Why doesnt microsoft make a windows made for gaming?

TheBuzzer

TheBuzzer

HACK THE WORLD!
Joined
Aug 15, 2005
Messages
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Wouldn't a game run faster if they strip windows out of most stuff and make it like a xbox os?

I bet some gamers would have 2 os to boot, one just for their games. Other for normal daily stuff.
 
1) hard core gamers are not enough of a market to justify a separate OS version
2) most of them would probably just pirate it anyways
3) Those background services using up 2% of a system do not affect gaming for most people.
 
They already catch flak for offering so many versions of Vista....plus the people who can't figure out what the difference is.:rolleyes: Also I think if there was a x-box like OS, then why would someone get an x-box?

You can trim Windows yourself with a little research.
 
The newest versions of Windows (Vista and 7) are designed to not take nearly as much cpu usage as in previous generations. If you're getting gaming issues because of background stuff running then...either uninstall some stuff that runs as services or get some more horsepower!

(RAM IS CHEAP!)
 
sigh

most services/applications that aren't actually doing anything....aren't actually doing anything.
They are not slowing down your 'puter. Dont run a virus scan will gaming, etc, etc but winlite all that doesn't do anything except take less disk space and make you think your running a faster OS.
 
for the same reason they quit making pc games.
BUY AN XBOX....cheap for them and they make money off every game sold.
 
I play games, and definitely wouldn't reboot; quite to the contrary, I usually keep my web browser, IM client etc. open in the background. For the small (negligible?) improvement a stripped-down version of Windows for gaming would offer, I doubt many people would want that inconvenience either.
 
I always leave IM/winamp/google earth/whatever I have loaded open. Except when I had 4GB of ram and had the page file turned off, Id close GE/sidebar to free the RAM. Now I don't even have to bother with that. Just open the game and play.
 
A better question would be, why cant software makers improve their software so it isnt bloated?
 
WarriorX said:
A better question would be, why cant software makers improve their software so it isnt bloated?
Click to expand...

Ya, why is Outlook 2007 almost 1GB installed? That one app took up all the free space on my 8GB Dell Mini 9 with XP Home.
 
Quoting:http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1028481996&postcount=25

I honestly believe most people on this forum have no idea how performance in an operating system works. But, sure for the sake of argument let's say there is something to be gained by having another SKU of windows, let's call it Gamer Extreme Edition.GEE will be a special sku without any of those performance "slowing" components. Pull IE? Sure, who would be using a web browser for gaming, except those popcap games. So leave IE. Let's get rid of Windows Media Player, that's obviously not needed, GEE shouldn't be bothered, except for all those games that use the Media Player API's and Codecs. Doh. Alright, well maybe we should just boot it up and have nothing run from start, but the game. Special boot mode we'll call it. We'll just reboot right off the bat, and go straight into the game. So I join the network game of Doom, what my wireless card doesn't work? Damn, gotta reboot and start that configuration first, and then start doom. Hmm, well let's see, we should leave all this stuff in, since games do use it. And we might need to reconfigure stuff, so we probably shouldn't load straight off the bat, hmm, well maybe we'll start the game at a higher priority, and lower everything else. That's the ticket! GEE will give the game realtime priority! Sweet, I can now frag with the best of them, I'm fragging, dodging and weaving, this is great, and then the game hits a bug. Well, it's ok I'll alt-tab out and reset the game. What's going on? ALT-Tab, doesn't work, CTRL-ALT-Delete seems to be malfunctioning, it's not working real well either, I wonder why? Oh yeah, I started realtime, so I just starved the other tools from helping me resolve my crisis. Crud...Well that's ok, we'll work around all these issues! We'll make GEE awesome. Then those poor gamer devs now gotta test on another extreme gaming edition. Which adds a whole new matrix of tests to the platform. GEE, seems like XP Home to me, by the time we're done. Note:This design philosophy was 5 minutes of what if thinking by me.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
 
Ranma_Sao said:
Quoting:http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1028481996&postcount=25

