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Count Regal Inkwell

@speaktrap @dosnostalgic Microshaft has done *good work* for Tech.

DirectX as a whole, bringing Multitasking and GUIs to mainstream PCs, the fact that they gave IBM the slip allowing for the entire "PC Compatible" ecosystem, which made computers cheaper over time.

They were never incompetent... They were always evil. "Lawful Evil" to use DnD words :P

24 Aug 2023 at 22:15 | Wall-to-wall | Open on equestria.social
2 comments
Speaktrap

@vinesnfluff @dosnostalgic
DirectX wasn't really needed as there was already OpenGL, which was much superior according to John Carmack, and I trust this guy.
OS/2 had multitasking before Windows.
Liberation of PC platform was a bit more compicated and I am pretty convinced it would take off with or without Gates anyway.

25 Aug 2023 at 7:31 | Open on mastodon.social
Count Regal Inkwell

@speaktrap @dosnostalgic while I ain't got sources for it, I'd bet a lot of money that the reason Carmack preferred OpenGL was that it allowed him to code closer to the bare metal, which is great if, like Carmack, you're basically a space alien level supergenius.

For everyone else, a library like DX that distanced you from the hardware (especially with how diverse PC hardware had become at that point) and provided a common layer of abstraction between it and software made development of applications infinitely easier.

As for OS/2 I'd have to double check the timeline... But I'm fairly sure it dropped *after* windows 3.0.

... And either way it was codeveloped by the microshaft team and a lot of its code got used on windows too.

@speaktrap @dosnostalgic while I ain't got sources for it, I'd bet a lot of money that the reason Carmack preferred OpenGL was that it allowed him to code closer to the bare metal, which is great if, like Carmack, you're basically a space alien level supergenius.

For everyone else, a library like DX that distanced you from the hardware (especially with how diverse PC hardware had become at that point) and provided a common layer of abstraction between it and software made development of applications...

25 Aug 2023 at 10:49 | Open on equestria.social
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