DirectX follow up

[For the record WotC has not said 'only windows'. They're just using a graphics tool set, DirectX, that is owned by Microsoft and, so far as I understand, only available on Windows.]

In the prior post I linked to Ryan D's post about how WotC made a mistake by not thinking in terms of groups in deciding to make their online gaming tool 'windows only'. I think it's a valid argument, but I also think that WotC isn't trying to facilitate gaming-over-the-net. They're just trying to make a run at World of Warcraft. For a division like WotC even 1% of the x millions of dollars that Blizzard is pulling in has to be a huge attraction. And that means flashy graphics, which means DirectX*.

Why does this matter?
I was trying to slice up my group among windows and non-windows users and I realized that there was one common denominator. Serious gamers (video gamers) all have windows computers. Because computer games are really only released for windows machines.

Lots of people who play WoW use non-windows stuff, but if you're a gamer (i.e. you regularly buy and play games for your computer) then you're either a windows user or have a solution of some sort (usually dual booting to windows).

*=More likely they hired somebody who only knows DirectX and then asked them 'what do you want to use'? It's relatively easy to make a platform that runs on multiple systems (even if the non-windows stuff isn't as pretty).
But WotC isn't a computer company, and historically their competency in this space is limited. (I was trying to find a link to the Dungeon Tools thing they released with 3.0 but it seems to have disappeared from the internet; it was a classic example of a non-tech savvy company wading part way into the 'internet space' getting hopelessly lost and just abandoning the effort completely)
So they're stuck trying to develop something which will be 'DirectX only'.

Sometimes you realize you really are weird

I don't mean weird in a good/bad/cool/uncool sense. Just in a different-than-other-people since. Recently WotC announced* that they're going to have a tool to play DnD over the 'net. But it only works for Windows. My response was, "people still use windows?"

Now, obviously, they do use windows. My mom uses windows. I still use windows at work.

But I don't use it at home. I can't imagine using it at home. I was about to post an angry post asking "what do you use? XP-which-is-about-to-be-discontinued-by-MS? Vista-which-is-XP-with-fancy-graphics,-more-system-requirements-and-a-higher-price-tag?"

Naturally I realized that would be a dumb post and restrained myself**. But I felt a gulf between myself and my fellow EnWorld posters (and it's weird to feel that when you're on a message board that self-selects for players of a specific game in a niche hobby).

*Where announced equals wrote down on the internet somewhere and it was pounced on by a rabid Mac fan.

**OK. So maybe I didn't. But I thought about restraining myself. And nobody decided to respond to my flamebait so it's like I didn't post. Right?

I'm back

This will last for about a day... but anyway.