Hi Charles, I think this whole conversation has gotten muddle dup in the details, so I’d like to try to boil this down a bit, since we’ve all lost sight of the basics.
Perhaps a better way to put the points that Tom and I have been trying to make is this: Every user must make their own choice about upgrading their system, switching to another platform, etc. That’s fine, and that is their choice. There are just a handful of major things that we feel the users should do and/or consider when making this choice, and which most don’t seem to be doing. These are: 1. You will *have* to upgrade sooner or later, whether you like it or not. This is not opinion, this is a fact. Old hardware will not last forever, and newer hardware will be unable to accommodate those who want to stick with obsolete operating systems. Users need to accept and understand this fact. They can prolong the inevitable if they wish, but it is, in fact, inevitable. 2. You can make the inevitable upgrade easier on yourself by upgrading on your own terms, rather than go kicking and screaming when circumstances force you to. 3. Just because a user has made the choice to be left behind technologically, they should not *expect* or *demand* that developers sacrifice the long-term health of their business to accommodate their decision. It may be true that many, perhaps even most, blind gamers are running XP right now, but the writing is on the wall for that OS, and the fact is that we will be looking at a very, very different landscape of operating systems in the next few years. If we accommodate XP users, we’re sabotaging our future business for a very short term gain that will ultimately result in massive headaches when users who bought our games that ran on old XP boxes suddenly have to get a new computer when their old one dies, and that game they bought last summer doesn’t work anymore. 4. No anti-virus or other third-party protection will protect users from the wholes that will soon be found and not fixed by Microsoft. When MS stops supporting XP, it will only be a matter of time before your security is compromised, unless you *never* connect your machine to the Internet. I don’t think users understand, technically speaking, the risk at which they are putting themselves. They are lulled into a false sense of security by makers of anti-virus software, but viruses are only one kind of threat, and hackers will find open backdoors in XP before long. Without Microsoft continuing the battle against them, you are leaving yourself open to being attack. Even Dark’s assertion that he never does his banking on the computer is again, only one small example. Your system can be compromised and used to attack other entities as part of a botnet. This may or may not impact you, but it could in terms of Internet data charges or slowing down your connection. At best, you would have to resign yourself to the knowledge that your decision to use XP has made you an implicit, if unwilling, accomplice in attacks upon others. Hope this helps clarify and/or simplify things. On Dec 24, 2013, at 10:20 PM, Charles Rivard <[email protected]> wrote: > I would not upgrade to get better voices than those I already have, which are > good enough. Nobody in their right mind would use Microsoft Sam unless they > absolutely had to, so that's a very poor comparison. I would not use > Narrator unless I had to, either, but I would not upgrade from a platform > with which I can access all of my previously purchased software to one with > which I cannot, just for a better Narrator. > > Can I play text adventure games using Windows 8.1? How about Lone Wolf and > Tenpin Alley? Jim Kitchen's games? If these cannot be played, why upgrade? > I cannot see spending more money to get less access. > > --- > Be positive! When it comes to being defeated, if you think you're finished, > you! really! are! finished! > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thomas Ward" <[email protected]> > To: "Gamers Discussion list" <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2013 8:51 PM > Subject: Re: [Audyssey] mac versus windows sales plus iOS question > > >> Hi Devin, >> >> Interesting enough you have hit upon one issue that should convince >> people to upgrade if nothing else. The Sapi voices for XP such as >> Microsoft Sam, Mary, and Mike were absolutely terrible. The newer Sapi >> 5.5 voices that come with Windows 8 are much better , and are >> certainly decent for games and other TTS enabled applications. If >> nothing else better Sapi voices should be one thing that would >> interest XP users in upgrading to Windows 8 or Windows 8.1. >> >> Cheers! >> >> On 12/24/13, Devin Prater <[email protected]> wrote: >>> I totally agree with the devs on this one. I have a Windows 7 laptop, >>> a mac desktop, an iPod touch, and soon, tomorrow in fact, a new >>> android phone, running, unfortunately, android 4.0, the latest being >>> 4.4. Anyway, I seriously don't see much need in sticking with XP >>> anymore. Windows 7 is good, windows 8 is cool, so my goodness, why not >>> leave Microsoft Sam and his depression behind? >>> >>> Sent from my iPod >> >> --- >> 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]. > > > --- > 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]. --- 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].