I honestly believe most people on this forum have no idea how performance in an operating system works. But, sure for the sake of argument let's say there is something to be gained by having another SKU of windows, let's call it Gamer Extreme Edition.GEE will be a special sku without any of those performance "slowing" components. Pull IE? Sure, who would be using a web browser for gaming, except those popcap games. So leave IE. Let's get rid of Windows Media Player, that's obviously not needed, GEE shouldn't be bothered, except for all those games that use the Media Player API's and Codecs. Doh. Alright, well maybe we should just boot it up and have nothing run from start, but the game. Special boot mode we'll call it. We'll just reboot right off the bat, and go straight into the game. So I join the network game of Doom, what my wireless card doesn't work? Damn, gotta reboot and start that configuration first, and then start doom. Hmm, well let's see, we should leave all this stuff in, since games do use it. And we might need to reconfigure stuff, so we probably shouldn't load straight off the bat, hmm, well maybe we'll start the game at a higher priority, and lower everything else. That's the ticket! GEE will give the game realtime priority! Sweet, I can now frag with the best of them, I'm fragging, dodging and weaving, this is great, and then the game hits a bug. Well, it's ok I'll alt-tab out and reset the game. What's going on? ALT-Tab, doesn't work, CTRL-ALT-Delete seems to be malfunctioning, it's not working real well either, I wonder why? Oh yeah, I started realtime, so I just starved the other tools from helping me resolve my crisis. Crud...Well that's ok, we'll work around all these issues! We'll make GEE awesome. Then those poor gamer devs now gotta test on another extreme gaming edition. Which adds a whole new matrix of tests to the platform. GEE, seems like XP Home to me, by the time we're done. Note:This design philosophy was 5 minutes of what if thinking by me.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
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I was going to say exactly the same thing before I read your post. By time you're done with a 'game OS' you basically end up with Windows. Windows uses 1% of my cpu or less at idle, what is it you think you can gain by stripping stuff out of it (stuff that some other people want btw)? Billions of dollars, a lame deficient OS that doesn't have 'things people expect an OS to have,' tons of testing by developers, and you gain 1% more performance, brilliant plan there...

Note, the Xbox is faster than a comparable computer running Windows because of direct hardware access, why not add that to windows? Because then you could not use more than one gpu, etc. games would only work with one gpu, and you couldn't ever upgrade. If you want that, buy an XBox.
 
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There's already more versions of the OS than what's really necessary, a gamer-version wouldn't really have a large enough audience and it's kind of irrelevant... Tech-savy PC gamers don't need it and those that aren't would probably just end up more confused w/yet another version of the OS.
 
TheBuzzer said:
Wouldn't a game run faster if they strip windows out of most stuff and make it like a xbox os?

I bet some gamers would have 2 os to boot, one just for their games. Other for normal daily stuff.
Click to expand...

Because kids will still "gunk it up" and make it run screwy. Installing kajillions of toolbars, adware, spyware, trojans from torrents/p2p programs.

It's not the operating system, it's the end user..that usually causes performance problems.

Give 12x people the same computer hardware and Windows.....all running great, lean 'n mean. Let them us the computers for a few months. Now come back and examine the computers after a few months of their use...you'll get 12x totally differently performing computers due to end users.

Straight up Windows is fine..as others noted above...even if you spent a day trying to strip it down...you gain what.... .02% more performanace, at the loss of so many features.

Build you computer using quality good hardware
Keep it clean
Sit back and enjoy.
 
Just gotta teach people some god damned common sense. Toolbars and random wallpaper aps don't install themselves asd@%*(!.
 
Monkey34 said:
They already catch flak for offering so many versions of Vista....plus the people who can't figure out what the difference is.:rolleyes:
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The rest of the public is gonna flip when they hear that Windows 7 has 6 versions......

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/04/1327253&from=rss

A gaming OS is.. extremely unresourceful to me. First, IMHO, xp is the best OS for gaming.. still. It's the lightest and most stable. I think when 7 becomes stable (as stable as an OS will be) will be a nice gaming OS as well.

Also, having a main OS like Vista, and a gaming OS would require rebooting _every_single_time_someone wants to game. And many, many, many people would rather game on XP/Vista/7 and lose 10fps cause of the other apps running, then reboot every time they want to game.

Impulse said:
There's already more versions of the OS than what's really necessary, a gamer-version wouldn't really have a large enough audience and it's kind of irrelevant... Tech-savy PC gamers don't need it and those that aren't would probably just end up more confused w/yet another version of the OS.
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Like you've stated..kinda, Tech-Savvy people don't even NEED a gaming OS. We know how to keep our PC's bloat free. Keep startup fast, and we (usually) get rid of the applications that we aren't using. Just keep your OS clean.. is it that hard?

Don't render a 1.5gb picture in CS4 while playing crysis.
Don't virus scan while gaming.

Simple stuff like that...
 
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What Windows really needs is an "easy mode" for true neophytes, where it blocks them from doing really stupid stuff on a daily basis... And that's kind of what UAC is, but people still blast it (and the neophytes blatantly ignore it and click accept on everything just like they do with every single web pop-up :p ). Some people just don't belong on the web... ;)
 
illuminate said:
The rest of the public is gonna flip when they hear that Windows 7 has 6 versions......

