Hi Dark, Just a correction here. Windows 7 was released in 2010 not 2007. Windows Vista came out in January 2007. I wanted to point that out as you seem to be confusing the two here.
However, I do take your point. The reason XP is still widely supported by websites, some third-party programs, and so forth is that it still holds a significant portion of the Windows PC market. Windows, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8,and Windows 8.1 has not been as successful as Microsoft had planned, and as a result many software developers know cutting XP off at this point is equivalent to cutting their own throats. I'll give you a simple example of that in practice. One of the things I have been looking at is ways I can improve my game engine so that Raceway and MOTA will run better on new Windows machines. The problem is there are a lot of blind users that feel as you do that XP is the best there ever was, the best there is, and the best that will ever be and will not upgrade for any reason. So despite any advantages I could add to my games by targeting a newer version of Windows I would not be able to make as large a profit off my games if I exclude half my customer base. As a developer I have to support whatever a large portion of my potential customers are using. Of course, mainstream companies are less handstrung because they are not selling to a minority market. At some point the number of mainstream users running Windows 7, Windows 8, or 8.1 will out number XP and it won't hurt them to drop XP support. Probably they will begin this migration sometime next year after Microsoft drops support for XP the way they did when Microsoft dropped support for 98 and Millennium. Of course, one problem facing mainstream and accessible technology markets is there are far more users using XP now, than there were 98 users in 2006 when Microsoft dropped Windows 9x support. So third-party support may linger a couple more years until the mainstream market catches up to current Windows technology. The only way I can see personally to deal with the situation is attempt to support both for as long as necessary. What I mean by that with games like MOTA and Raceway they are already XP compatible because they were designed that way from the beginning, and there is no need to cut XP support off at the knees just because something newer came along. I can however release an updated version of both that uses some newer APIs like XAudio2 or have 64-bit builds for newer 64-bit machines. That helps target people running new machines while not removing support for XP in the process. that's the only way I can see being fair to both groups of users at this point. In a couple of years I can consider dropping support for XP in newer games and hopefully people will have made the switch by then. Cheers! On 12/18/13, dark <d...@xgam.org> wrote: > Hi tom. > > I do appreciate that in theory, things will stop running on xp, and I can't > > run new versions, heck I'm still running ie8. The problem is that all the > compatibility stuff hasn't yet made any practical difference. I've not found > > any websites, services, applications or things I want to use that require a > > better machine than I have. Fundamentally if there was some really good new > > feature of the updated windows media player, some websites or net games I > wanted to play or something else in updates that I couldn't do with xp, I > would indeed upgrade the system and get used to it. > > Regarding security and hardware, well 64 bit actually is a bad thing for me > > since it ruins compatibility with dos programs, and once again nothing > requires it. I can accept that the hardware might be more advanced, but > that is of no bennifit to me personally if there is nothing I wish to do > that requires it. > > of course, this situation will not go on forever. I fully expect in several > > years there will be some awsome new features of new os that I will want to > play with, some games or programs that I can't run on xp etc, indeed I'm > quite amazed that this hasn't already come up. Back in 2007 when windows 7 > > was first produced I fully expected by around 2010 or 2011, there to be a > lot of games, websites, new and inervative media playback and other peaces > > of software that I'd need better hardware or a new os for, making the > hassle of learning the new interface, kicking out compatibility and mucking > > about with virtual machines and other things worth my time. > > I'm actually amazed this hasn't happened yet, and despite the aspersions > of certain individuals this is indeed why I have been so careful to research > > Windows 7 to the best of my ability and convenience. > > As I said I fully expect this situation to change in the future, but at the > > moment it hasn't. > > Beware the Grue! > > Dark. > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > 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/gamers@audyssey.org. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. > --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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