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MS kills Xbox 360/PC cross-platform development

extremetech.com

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Re: MS kills Xbox 360/PC cross-platform development

#4

Post by freehunter »

RyanMcGreal wrote: post #3

For a narrow definition of "cross platform": > XNA was Microsoft’s toolset for cross-platform game development between the Xbox 360, Zune (when applicable), Windows Phone 7, and PC titles.

Well the title does say "Xbox 360/PC cross-platform". One way to read that (and the way I read that) is cross-platform between the two platforms.

Re: MS kills Xbox 360/PC cross-platform development

#5

Post by dangero »

Can someone change the title? This is written at the bottom of the article:

Updated: Microsoft has emailed Promit Roy to say that the first email was in error, and that “DirectX is evolving and will continue to evolve.” Like Roy, though, we’re still musing as to why it took a leaked email for Microsoft to clarify its stance on DX and XNA.

Re: MS kills Xbox 360/PC cross-platform development

#7

Post by xradionut »

When you work with the Microsoft stack, except for a few core technologies, you have no idea if the "hot" API or current solution Redmond is pushing will be supported or abandoned in a couple of years. Combine that with stapling Metro, a tablet/phone API to the side of the desktop in Windows 8, many developers I know are tired of being thrashed and burned.

As a developer/analyst/admin that works primary in the MS application/data realms, I'm bummed out that MS can't communicate with developers and seems very disfunctional vision-wise. But as someone who also uses OSS software and OSS OSes, I'm not tied to their whims. Neither are a growing number of my clients...

Re: MS kills Xbox 360/PC cross-platform development

#8

Post by kvb »

xradionut wrote: post #7

When you work with the Microsoft stack, except for a few core technologies, you have no idea if the "hot" API or current solution Redmond is pushing will be supported or abandoned in a couple of years. Combine that with stapling Metro, a tablet/phone API to the side of the desktop in Windows 8, many developers I know are tired of being thrashed and burned. As a developer/analyst/admin that works primary in the MS app…

What do you mean by "abandoned"? Isn't pretty much everything Microsoft releases supported on its original platform for at least 10 years? With OSS software and OSes, do you get better support guarantees?

Re: MS kills Xbox 360/PC cross-platform development

#9

Post by Argorak »

kvb wrote: post #8
xradionut wrote: post #7

When you work with the Microsoft stack, except for a few core technologies, you have no idea if the "hot" API or current solution Redmond is pushing will be supported or abandoned in a couple of years. Combine that with stapling Metro, a tablet/phone API to the side of the desktop in Windows 8, many developers I know are tired of being thrashed and burned. As a developer/analyst/admin that works primary in the MS app…

What do you mean by "abandoned"? Isn't pretty much everything Microsoft releases supported on its original platform for at least 10 years? With OSS software and OSes, do you get better support guarantees?

Thats a bonus for existing applications, but not when choosing a technology for a new one. If your technology gets shelved, you won't be able to grow with underlying framework. Now new interesting stuff for you, except if you rebuild.

Apple for example takes a different route: they have shorter support spans, but rarely invalidate whole technology stacks. Cocoa is still alive and kicking after all those years.

Re: MS kills Xbox 360/PC cross-platform development

#10

Post by MattRogish »

xradionut wrote: post #7

When you work with the Microsoft stack, except for a few core technologies, you have no idea if the "hot" API or current solution Redmond is pushing will be supported or abandoned in a couple of years. Combine that with stapling Metro, a tablet/phone API to the side of the desktop in Windows 8, many developers I know are tired of being thrashed and burned. As a developer/analyst/admin that works primary in the MS app…

This is in Microsoft's DNA. The more you're re-writing your apps "because everyone will have feature X of platform Y" the more you're not writing web apps that will ultimately make their platform irrelevant.

By iterating on non-compatible releases, you're forced to run on the upgrade/rewrite hamster wheel to take advantage of that feature the last version didn't quite have but should've.

Joel Spolsky coined it "fire and motion" http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000339.html

"Think of the history of data access strategies to come out of Microsoft. ODBC, RDO, DAO, ADO, OLEDB, now ADO.NET - All New! Are these technological imperatives? The result of an incompetent design group that needs to reinvent data access every goddamn year? (That's probably it, actually.) But the end result is just cover fire. The competition has no choice but to spend all their time porting and keeping up, time that they can't spend writing new features"

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