Hi Tom.
I do generally appreciate the point that better applications for doing tasks
like brousing the internet or text editing exist, ----- certainly I wouldn't
go back to using the old word perfect 4 which i learnt typing on as a
teenager.
However with microsoft it seems quite often they just dump things on people
with no chance to change and expect the general public to just go along with
it.
Take ribbon controls. Back after the change from 95 to xp there was a
classic mode, which made elements of the xp ui resemble earlier versions of
windows. Do we see this in windows 7 or 8? heck no!
Many fully sighted users hate ribbons and the windows arrow, finding them
needlessly confusing, yet does microsoft care? ---- no!
As far as compatibility goes, the case for games seems very different from
the case for other software. Each game is to a lesser or greater extent
unique, indeed each game may be considdered an art form to the extent that
it is! unique.
Companies like Nintendo have recognized this, which is why there is a wii
virtual console etc. Microsoft however don't seem to give a dam, despite the
fact that windows has probably the largest proportion of independent game
developers for any operating system.
If including dependencies in windows isn't possible, why couldn't microsoft
create a package, something like a windows orientated dosbox with 16 bit
dependencies and vb registrations, expressly for running older games on
newer windows.
microsoft however don't care about either the players of indi produced
games, or the various indi developers who've worked on them, which is why an
open source alternative like dosbox was needed. However this wouldn't be
necessary if microsoft gave a dam, but just like with the ribbon controls,
microsoft just seem to expect people to upgrade because something is newer.
i'm afraid for myself, ---- and indeed for probably a lot of other computer
users, my Pc is of value only based upon what I can do with it, not based
upon whether it has the latest technology or flashy displays, ----- indeed
I've never bothered upgrading my microsoft word, sinse ms word 2007 which
this machine comes with serves me perfectly well.
One of those things is play old games.
Were my snes to actually break, there would be an alternative, namely buying
a wii (though sadly it wouldn't work well for me due to access to the silly
wii mote menues), however were my xp machine to break, and were vb support
dropped, i'd be saying goodbye to lots of games.
I suppose eventually some open source alternative to vb support will appear,
maybe a virtual machine option, but how useable that would be for the
average skilled user, and how accessible it would be I don't know. Dosbox is
afterall completely inaccessible, and the only dosbox applications I have
are ones that have been configured to run as windows programs like the
Prince of persia totalpack.
Already the Eamon games are unplayable on windows 7 machines without running
an apple emulator, which means they are inaccessible as well, I wonder how
long it will be before all the games we have now that use vb will go the
same way.
Beware the grue!
Dark.
---
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