You do what your customers will be able to use. If the majority of your
customers might?? be using down the road, you cut the current customer base
off until they make the change. If the majority of your customer base is
making the change, or if they have already done so, then you support them,
but not until they have made the changes.
I might be wrong about this, but wasn't there a lack of sales of software
that would run on a 64 bit system because the 64 bit systems weren't really
widely used at the time? Was there a lack of sales of 64 bit systems
because 32 bit software would not run on the new systems, and the majority
of software that was available, as well as the software that users had
already spent money on, would no longer be able to be utilized? Sounds like
a catch 22.
--
If guns kill people, writing implements cause grammatical and spelling
errors!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Ward" <thomasward1...@gmail.com>
To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2013 5:15 PM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] challenge for developers, post xp windows
Hi Charles,
When it comes to this issue of developers verses users I think you are
forgetting that audio game developers are users too. Since we intend
to use anything we write as well as sell it the technology we have
access to and use on a daily basis will largely influence what we make
available to our end users.
For example, we know that Josh personally uses a Mac and has done so
for several years now. So it is not a surprise that when he released
Change Reaction and Silver Dollar Mac versions came out first and the
Windows versions came out later. As an end user he was probably more
interested in versions for Mac, but as a developer he wanted to
continue making money off of Windows based games as well.
As a developer I find myself in a somewhat similar situation. As I
have mentioned before I often use Linux, not Windows, so I personally
would have a vested interest in producing Linux games. However, I know
that Windows is where the money is and have spent more than my
personal share of time in developing a game engine that works on XP,
Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. Were it up to me as a user
I'd just write Linux games and forget about Windows, but there
wouldn't be much profit in that financially.
The point I am getting at is that audio game developers do use the
tools of the trade that will hopefully support the widest range of
customers as possible. However, the thing you need to understand
though is sometimes its not possible to do both. Sometimes decisions
made by Microsoft, for example, will adversely effect what we
developers do.
Take virtual 3d audio as an example here. When Windows Vista came out
Microsoft rewrote the mixer and released a new API called XAudio2 that
replaces DirectSound on Vista, Windows 7,and Windows 8. They didn't
upgrade DirectSound and as a result if a developer such as myself
tries to use DirectSound on Windows 7 the virtual 3d won't work
properly. Now, I can fix that problem by switching to XAudio2, but its
not going to be made available on Windows XP after next year. So as a
game developer I am between a rock and a hard place.
Option 1, I can use DirectSound which works fine on XP, but doesn't
work properly on Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8.
Option 2, I can upgrade to XAudio2 which will resolve the problems on
Vista, Windows 7,and Windows 8, but there will be no updates for it
for my XP customers.
The most logical thing to do is to adopt the new technology, and that
should resolve the problem for the largest number of customers. If
Microsoft stops supporting XAudio2 or offering updates for it on XP
that isn't my fault. However, any bugs or stability issues in XAudio2
will most likely be reported to me, and the last thing customers are
going to want to hear is upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8 and
download the latest updates for DirectX, but what choice do I have as
a developer?
Well, I could develop two different versions of the game. One, using
DirectSound and the other using XAudio2. That might work, but now we
are talking increasing both the time and effort maintaining that game
because I have to support two different APIs for two different
versions of Windows. I don't want to do more work than I possibly have
to. Yet, do to the transition Windows technologies is going it may
come down to a decision of one or the other.
Cheers!
On 4/30/13, Charles Rivard <wee1s...@fidnet.com> wrote:
As for having to upgrade to a newer OS because the older ones aren't
being
supported, shouldn't the game developers use the tools of the trade that
their customers can use? If you decide to create software that the newer
systems can run but older systems cannot, and your customers are still
using
the older OS, aren't you shooting yourself in the foot? I don't follow
the
logic that dictates that users must upgrade to a less user friendly OS
that
won't run the software you have been accumulating because it is not being
supported by the developers. It makes more sense to me that the
developers
should not be the determining factors as to what is produced for the end
user. The end user should be the one to determine what is produced.
If the majority of blind people cannot afford to upgrade their machines
every few years, and the upgrades won't be easily accessible without
major
modifications and headaches, we should not have to be forced to make that
upgrade, and developers should offer what the end user can use.
--
If guns kill people, writing implements cause grammatical and spelling
errors!
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