Hi Cara, My thoughts exactly. I have heard lots of reasons why or why not to upgrade to Windows 7, Windows 8, switch to Mac OS,etc, but I haven't heard anything constructive from those people how this situation could be resolved. Particularly by the audio game developers who are caught in the middle of Microsoft's decision to move forward with technologies and their customer's decisions not to upgrade for one reason or another. It is not an easy decision to make, and not an easy one with a quick and simple answer.
To give an example I think a lot of gamers are aware that DirectX, the primary Windows API for creating games, has undergone a major change over the last few years. DirectSound has been phased out in favor of XAudio2, DirectInput is slowly being replaced by XInput, DirectMusic and DirectPlay were dropped altogether, and so on. Clearly a game developer is being forced to make a choice to use older no longer supported components to support Windows XP and earlier, or they will have to bite the bullet and just use the new DirectX components for Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and beyond. We are reaching a point where it is one way or the other, and its not as simple as support both which frankly speaking isn't that easy to do. So I, for one, would like to here the XP users' answers to these and other problems created by this situation. There are really only a small handful of options, and all have negative consequences. 1. Either all of the blind users realize XP and its components are no longer supported and upgrade. While this will certainly make it easier for developers to support their new operating system I am fully aware that for many this option is unpleasant because it will cost money, they will lose the familiarity and ease of use of their current OS., and as Dark has pointed out may have little over all benefit for that person. 2. The developers can attempt to support both, but at added cost and extra time. Since two completely different APIs and platforms will need to be supported a developer is looking at nearly twice the time to upgrade, maintain, and release products at a loss to the developer. Therefore in order to insure backwards compatibility he or she will probably have to consider raising prices for the added inconvenience which I am certain nobody really wants. 3. The developers can choose what he or she thinks is best, and forget about compatibility with certain versions of Windows. Obviously this is a win/lose situation because whichever group is supported will buy the games and the excluded group won't. This will probably end up as a loss for the developer, and I don't need to remind people if developers do not have money for sounds, music, and perhaps a bit of his/her time they probably won't stick around unless they do it specifically as a hobby like some game developers do. 4. the last option is to design a game using open source libraries and APIs that are known to work on both equally well. While this works it has it sown pros and cons which may impact a certain project and not be a feasible option in every single case. So unless there is an API available that supports each and every platform equally, has everything a developer needs, they are truly stuck. Bottom line, I'd like to here the communities answers to these problems. I am growing tired of people saying they won't upgrade, but have no advice for me as a developer how I am expected to support them and my customers running new computers too. Cheers! On 12/20/13, Cara Quinn <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Charles and all, > > So moving forward then, how do we address this situation for people so this > song does not need to keep getting played over and over and over again? > > What steps might this community start taking now so that the situation can > improve and continue to do so? > > Obviously this is not only a game-related topic or one only related to > upgrades but since it has come up here, then what would be the first steps > in people's opinions, to improve this? > > thanks, > > Cara :) > --- --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
