From f317ad14b8519130c23733948596d86092c10980 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: TimothyLottes Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2016 19:12:14 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] Add files via upload --- 20160726.html | 96 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ index.html | 1 + 2 files changed, 97 insertions(+) create mode 100644 20160726.html diff --git a/20160726.html b/20160726.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6cf79a1 --- /dev/null +++ b/20160726.html @@ -0,0 +1,96 @@ +
+

20160726 - On Killing WIN32?

+
+ +Many years ago I used to be a dedicated reader of Ars, +but it slowly transitioned to something a little too biased for my taste, +so I avoid it, but thanks to twitter, it is possible to get sucked into a highly controversial article: + +"Tim Sweeney claims that Microsoft will remove Win32, destroy Steam". +
+
+ +My take on this is quite simple. + +Everyone in this industry who has lived long enough to have programmed in the C64 era, +has witnessed a universal truth on every mass market platform: the freedom and access to the computer by the user or programmer +is reduced annually at a rate which is roughly scaling with the complexity of the software and hardware. +
+
+The emergent macro level behavior is undeniable. +Human nature is undeniable. +It is possible to continuously limit freedom +as long as it is done slowly enough such that it falls under the instantaneous tolerance to act on each micro-level regression of freedom. +Or translation, humans are lazy, humans adapt fast, and humans don't live long. +Each new generation lacks the larger perspective of the last, and starts ignorant of what had been lost. +
+
+ +The reason why computers and freedom are so important +is that computers are on a crash course to continue deeper and deeper integration with our lives. +I believe ultimately humans will transcend the limits of our biology, +blurring the lines between the mind and machine. +Seems rather important at that apex to have the individual freedoms we have today, +the privacy of our thoughts, etc. +
+
+ +In the short term as a developer +I'm also somewhat concerned that the infants that will grow up to replace the generation I started in, +will have the same opportunities I had, +the same ability to get access to the hardware, +to have the freedom implement their dreams, +and to if they choose to, make a living doing so, in a free market, controlling their own destiny, selling their own product, +without a larger controlling interest gating that process. +
+
+ +WIN32 is one such manifestation of that freedom. +
+
+ +There are some very obvious trends in the industry +specifically in the layers of complexity being introduced either in hardware or software. +For example, virtualization in hardware mixed with more attempts to sandbox software. +Or the increased distance one has to the display hardware. +Look at VR, you as an application developer are locked out of the display, and have to pass through a graphics API interopt layer +which does a significant amount of extra processing in a separate process. +Or perhaps the "service-ication" of software to subscription models. +Or perhaps the HDR standard removing your ability to control tone-mapping. +Or perhaps it is just the complexity of the API which makes it no longer practical to do what was done before, even if it is still actually possible. +
+
+ +Following the trends to their natural conclusion +perhaps paints a different picture for system APIs like WIN32. +They don't go away per say, they just get virtualized behind so many layers, +it is becomes impossible to gain the advantages those APIs had when they were direct. +That is one of the important freedoms which is eventually lost. +
+
+ +One of the best examples of this phenomenon is how the new generation perceives old arcade games. +Specifically as, +games with incorrect color (CRT gamma around 2.5 being presented as sRGB without conversion), +giant exactly square pixels (never happened on CRTs), +with dropped frames (arcade had crystal clear no-jitter on v-sync animation), +with high latency input due to emulation in a browser for example (arcade input was instant in contrast), +with more latency due to swap-chains added in the program (arcade hardware generated images on scan-out), +with added high latency displays (HDTVs and their +100 milliseconds, vs instant CRTs), +and games with poor button and joystick quality (arcade controls are a completely different experience). +Everything which made arcades awesome was lost in the emulation translation. +
+
+ +Returning to the article, +I don't believe there is any risk in WIN32 being instantly deprecated, +because if that was to happen, it would be a macro-level event well beyond the tolerance level +required to trigger action. +The real risk is the continued slow extinction. + + + +
+ + + diff --git a/index.html b/index.html index 198ea5c..4fad068 100644 --- a/index.html +++ b/index.html @@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ Below this is active random migration (456 prior posts still to filter through) 20160731 - Vulkan From Scratch Part 2
20160728 - Blink Mechanic for Fast View Switch for VR
20160727 - Vulkan - How to Deal With the Layouts of Presentable Images
+20160726 - On Killing WIN32?
20160715 - LED Displays
20160127 - Temporal AA Neighborhood Clamp