
Tim Sweeney claims that Microsoft will remove Win32, destroy Steam - maqbool
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/07/now-tim-sweeney-thinks-that-microsoft-will-use-windows-10-to-break-steam/
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jandrese
The article states straight up that Win32 is used in way too many applications
for Microsoft to ditch it wholesale in the foreseeable future.

What they can do is tweak around the edges to make Steam perform poorly and
theoretically make the Windows app store more appealing, but that got a little
bit tinfoil hat for me. I won't say it's unheard of, but they've already been
under investigation once for these kinds of shenanigans and it doesn't look
like we're going to have a friendly administration come in to pull their feet
out of the fire this time.

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astrodust
Microsoft's ugly history is full of sketchy shenanigans, like the time it
seemed like they were working to make sure WordPerfect wouldn't run in DOS due
to subtle, breaking changes to the API
([http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/ancient-microsoft-
nov...](http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/ancient-microsoft-novell-case-
ends-in-hung-jury/)) or those occasions where they were suspected of
kneecapping Lotus in much the same way
([http://www.proudlyserving.com/archives/2005/08/dos_aint_done...](http://www.proudlyserving.com/archives/2005/08/dos_aint_done_t.html)).

The new Microsoft leadership seems more interested in building bridges than in
crushing and destroying companies Ballmer style, but I could be wrong.
Removing win32 seems like a huge mistake both from an optics perspective and
because of its impact on partners.

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mindcrime
Whether Sweeney is right or not, this whole discussion illustrates exactly why
it behooves everybody (except Microsoft, I suppose) to switch to an F/OSS OS
like Linux or a BSD. Everybody is trying to make their platform a walled
garden, and the "war on general purpose computing" still rages as well. Using
an F/OSS operating system, and open hardware platforms as much as possible, is
essential to keeping computing open to everyone.

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kevincox
With more and more games coming out for MacOS and Linux I think there is a
good chance that gamers would just jump ship. People are incredibly invested
both monetarily and emotionally in Steam.

~~~
datburg
Jumping shift? We don't just use a PC for gaming all day. Read the article,
please.

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detaro
dupe:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12172115](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12172115)

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codys
And the author of the article disagrees.

