[casual_games] Slow death for the current generation

[Tim Turner]

Oh Chuck, don't be silly.  People at Microsoft don't have *FEELINGS*!  :)

For my part, I have a career because of Bill and those cohorts.  I am happy
to send them money.

k-bye,
T

-----Original Message-----
From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
On Behalf Of Chuck Walbourn
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 12:59 PM
To: casual_games at igda.org
Subject: Re: [casual_games] Slow death for the current generation


> Personally, Vista is not an opportunity to do anything but send Bill and

cohorts more cash.



I have to say that it is frustrating how much people view Microsoft as a
monolithic entity and that only the Chairman counts for anything of
substance. On behalf of the tens of thousands of people who work directly on
or are associated with Windows, I must say it's pretty damn rude. I know it
was mostly a cynical jab at everyone's favorite punching bag, but it's also
not a terribly informed jab.



Windows Vista has been a long time in coming. There is a lot more to the
release than just a version number change, a new package, and some new
wallpaper backgrounds. An immense amount of R&D has gone into this release,
and there are some pretty radical improvements under the covers that do in
fact contribute to the evolution of the PC.



Here are a few examples:



- Security: Radically improved standard operating mode (not running
everything from notepad to IE at admin level is a big deal), services
isolation & hardening, restructuring of all the OS components to separate
admin-only operations, a lot of appcompat investment to help older
applications continue to run



- Graphics: New video driver model to make Direct3D more mainstream, stable,
performant, and support better application sharing, Direct3D 10



- Networking: Fully IPv6-ready, much improved networking stack to greatly
improve performance on high-bandwidth and congested links



- 64-bit computing: x86/x64-neutral licensing, greatly improved x64 inbox
driver support



- Kernel: RDTSC-based scheduling and process/thread accounting, real-time
scheduling for better multimedia support



- Audio: Full multichannel implementation, user-mode driver model for better
performance, per-application volume control



All that is ignoring the new desktop, search, and all the other marketing
stuff over at <http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/>.



-Chuck Walbourn

SDE, Game Technology Group
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