Firefox 3 and XP

Firefox 3

Today is download day for Firefox 3. People all around the world is coordinating to get people to download Firefox 3 today in an attempt to set a record for the most downloads of a piece of software in 24 hours.

I went ahead and downloaded it but I have not installed the final version yet. Most of my extensions do not support Ff3 yet. So I'm going to give them a little more time to get their stuff together before I start using it. Otherwise, I will have to go out and find replacements for them.

XP

Windows XP, arguably one of the best versions of Windows to ever be released, is starting to creep towards the end of its selling cycle. Microsoft is still on track to use its bouncer mentality to force big PC makers to quick offering XP on new machines. But their strong-arming isn't nearly as influential toward businesses to upgrade to Vista or to sway developers to write Vista-specific programs.

This will only help Microsoft bolster their Vista numbers because people cannot get XP, which is still the most widely preferred version of windows on new PCs as of earlier this year.

I read an article, which I will link to below, that says the big problem for Vista is that 92% of developers are ignoring it. Linux is getting more love with about 13% of developers are writing apps for it this year and about 15.5% are projecting to write for Linux in 2009.

But beyond the 'new graphics engine', a peer to peer mechanisms, a new networking stack, and WinFS. Oh wait, Scratch that last one since it was dropped early on in Vista's development. Plus scratch the new networking stack since it was actually ported to Windows XP.

But beyond that, Windows XP is not going anywhere in the near future anyway. Mainstream support will not end until 2009 and extended support will go through April 2014 anyway. But XP will still be available on PCs from smaller pc makers (aka system builders) through January 31, 2009, ultra-low-cost pcs through June 30, 2010, a low-end XP Starter Edition will be available in 'emerging markets' also through June 30, 2010.

But also, Vista Ultimate and Vista Business come with downgrade rights. So some computer makers are using this option to offer machines that appear to be XP products but are 'factory downgraded' to XP. The bad thing is only the pricier versions of Vista qualify for this, but you can 'upgrade' to Vista for no added fee either. MS says it will continue to make XP discs available to computer makers in order to enable downgrade rights through at least January 31, 2009.

"Pondering Windows XP's demise" by Ina Fried
"The Open Road" by Matt Asay

Could OpenGL 3.0 make significant leaps over DirectX 10?

So, two of the big selling points for Windows Vista is security and DirectX 10. Well the whole security thing is just that it has a real firewall that is enabled from the beginning and not just half of a firewall like they used in Windows XP. The Windows XP firewall would only block outgoing stuff, it would do nothing about incoming stuff. This is easily remedied by using another firewall....TADA!!! your safe.

Now, the whole DirectX 10 thing is that you can't get DirectX 10 on Windows XP. What a great ploy at their disposal? A way to make people upgrade to get that when so many other things have been backported to XP. Brilliant!

Oh wait, this could backfire too. Vista has been released for over a year now but how many licenses have been sold? As of the mark of one year of availability, the number of new computers sold was about 250 million. How many of those were Windows Vista PC's you say? About 100 Million. So about 2/5ths of new PC's sold during that time were Windows Vista PCs. Those people will not be looking to buy Vista anytime soon considering they just purchased their PC.

Also, its pretty simple that a game developer wants to get to the widest audience possible. The widest possible audience is people running DirectX 9. But they also want to provide the best experience possible. Here is where OpenGL 3.0 can come in and try to sweep the rug out from underneath M$.

OpenGL 3 will be completely backwards compatible with OpenGL 2.1, 2.0, 1.5, 1.4, 1.3, 1.2, 1.1 and 1.0 just like always. But it will also push the OpenGL 3.0 API into the next generation and will finally be able to compete with Direct3D 10. Plus, this same functionality will be available on video cards that support OpenGL 2 and DirectX 9. Thus no requirement to get a new video card (unless you want more performance for the bleeding edgers).

So the short of it is that you could get the same functionality as Direct3D 10, in an open standard, and it would be available on Windows XP machines as well as Windows Vista machines.

But, like with everything else, there is a down side. DirectX is more than just graphics. It has DirectInput, DirectPlay for communication, and some less significant things. While OpenGL is just a graphics library API. It doesn't have input or sound, to get those you pretty much have to do it yourself.

OpenGL has a chance to make a big mark but it is at somewhat of an disadvantage too. Do you use DirectX 10 and make it Windows Vista only? Or do you go OpenGL to get the same functionality but on more platforms with the need to write your own input, sound etc?

I will be pulling for OpenGL since I like open standards and most of my favorite games use OpenGL.

Vista Wonders!

Short embedded video about Vista I saw yesterday and just got around to posting.