choice. They do it.
Con Kolivas returns with a new scheduler Posted Sep 3, 2009 13:28 UTC (Thu) by zlynx (subscriber, #2285) [Link]
I was just commenting on how they do it. I am not saying anything bad about it.
Con Kolivas returns with a new scheduler Posted Sep 6, 2009 11:46 UTC (Sun) by trasz (guest, #45786) [Link]
z/OS keeps full compatibility only for applications that don't mess with system internals. If your program does something strange (although supported by IBM), it's possible that it will cease working in few releases from now. Of course there is a whole process of phasing out features, so it won't be a nasty surprise to you or your customers - but still, they are definitely not keeping 30 years of backward compatibility for that.
|
|||||||||||||