CompuServe Messages

Good to talk to you Andrew. This type of discussion is certainly advantageous to all parties concerned, swamping ideas and opinions is also very healthy and is basically what C'Serve is design for. Some comments about your response if I may: AMc>"What you have said about windows is somewhat true. (Though AMc>I am running my Windows machine at 1024×768 at 65k colors and AMc>rarely experience speed problems that make me yawn.)" [Running Windows, or any package, at 1024x768x65000 color is good, however you must have a decent machine to do so and not have any speed degradation..Are you probably running a 386/486 with some (8ish Mb) RAM and obviously a hi color card . Since we are talking about Authoring, do you author in that res and at that color depth? Probably not cos' you then your clients would need to have a comparable machine…and card that can drive in that resolution/color. Does'nt this sound familiar, WINDOWS did not change things dramatically. See, you still have to ask the same questions a DOS authoring person does . Questions like what resolution and what color depth can my client access? If I stick with 640x480x16 it doesnt look photorealistic – but anyone running Window can run it. If I try for 640x480x256 and above it looks good but can clients access it. SO MUCH FOR A STANDARD?] AMc>The biggest advantage, period, to windows is that you don't AMc>have to worry about the hardware they are running it. AMc>Getting drivers for their graphics card, sound card, etc. is AMc>all handled by the manufactures of the boards. [Yeah your right, but windows still has to be set up. How many articles do you see about getting the best out of WINDOWS? And why do people write such articles if it's such a standard? ..WHAT's the difference configuring WINDOWS (alter win.ini) to run in Hi reZ/HI COLOR OR configuring DOS (choose a different Config.sys).???? AMc>Once the drivers are set up the people can forget about them, AMc>and most systems now come pre configured. [I hope so. The single best thing WINDOWS has done…IS TO FORCE MACHINE MANUFACTURES TO DESIGN FASTER CHIPS & MACHINES…to give windows some performance] S3 video card is a perfect example – It's been especially designed (accelerated) to get windows to perform.] AMc>We have gotten very few calls from people having problems AMc>running our CD-ROM title, yet I have 5 Multi-media DOS CD's AMc>sitting on my desk now that took reconfiguring my whole AMc>system to get them to run because some arrogant DOS AMc>programmer felt that I should dump all of my TSRs and AMc>reconfigure my system to be able to run one game. [Once again, the reason you don't have to worry is because author's of the CD thought about questions like what start up res what color depth..Chances are they were authored in 640x480x16 mode cos' if they go to hi res/hi color they have the same problem's a DOS authorer has…What is my TARGET machine. Does the person have the drivers, are they loaded, does s/he now how load addition drivers.] So what's changed again? AMc>I returned one the other day because it wouldn't reconize AMc>my new high end sound card. Bottom line, DOS stuff is a lot AMc>faster in some cases, but for the general public, who doesn't AMc>want or know how to play with their config.sys and AMc>autoexec.bat file, Windows is the best solution for the AMc>general public. [faster in ALL cases] [The public who don't wish to choose a different startup configurations are the same people who will be overjoyed to reconfiging WINDOWS loading and unloading drivers to get the best look out their application. QUESTION 1: Why doesn't MicroSoft run Flight Simulator under windows? QUESTION 2. Why is there even a WINDOWS SETUP icon if it's dosn't need reconfiguring?] AMc>(Also figure that almost every new machine sold comes preconfigured with windows.) [I hope your right, because if the machine is high powered enough to get some performance out of windows then my DOS programs will run even FASTER] [There is a perception among the public (and some computer software developers) that they are old fashion if they don't release a WINDOWS version of their product. Even if what they release is INFERIOR to their DOS version. WordPerfect is a prime example…The typist at work who use DOS WP 5.1 have just changed over to WINDOWS and all bitching – my am I waiting so long for spell check, printing, etc etc.. Do you think AUTODESK will force YOST to bring out a windows version of 3DSTUDIO???? I think the important word here is FORCED!] For beginners WINDOW is good (no obscure character commands) BUT at some stage the user will want to know more…I hate those annoying little messages…Do you want to print ..YES…are you sure…YES…Choose YES to continue…ERRRRRRR! Is WINDOWS the future? Look MicroSoft makes both, why would a smart man like GATES just stop production on a money earner? The main problem with windows is while people are watching the HOUR GLASS ICON they are not being productive. (and let's not even talk about that multitasking farce) Anyway good talking to you. Though we are in the wrong forum for a WINDOWS LOVE/HATE FEAST – Once again I'm not a WINDOWS BASHER, I have windows and use windows – but only when I've some time to kill! <grin> CU GH