Notch: Windows 8 Could Be "Very Very Bad" for Indies

[Dr Pussymagnet]

I now relise I know very little about computers becuse this all is confusing

why is windows 8 seemingly so bad and what are ARM and metro?

Not sure what ARM is, but Windows 8 wont let you install any kind of software without downloading it from the Windows store client that comes with Windows 8. MicroSoft gets a fair share of the money you pay for which limits the money the indie developers get, it also makes it harder to release games without the support of MicroSoft. Metro is the name of the user interface which is currently only seen on phones.

Sorry, but that's just incorrect. I dont know where you're getting your facts from, but there's no sort of requirement anywhere that says you have to use the Metro interface or the Windows Store if you don't want to. It's completely optional.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

You know what, Microsoft, we have the mechanisms ourselves to decide what programs are safe and suitable. We don't need your special authorisation BS.

Yes, they seem to be confusing 'our convenience' with 'their control' again.

They are useful to the PC gaming community but they are in no way necessary.

 

[Epona]

So....Windows then?

No

After all, if most people use Windows then most hardware driver targeted at PC's will have Windows in mind.

No because, unlike you seem to be having trouble doing, hardware manufacturers can support more than one thing at a time.

If a significant portion of the Windows PC community chucked it in and switched over to a Linux distro, you can bet your arse that distro, if it wasn't already supported, would quickly be picked up.

Right now though, the majority uses Windows.

 

[Strazdas]

Well I suppose we all could just not upgrade...

maybe.

It doesn't look good if these notable devs are worried about it.

well we can not upgrade to windows 7. oh wait, we cant. hardware wont support xp anymore. games wont support xp anymore. i see the same with windows 8 being forced to us in 5 years. and thats very very bad.

Why on earth would anyone want to play Xbox games on a PC?

dont udnerestimate the stupidity of people. after all they drop mouse aiming for controller aim.

 

[evilneko]

It's very much ado about nothing.

No one is forced into the Windows Store.

 

[Albino Boo]

The reason why Notch is jumping up down and saying its bad for indies is because he will will make less money, because the a metro app will work on the pc as well as win8 tablet so you would only have to buy it once. It's bad for Notch but good for the consumer. The reason applies to the smaller titles on steam.

 

[Yopaz]

I now relise I know very little about computers becuse this all is confusing

why is windows 8 seemingly so bad and what are ARM and metro?

Not sure what ARM is, but Windows 8 wont let you install any kind of software without downloading it from the Windows store client that comes with Windows 8. MicroSoft gets a fair share of the money you pay for which limits the money the indie developers get, it also makes it harder to release games without the support of MicroSoft. Metro is the name of the user interface which is currently only seen on phones.

Sorry, but that's just incorrect. I dont know where you're getting your facts from, but there's no sort of requirement anywhere that says you have to use the Metro interface or the Windows Store if you don't want to. It's completely optional.

I read an article that had been translated to lose some of its meaning so it turns out that I was wrong. However some versions of Windows 8 only supports software that is installed from the Windows store, so it's not completely optional. My source here comes from a BBC article where Valve, a company that actually has to work within these restrictions complains about this.

 

[lapan]

Well I suppose we all could just not upgrade...

maybe.

It doesn't look good if these notable devs are worried about it.

Worked with Vista. XPs cycle was extremly long since people just refused to upgrade.

 

[Treblaine]

You know what, Microsoft, we have the mechanisms ourselves to decide what programs are safe and suitable. We don't need your special authorisation BS.

Yes, they seem to be confusing 'our convenience' with 'their control' again.

They are useful to the PC gaming community but they are in no way necessary.

The thing is there will always be a one sided argument that such control is beneficial.

A fairer argument would include that far cheaper, quicker, more effective and flexible way already exist with open market freedom of choice to go to any website and use trusted INDEPENDENT sources like PC Pro magazine or which.com to tell what are safe and suitable and what are not.

By all means, Microsoft are within their rights to drop support for things like 32 bit and focus totally on 64 bit computing, but this vetting system is not serving the OPERATING SYSTEM, it is serving MICROSOFT! See, it's not helping ME, it's helping Microsoft's marketing and money-grubbing department. Microsoft's responsibility is to provide a program that interfaces between my software and my hardware, not be a nanny deciding what software it will bother or even allow MY COMPUTER to use.

Does Microsoft think we are such stooges? Do they think they can pull the same crap they pulled with Xbox?

No. Xbox worked because it was as restricted as the consoles that came before it. But Microsoft is trying to put the genie back in the bottle and it won't work. All they are doing is making everyone consider Linux now more than ever and the ONLY REASON Linux hasn't taken off before is everyone didn't all move to it at the same time.

 

[PingoBlack]

So ...

