Hi there fellow programmers Is there reason to worry about the latest news about Microsoft ??? Could this spell doom for Windows Game Programmers ??? Thanks Erick

Who gives a shit if Bill Gates isn''t CEO anymore ? How much real input do you think he has on Microshit products anyway (or : how much influence can one person have) ? I hate how people put Gates up on a pedastel as if he''s the answer to the worlds problems... you sound like the sort of person who withdrew all your cash from the bank, bought a whole heap of tinned food and hid out in your basement on 31/12/99...

Okaay

Besides missing the point completely, you seem like the kind of person who cannot make rational enough arguments to instantiate a worthy discussion mister Anonymous.

Another one of those touch and go posters hey,
( ooohhhh lets make a little noise, after all we are anonymous )

Have a nice day

Erick

Before everone jumps down my throat

I am not just talking about Bill Gates

I am talking about the possible 3 way split of Microsoft, it is possible that we could see the rise of new Operating systems and standards which could cause a revolution in Software programming ( game programming ) eg. DirectX

I am speaking with a very open mind, so take the discussion
as such.

Thanks



Erick

Yup, rather pathetic how people need to be anonymous to have an opinion.

Reg. Bill handing over the CEO "job": I don''t think Gates'' ever been a technical genious (need I mention DOS ) - if anything, the guy knows how to sell stuff and should really be working in marketing. So I believe the change will mean nothing (unless he becomes head of DX development and screws up everything )

Reg. the split of MS: I think this is mainly a problem/benefit (however you choose to look at it) in the WEB community (I live in it ). Standard games development will hardly be affected by it. From a Web developers perspective, it is great to have just one browser to test on, and it is great to know that *everybody* has a browser. It sucks that a single company can change and dictate standards and technology.

If DX dies, something else pops up, and since the HW access is a VERY small part of the development of a game (in code lines), it really boils down to how many ports you need to do.

/Niels

WEB comunity, all have browser... etc.. ... dude, I know I''m minority, but I''m sitting behind cute Alpha server station with compaq tru64 unix and there''s no sign near, that I''ll have MS IE at such system running... At least Netscape does work here, but still you must have gfx. terminal.

Ad microsoft ... I wouldn''t like it to be splitted. They mess things a lot (from my point of view), but I don''t like the idea of having several companies messing things up as MS...

ad HW related code ... yes, just few lines, but quite expensive ones... if you do care about every major HW. I really wish the windows "driver" model worked well, it would save lot of wasted time to developers.

At all, this discussion is quite pointless ... whether MS will be splitten or not, you will have to live with it ... or chance occupation.


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Ped - Peter Helcmanovsky - 7 Gods demo group
http://7gods.rulez.sk
First Sight Entertainment - http://members.xoom.com/fseteam
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I don''t like the split idea. Microsoft should be left intack. The feds should not be allowed to choose which companies should fall and which should grow. There is a lot of competition, and if Microsoft is forced to split, then why is the government allowing all of these mergers. If Microsoft is split, the 3 new companies are going to end up being bigger than the original. Think how hard it is going to be to have to shop at 3 different websites to get all of yor needs, and if there are competing versions of windows made by different companies, there are going to be compatiblilty problems.

i forgot who posted it before,m but someone here at gamedev, said that they should split inta 3, grow again aas big as the original, then combine and take over the world. I totally agree. Wouldn''t it be cool if AOL mixed with Microsoft, and in turn, that company bought TCI and gobbled up Time Warner?????



-Uthman Apatira
almaroof@msn.com

I heard time warner just got bought by AOL.

I agree with many of the ideas that have been posted above, but I would also like to point out the fact that even though Bill Gates is no longer CEO of Microsoft, he still owns the company through owning over half of the shares. This is a significant fact. The CEO can''t do anything without Bill''s approval, else the CEO could easily be voted out my the majority (Bill). I think that Microsoft is simply restructing itself, before the Feds tell it to. It is actually a very cunning strategy.