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Comment by RBerenguel | Hacker News Reader

>> The great thing about programming on Windows is that it is the only commercially viable platform where you can ship software to users without getting approval from a giant bureaucracy <<

I kind of had the feeling I could write code for a Mac and ship it.

Wait, in some sense I have done so before with code for computing fractals I shared with other Mac users in my department. It worked perfectly in my Mac and their Mac.

Wait! I have downloaded and paid for apps straight from some developers websites (top of my mind, or top of my menu bar: Hazel, 1Password, Arq)

So I just stopped my reading there, sadly.

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-1, sorry.

> So I just stopped my reading there, sadly.

This is a fascinating article, and you're derailing the conversation (the article is not actually about the topic you're discussing at all). I recognize I'm only derailing it further, but I feel it is good etiquette to explain downvotes.

No need to be sorry for it, I probably deserve it for this comment. Of course, I've seen worse things upvoted, loathed or worshipped in HN, but don't mind for a few -1.

Even with what I read before getting out I knew it wasn't about platforms at all, but after that line I just wasn't as interested as when I decided to check it.

Yeah. That was the line where the author lost most of his credibility with me. I mean, it's not like anyone makes you fill out forms to make packages available for download on Mac and Linux...

If the author meant "Gaming Platform" that makes a bit more sense.

I think it was a stab at Apple porting their app store to Mac OS, but I agree that it was worded poorly as well as out of place.

That would only make sense if Microsoft hadn't made the exact same choice with Windows 8, even down to the warning when running untrusted software.

> Windows is the only commercially viable platform where you can ship software to users without getting approval from a giant bureaucracy (well, perhaps I should say it used to be).

And there's the stab at Windows 8.

Rather than throwing the article away in righteous anger, consider what sort of context could be missing that would make the authors point somewhat plausible. Could it be he did not mean just any platform, but only specific type of platform? For example, server platform - MacOS isn't really a significant player there, so that checks out, Windows is a commercial player, so that checks out, there are no other commercial players, so that does not check out. Ok. So maybe he refers to gaming platforms? Xbox, Nintendo, Playstation, iOS, four commercial platforms that all come with burocracy, so that checks out, windows is a player, check, MacOS is not a significant player, so kind of check. It makes perfect sense if the author is professionally employed developing games - these platforms are where all the money is, so that's the only thing on his mind. See, not everything is a hostile dig at your favorite fruity platform.

It wasn't anger. I was genuinely curious to see what was about, and I don't have any problem with Windows (used it from 3.1 until XP) But after a long and windy work day with quite a lot of setbacks that line sent me right out.

The Mac is not a commercially viable gaming platform.

Agree, at least on its own right. But that wasn't what the line read, and it quite sent me off.

I suspect the author means viable for video games, not software. I don't have any proof of this, just the dearth of large-budget games make their way to Mac.

Yup, I guess that's the point, but dissing the whole platform because a kind of software product is not particularly buoyant...

In the header of the blog: "The Witness: an exploration-puzzle game on an uninhabited island".

So, yes. Games.

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