The article lists 3 rather well known and respected software developers claiming they are worried by direction Windows 8 is taking.
And people here respond with: "Notch, calm the f*** down!"

Poor Rob Pardo and his multi million dollar company being ignored like this, eh? Stupid Blizzard should also calm the f*** down? Or maybe those industry insiders are sharing something not readily apparent to consumer side of things?

I can tell you this tho: Current beta test for next WoW version (5.0) refuses to run on Win8, it crashes. Previous beta test (4.0) ran on Win7 even though it wasn't officially supported on it, only Vista. Why is that, Windows 8 experts?

 

[loa]

Where does it say that windows 8 will be locked down?
It's just a very specific version of windows 8 for tablets that definitely gets locked, the home pc version isn't confirmed to get it and it would be pants on head retarded to do so.
Windows 8 will come with an integrated game store akin to steam that will probably use something like games for windows live so it'll suck ass so no one uses it so there won't be a problem.

I think people are jumping to conclusions here.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

While Microsoft hasn't detailed its plans for the new operating system

Gabe Newell labeled it a "catastrophe."[/url]

Blizzard's Rob Pardo voiced his agreement shortly after.

Interesting how without any details or the thing even being released these guys can still label it a catastrophe. I thought the disaster had to actually happen before it could be labelled a catastrophe. This is a potential disaster, a disaster waiting to happen. However, it could not be a disaster, and after managing to receive the usual 'negative press before it's even released,' do people really think Microsoft won't take these concerns into consideration? And if they didn't it would be somewhat like the whole Vista madness, and a new OS would be out so fast it would be possible to skip Windows 8 entirely. I went from XP to Windows 7 without ever really using a Vista computer, and if things really are as bad as Gabe, Notch and Rob Pardo think they might potentially be then this will be the same.

 

[Treblaine]

Wait. There could be a day in the foreseeable future, when Apple OS is preferred over Windows OS?! Wow, that'll be the day.

No... THIS will be the mother hubbarding DAY, my friend.

Apple's stability is favoured because it is based on a ripped off version of Unix (daddy of Linux) but is then derped by layering Apple's special brand of authoritarian control sauce over the top.

Windows had the advantage of having the balance between openness and content. Linux was and has always been the ideal operating system but just was not supported as windows had enough freedom. But things are changing. Microsoft is trying to copy their competitor who is actually taking FAR LESS of the PC market with locked down "streamlined" operating system.

You know what, Microsoft, we have the mechanisms ourselves to decide what programs are safe and suitable. We don't need your special authorisation BS.

yeah, linux is as user friendly as the westboro babtist church is nice to gay men.
yes they are working on it, but there are several reasons why linux hasnt taken over the market.

every OS sucks.

Your analogy fails as Linux absolutely LOVES its users and their rights above all else.

It's Microsoft who despises its users and care more about getting money from investors than being good service for their customers. This is where capitalism breaks down, companies can make more money pandering to investors than to the people they are actually selling their goods and services to.

As to usability I'm not talking about stock Linux (which is controlled by command line) I am of course talking about Linux with a decent GUI installed on top, which is VERY manageable, even moresoe than Windows 7. As happy as I am with Win7 it still is full of little shits in this chocolate chip cookie like how you can't click and drag around the position of files in a folder, even temporarily.

The only major thing that is holding Linux back is lack of support with support in favour of Windows then Apple and Linux tertiary if at all.

But there has been long talk of a mass exodus from Windows to Linux, it's just no one wants to be the first to wander into the bountiful if untamed lands of Linux. Microsoft's ideology has certainly become an antithesis of the ideals that PC users value, individual freedom to tinker, small independent business and flexibility, Windows is a contradiction in the centre of PC gaming, an uneasy bedfellow where PC gamers curse any game that is published under Games for Windows Live.

Games For Windows Live, now THAT is the Westbro Baptist Church of PC software. Origin is something like the Khymer Rouge.

 

[TomWiley]

No surprise that Notch decided to jump on the bandwagon. That guy is the living definition of an attention-whore. There is nothing guanine about his criticism of Windows 8. He is just saying what everyone else is saying, or alternatively, what people want to hear.

 

[Treblaine]

It's very much ado about nothing.

No one is forced into the Windows Store.

Except Microsoft wants it like App Store where EVERYTHING goes through the store. It's already been confirmed many version this windows store is the ONLY way to install any program.

So if you find a game on a website (like minecraft) or buy a disc then you CANNOT install it, you have to see if it is on Microsoft's store, go through their shitty network (and it has never not been shitty), pay THEM money and ONLY if they allow the program to go through. It's a fecking iPad t=with none of the lightness or portability.

No more steam sales. No more free programs. No more indy developers. No more micro-transactions.