How long until the next revolution?

Sharpshooter · Post by **Sharpshooter** » 2005-06-29 11:55pm

I started thinking about this a few nights ago, and Ace Pace's recent thread got me back on track with it.

As any retro gamer can testify, the introduction of Windows XP/2000/ME, whichever one it was that first had this feature, brought with it a shattering change in functionality as DOS, that lovable ol' gal that's been around for more than twenty or so years, was finally put to rest and removed in in large part from the operating system. Hundreds and thousands of classic titles which had thrived in its simplicity and darkness now suddenly found themselves with no place to go: with very few (if any) rel-releases to operate with the then-new operating system, many classic titles, including those that had founded entire genres or had introduced radical and popular new gameplay methods, faded into obscurity. Even with the efforts of some who have attempted (and succeeded, albeit with some strains) to emulate the DOS programming, there is little that can be done to preserve these greats, and though older gamers may keep a secondary machine in peak condition to re-live those glory days, for those one-system gamers, the situation becomes terribly stacked against them as incompatability and other problems becomes more and more prevelent, and so it must eventually pass that they must forsake these cherished games to remain complient with modern times.

At the current rate at which operating systems are developing and that games are evolving, how long will it be before another revolution comes, and thousands more titles have their legs cut from below them? For how much longer will I, and other gamers, be able to enjoy that brand-spanking0new shooter or RPG, or those titles which have aged well over the years, such as Diablo, The Sims, Warcraft,, and other such classics?

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-06-30 12:16am

If I remember right, Microsoft initially claimed that the mythical beast known as Longhorn would shed virtually all legacy support - if you thought 2000 was bad, Longhorn was supposed to be as much of a clean slate as Microsoft could get away with. Now, it looks like it won't be quite like that.

Given how many people continued to run Windows 98 for years (and how there are still a few die-hards left out there), and for how long 98 continued to be supported on games also supported on 2K/XP, I suspect that for many years down the road, NT 5 in some form or another will continue to linger on.

Considering that Longhorn may not be out until 2007, I'd personally say we'd have at least until 2009 before things start to stop supporting 2K/XP.

As for DOS - if I remember right, it was never part of NT to begin with, so the real revolution was in switching from 9x (which, by ME, was a godawful amalgamation of shit) to NT.

bilateralrope · Post by **bilateralrope** » 2005-06-30 12:21am

As linux gains on the desktop there are more companys that are making linux ports of their games. After linux gains enough of the desktop market (where exactly depends on how hard it is to write games for windows and linux and how easy it is to port each way) the games will be made for linux (or a console) first, then ported to windows. Then it will stop being worth the cost of porting to windows, but by this stage windows will be pretty much dead anyway.

In saying this, there are projects like wine (I think that there are some game companies that design their games to work under win, so the don't have to worry about porting them), which try to get windows programs runing on linux. From what little I know about them I gather that a lot of the work involved is reverse engernining the windows API, and that if thae API documentation was ever made public they would be able to actually finish the projects, so I expect that you will able to easily play the windows games on linux long before windows is actually dead. Also, as its open source, I expect that the emmulation projects will be updated so that they still run as the operating system changes, unless everyone loses interest in it.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-06-30 01:37am

After linux gains enough of the desktop market (where exactly depends on how hard it is to write games for windows and linux and how easy it is to port each way) the games will be made for linux (or a console) first, then ported to windows. Then it will stop being worth the cost of porting to windows, but by this stage windows will be pretty much dead anyway.

This is a long way off. A very long way off. Longhorn will probably be as ancient and obsolete by then as Windows 95 is today.

bilateralrope · Post by **bilateralrope** » 2005-06-30 03:12am

Uraniun235 wrote:
After linux gains enough of the desktop market (where exactly depends on how hard it is to write games for windows and linux and how easy it is to port each way) the games will be made for linux (or a console) first, then ported to windows. Then it will stop being worth the cost of porting to windows, but by this stage windows will be pretty much dead anyway.
This is a long way off. A very long way off. Longhorn will probably be as ancient and obsolete by then as Windows 95 is today.

We will have to wait and see

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2005-06-30 07:41am

Linux on the desktop is a fucking pipe dream. In its current state, it isnt going anywere fast.