GSDKs

[Christoph Reichenbach <creichen@rhein-main.netsurf.de>]

Hi,

On Sun, 22 Aug 1999, Steve Baker wrote:

[Millions of GSDKs]
> Perhaps the authors of ALL of these libraries should meet, put ALL
> their developments to bed and start afresh with a brand new project
> that bears no resemblence to all of the existing libraries. 

Why waste good, existing code? If those developers would meet and agree to one
licensing scheme, the existing code could simply be re-used. Discussions about
merits and disadvantages aren't a real issue if you've got the code to prove
that your idea works better.

Yes, this sounds a lot easier than it would be in practice, but IMHO it would
be better than letting the current fragmentation continue.

> Actually
> though, I suspect that if we did that, it would only be a matter of
> weeks until new games SDK's popped into existance

That's likely...

> - and we'd be back
> to square one.

I wouldn't say so. A "unified" GSDK would likely beat the new GSDK in most
areas (after the unification bugs are squished). If the new one is license-
compatible, it could even be absorbed.

Of course, the problem with GSDKs is that they don't write games themselves.
So, game developers need to be convinced to port their games. This isn't easy;
but it would work if development on the older GSDKs would stop in favour of the
new one.
And this is the real problem: It would work only if a large number of GSDK
developers would agree to drop work on their libraries in favor of the
"unified" one now. But I suppose that most of them either believe that
unification isn't worth the trouble, or that it'll never work.


llap,
 Christoph