[Saxon]

Let me state my qualifications, I got a C in Computers 11 and the most advanced programming I have done is to add words to my spell checker. As such, I am perfectly placed to comment on some of what is going back and forth. I am the person Windows was invented for!

Sure, bloatwares sucks and I hate having to upgrade my computer every couple of years, but I sure like how easy it is to do things in a Windows environment. Plug and Play, hit the Install icon, hit the Uninstall icon, look for that little label that says Windows compatible and life is good. I don’t have to, nor do I want to, mess around with anything more complicated.

To me, the operating system or the programming language is like the plumbing in my house. As long as it works, I don’t want to know much more about it, I just want to live in the house. This is why Windows sells and why it, or something like it, will continue to dominate. We, the mindless masses, want our toilets to flush and we don’t care if it does it elegantly or not. My computer is about entertainment and Windows lets me be entertained without messing about. Maybe Linux is cool, but it takes away from my entertainment if I have to worry if this game or that game will run on it.

So, I don’t know if programming a game is better, easier or more elegant in any given system, but I do know that if it doesn’t run well on Windows, I won’t buy it. And if I don’t buy it, several million other people won’t be in the market for it. If you want to program in another system because it is more elegant, go for it, but gear yourself to a different way of thinking. Your rewards will be those of a poet or a performance artist, those of fame within a circle of appreciative peers, admiration from other artists and a few outsiders who like the style.

As a final thought, Windows is democracy. Everyone can use it, it is simple and you don’t need much special or elite knowledge. Whatever else may be said about The Bill, has his system and company not placed a lot of power in the hands of the people? Was it Ben Franklin who advocated that everyone should be involved and that if they couldn’t be, steps should be taken to ensure they were? From where I sit, openly ignorant of many things, it seems that a system that allows me, my mom and my 3 year old niece all to use a computer is a brilliant thing. How it looks behind the interface is immaterial, it gives us all access to the machine. The ugly bloatware that I don’t see is what makes the system beautiful, just as the ugly pile of rock chips is what makes the marble statue beautiful.