QOTW (Well, more like Question Of The Season...)

[Bob Pendleton <bob@pendleton.com>]

I have been very busy the last few months. Quit my old job, started a
new job. Same ol' same ol'...

I want to get back to having a discussion of a general question at least
a couple of times a month. So, I would like you folks to start sending
me ideas for question, or just post them your self.

One question that has really bugged me watching the list over the last
year or so is that there are still lots of people starting to learn to
program games on DOS when the commercial game world has moved on to
Windows and to a (MUCH) lesser extent to using Linux and the Mac.

So, I have to ask why is DOS still so popular? There is NO commercial
market for DOS games. You can't take advantage of new hardware from DOS.
You can't even be sure that your code will run on another computer.

My guess is that it is a matter of cost. There are a lot of old
computers out there that can still do a good job of running DOS, but not
Windows. There are a lot of free tools for DOS such as DJGPP and
Allegro. There is a lot of free tutorial information around for DOS. The
down load tend to be a lot smaller so the tools are easier to get. And,
well maybe coding on DOS makes you feel more like a programmer because
you are working closer to the metal. 

On the other hand Windows tools are very expensive. (OpenWatcom.org IS
trying to fix this but it seems to be taking a LONG time to get the code
out to people.) Machines that will run Windows 95/98/NT/2000 are rather
expensive. There is very little free online documentation available.
And, it seems like you spend more time looking up interface specs than
actually coding when you try to do anything on Windows.

Linux is free. It runs on most anything that will run DOS. It has lots
and lots of tools. It has lots of free documentation. But, it isn't
really quite there yet when it comes to writing games. All the parts are
there if you know where to look. But, there is no way to know if your
code will run well on any other machine. Sort of like writing for DOS. 

Tell us why YOU use your favorite platform. Tell me I'm right, or tell
me I'm full of it. But, if I'm full of it tell me why you think that.

		Have Fun, Take Care, Be Excellent to each other

			Bob Pendleton

P.S.

I wasn't feeling well last night so I watched "Bill and Ted's Excellent
Adventure" and was caught by what it means to "Be Excellent to each
other." I like the idea.
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