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Comment by MilnerRoute | Hacker News Reader

I enjoyed the article, but this was the most provocative line.

"Microsoft bought Minecraft to keep its desktop Windows franchise alive."

Is this really still about desktop operating systems?

I don't understand the line of thinking that went into that. How on earth is minecraft going to save windows? It is available on windows so everyone will suddenly throw common sense out the window and buy windows PCs for no reason?

Minecraft is the gateway drug for a generation of hackers and makers. And that creative activity is still best done on a real computer, not a gaming console or phone.

If Microsoft actually provided a free, first-class development environment for modding Minecraft it would be a big deal, and it would win them a lot of exposure and goodwill among the next generation of programmers.

So I don't think it will "save" windows, but I do think it's a potentially smart move that gives them direct access to a self-selected audience of the right people.

Mindshare and omnipresence. Think of it as a gateway drug. When I began tinkering on computers at the age of 14, everything was based on Microsoft. The iPad (and Apple) has utterly destroyed that notion for today's youth. Today's 11 year old picks up an iPad and starts tapping away. Guess what they're going to want to build when they're 18, or 21?

Windows (and any OS for that matter) is only as good as the apps (read-> solutions) that reside on it. As more and more kids lose their attention on MS products to Apple ones, it means less awareness of MS's flagship products (Win+Office).

Microsoft paid 2.5 billion dollars to stay cool.

Cheaper than Oculus, can be adapted to Microsoft VR hardware.

Well, Minecraft involves producing content not just consuming it. So people with enough common sense to be able to produce something will get PCs... Or Macs. The rest will be playing Minecraft and Candy Crush Saga on their tablets.

Sure they will get PCs. They likely already have one. With an apple on it. The notion that people will flock back to minecraft is MS makes it windows only just doesn't seem realistic. They will be more likely to just move to a minecraft clone that isn't windows only.

simply have the logo there, not much else needs to be done. People will equate,conflate the two. Hence subconsciously if they enjoyed the game they will be predisposed to other products?

Also, after having a MBP for an year, and Windows at work, I still prefer Windows in many aspects, and should probably have stayed with a Windows desktop + remote Linux box + Putty for server-side development - and a high end tablet for travelling.

OSX experience isn't that "superior in every aspect" compared to Windows 7. (Their hibernation/power manager is really good though :P)

It's even more puzzling when you consider that Minecraft is written in Java, so it's platform-agnostic for the most part.

Almost any language is platform-agnostic if you don't use platform specific things like system calls.

And almost any language, Java included, can be used in a platform-dependant way. Like Minecraft does. It depends on native code.

Most don't combine the two things that together give Java its big advantage, though:

1) Easily-distributable "mostly-compiled" bytecode form (JAR files).

2) Wide install base for the VM needed to run said bytecode.

Without #1 you need to recompile for each new platform, even when avoiding platform-specific calls, and without #2 the advantages of #1 can't be used without requiring your users to install other stuff just to run your software.

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