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

["Ben Kohlen" <bkohlen@hotmail.com>]

I use my favourite platform (Linux) for all the reasons you have already 
mentioned (large chunks cut out of the quote)...

>Linux is free.
>It has lots and lots of tools. It has lots of free documentation. All the 
>parts are there if you know where to look.

... plus the _extreme_ ease of IO and general programmability.  It is an OS 
built by programmers *for* programmers, not built by theives for 
unsuspecting mass markets. (OK, sorry, i'll try not to make this religious).

One thing I would take issue with is your assertion that...

>But, there is no way to know if your code will run well on any other 
> >machine. Sort of like writing for DOS.

Linux code is more portable than DOS or Windows, because the IO is done in 
an extremely unified way and the system call interface is completely solid. 
(Unlike windows, where you don't know if code compiled for NT will run on 9x 
or vice versa).  Graphics is of course a downfall, but that's fine with me, 
cuz I write games for depth, creativity, playability and strategic thinking. 
  Besides, I understand that's all changing, with ID software taking a 
leading edge interest in Linux, and open source graphics libraries like Mesa 
becoming more solid.

When it comes right down to it, you can't beat linux for a stable 
environment to support threaded network apps/games.  And it's _way_ easier 
to program than windows once you know how, there's just a higher initial 
investment of time and energy.

My $0.03 (I'm Canadian, that's 2 cents American)
- Ben
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