Philip

As expected from Microsoft, Dave Mitchell has claimed Microsoft’s XNA setup is better than Sony’s alternative boot loader that mostly runs GNU/Linux on the PlayStation 3. Some interesting items:

• “We don’t view what Sony and PlayStation 3 … as a competitive offering or trying to do something in the same vein.”

So, what Dave really means is that all those GNU/Linux developers have no clue about how to develop unless they use Visual Studio like tools. Last time I checked, development using OSS was going pretty good, if not better than Microsoft, who can’t even develop VB for Mac OS X and get Office translators working properly.

• “… it’s really about making an investment in something…”

Yes, that $99 US per year to let people develop games or programs for the XBox 360 sounds suspiciously like Microsoft has an agenda to make you invest money in Microsoft. Sony on the other hand will make no money off releasing GNU/Linux. No subscription fees, no nasty surprises.

• “What we are focused on doing is providing great tools at a free or low price point…”

Well, if anything, OSS tools are free and you can’t beat that. Plus, you aren’t beholden to Microsoft to fix things when they don’t work properly. Don’t like C or C like languages? Make your own or download something else! Heaps of choice. You can even code in Python or Ruby if you want!

• “… it’s not even the same thing as what those guys are doing right now.”

Yes, you’re right about that. What Sony is doing is a lot better for the average customer, while Microsoft again is trying to dictate how I (and everyone else) will do things. As usual. You know, I think Microsoft is the new IBM. And we all know what happened to IBM.

• “First, it’s going to be about how do members … share games.”

So we can plan to make money off you even more once you’ve given us useful market research data. So, what’s the chances if I make a program that Microsoft doesn’t seem to like (for example, a media player that doesn’t tie you to Windows Media format files, so you can use real codecs like H.264 or have subtitle streams) to be released to the general public? I somehow don’t think so.

On the flip side, Sony with GNU/Linux has very few limitations. Media center capabilities are fully unlocked, however gaming sans RSX graphics for 3D at the moment is a bit of a sore point, I’d imagine Sony will release an OpenGL library to let programmers access the RSX. I expect that developing for the PS3 will certainly be much less troublesome than using Microsoft’s XNA tools (which ironically, stand for XNA’s Not an Acronym. Blatant stealing of ideas from GNU, right?) I have the PS2 GNU/Linux kit and it’s pretty much free access to everything except the DVD drive and Sound Unit, however if you wanted to, you could code up your own OS homebrew style, and this will be the same for the PlayStation 3.

Read about it from Gamasutra here.