PureBasic Forums - English

Danilo wrote:

Fred wrote:If we need to, we will add a WinRT subsystem, as we added others (linux, OS X). That's doesn't sounds like a problem to me.

You need to. Add Metro/WinRT subsystem and Win8/ARM target platform. The time is NOW, at least 1 billion people
want the new Win8 tablet/netbook/PC mainstream combination. Work everywhere. With PureBasic.

He doesn't have the bandwidth, it's just 2 guys - Fred and Freak. They would though if he was to drop Linux and 3D library support.

drop Linux and 3D library support.

Drop the Mac too?

IdeasVacuum wrote:drop Linux and 3D library support.

Drop the Mac too?

All I ever see here are complaints about the 3D support. Perhaps those folks would be better served to use another tool, freeing Fred to spend his precious time working on other areas of PB.

Drop the Mac? No, given its growing popularity and marketshare, continuing support of it makes sense:
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operati ... pcustomd=0

Linux, on the other hand, is never going to gain wide mainstream use on the desktop.

I agree with you USCode - though it would not surprise me if Apple did drop the ball in the future, as they did before.

IdeasVacuum wrote:I agree with you USCode - though it would not surprise me if Apple did drop the ball in the future, as they did before.

Unfortunately, now that Steve Jobs is gone, that is a real possibility again in the long-term.

USCode wrote:

IdeasVacuum wrote:I agree with you USCode - though it would not surprise me if Apple did drop the ball in the future, as they did before.

Unfortunately, now that Steve Jobs is gone, that is a real possibility again in the long-term.

Hi guys! I think you've got it backwards; Jobs was the real cowboy at Apple, always pushing the envelope with his "comply or die" attitude. However, the current consensus is that the company is now gearing towards building market share, which would be an impossibility if they don't keep the current user base happy. If this is true, we should be seeing more legacy support in the future. There're even rumours that OSX may be licensed to the OEM market.

Let's face it, the Steve Jobs era is over, and without his culture, Apple is now just another money-making corporation; which may not be good news for innovation, but certainly good news for the developers that they so badly need.

So, PureBasic's OSX support is now more imperative than ever.

Zach wrote:Come on now.. And didn't we already have this ARM discussion before? x86 Tablets are coming anyway

I want an x86 Tablet too (Surface Pro), but many people will buy the cheaper ARM tablets for sure.

The thing is you could write only software for the Win8 x86 store, missing the whole Win8 ARM store sales.
It is better to use Visual Studio 2012 and just compile the same code for x86 and ARM.
If PB could compile for Win8 x86 and ARM, it would be more useful in the future. The Windows world is not
"x86 only" anymore. "Windows" means x86 and ARM for the processor, from now on.

Time will show, but it could easily be that 70% or 80% of Win8 tablet/notebook sales could be cheaper ARM versions.
Things change and it is an opportunity for PB/Windows. Just my opinion.

It's a chicken and egg situation. I think Windows surface and other tabs are mostly likely to attract people who do not have a tablet - avid Windows Users who actually really dislike the Apple thing. Now, they won't be buying the ARM based machines because they can't run all their existing software! Intel actually manufacture ARMs and I think they want to move away from that.

Tough to predict the full market either way, but I do see businesses opting for the Surface Pro. Together with the dockable keyboard and Office apps, it is a much more mobile evolution without hefty training and application investment. If the Arm Surface is significantly cheaper, I can see it as a media/TV gateway or controller. The touchscreen shines in this environment.

skywalk wrote:Tough to predict the full market either way, but I do see businesses opting for the Surface Pro. Together with the dockable keyboard and Office apps, it is a much more mobile evolution without hefty training and application investment. If the Arm Surface is significantly cheaper, I can see it as a media/TV gateway or controller. The touchscreen shines in this environment.

It's not only the price, it's battery life.

What makes ARM the best choice for mobile devices it it's great performance per power consumption. We have yet to see a x86 that can rival it.
Intel is claiming every generation they have a new great low power x86 CPU but they all failed in comparision to ARM.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/ ... ce_tablets

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/m ... ices/10132

The computer war is going to get pretty interesting next year.

c4s wrote:I would call it a different API not the new one.

We all - including Microsoft - know where the power of Windows is: Millions of great applications available for everyone and every need.
For a long time there will be no serious Metro app doing real photo processing, video editing, excel etc. because complex stuff cannot be done effectively in that touch-simplified manner.

Metro is for the consumer who wants to check his Facebook profile, watch a video, see the weather forecast, view some vacation photos etc. ...But it's not for anyone who wants to get something done fast.

Pretty close c4s

Basically Metro = Touch stuff and very routine things like described.

You can turn it off and get back to the old familiar desktop (which is one of the first things I do) because Metro is definately not "production" orientated.

Everything else is still the good old API we have known and used for many years now (with some updates of course)