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/04/1327253&from=rss
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Engadget have already been horrified:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/windows-7-skus-announced-yes-your-worst-nightmare-has-come-to/2

Not entirely justified to say that "It's worse than you could have possibly imagined", considering that there's exactly the same number of SKUs as Windows Vista, though. Just swap Business for Professional.
 
To be fair it's really only three retail versions, which is only one more than what XP had (Home & Pro), and the differences are probably more clearly outlined and publicized than they were w/XP. There's Home Premium (Media Center, etc), Business (Remote Desktop, etc), and Ultimate which is a combo of both.

The other versions are either for enterprises buying tons of licenses or emerging markets/other countries. There's still more versions than there should be though.
 
Impulse said:
To be fair it's really only three retail versions, which is only one more than what XP had (Home & Pro), and the differences are probably more clearly outlined and publicized than they were w/XP. There's Home Premium (Media Center, etc), Business (Remote Desktop, etc), and Ultimate which is a combo of both.

The other versions are either for enterprises buying tons of licenses or emerging markets/other countries. There's still more versions than there should be though.
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Excuse my ignorance, but where does XP media Center fall in on this? Is it more of a take-off of home, or pro?

And i agree with you, there are more versions than they need.

But, i also think that with how computer-ing is changing, and how hardware and everything is changing, more OS's help--SOME.

Maybe.. 4.. but 6? seriously..
 
illuminate said:
Excuse my ignorance, but where does XP media Center fall in on this? Is it more of a take-off of home, or pro?.
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The fact that it's missing 2x important features of Pro...
1 Lacks "Join Domain"
2 Lacks "Cached Credentials"

So basically it's lacking support for domain logins...which makes it more like XP Homeless.
 
illuminate said:
Excuse my ignorance, but where does XP media Center fall in on this? Is it more of a take-off of home, or pro?

And i agree with you, there are more versions than they need.
Click to expand...

Well, XP MCE didn't come out 'till later IIRC (like a year or two after XP?), and it was originally only available to OEMs... Didn't start to catch on 'till people grew more of an interest in HTPC. Probably the reason why they eventually integrated it into the Home version w/Vista, but you're right, there were eventually three versions of XP too, heh.

The two Windows 7 versions that really seem most redundant are the two lowest end ones... Is the price difference gonna be that big or something? Home Basic already guts some of Windows 7's biggest improvements, what's the market for the Starter version really gonna be? The OLPC of the future? :p
 
Impulse said:
The two Windows 7 versions that really seem most redundant are the two lowest end ones... Is the price difference gonna be that big or something? Home Basic already guts some of Windows 7's biggest improvements, what's the market for the Starter version really gonna be? The OLPC of the future? :p
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When i read about the starter version, i kinda.. felt dismayed.

Having a version where you can only open up like.. 3-4 programs *tries to remember pcworld article* can be good, yet bad at the same time.

7 is pretty lite already, i think the need for a started edition should have been avoided, not because it's not needed (it'll be nice for those people who know _nothing_ about PC's, but want 2084239540398543 apps open on their $400 oem compaq PC.

But, on the other hand, if a PC ships with that, that would be *so* frustrating. Seriously.

Although, i do think that when Windows 7 is fully released, and all the editions are released, someone will find a hack or something to bypass the starter editing application number blocking thing.
 
illuminate said:
When i read about the starter version, i kinda.. felt dismayed.

Having a version where you can only open up like.. 3-4 programs *tries to remember pcworld article* can be good, yet bad at the same time.

7 is pretty lite already, i think the need for a started edition should have been avoided, not because it's not needed (it'll be nice for those people who know _nothing_ about PC's, but want 2084239540398543 apps open on their $400 oem compaq PC.

But, on the other hand, if a PC ships with that, that would be *so* frustrating. Seriously.

Although, i do think that when Windows 7 is fully released, and all the editions are released, someone will find a hack or something to bypass the starter editing application number blocking thing.
Click to expand...

I think it's 3 windows, not 3 programs. Something like that. 3 programs wouldn't work, since it's just too limiting, but 3 windows, you could figure out how to implement easily, and might just be enough for the granny that doesn't care.

I don't think many copies of this "starter" edition will be sold, and if they do get sold, I assume people will be well aware of its limitations. For the rest of us, we have our standard fare Home Premium version.

Oh, and one other thing, I believe explorer windows don't count. So, there you go, as much file browsing as you want. Just means you might not be able to run an open irc client while browsing on firefox, editing your docs, playing crysis, and making a video at the same time.
 
TheBuzzer said:
I bet some gamers would have 2 os to boot, one just for their games. Other for normal daily stuff.
Click to expand...
I bet they wouldn't because most gamers would know how to tune their OS for gaming....and with Vista, and most likely Windows 7, that means leaving it alone. There's simply no need for a separate Windows gaming OS.
 
^^^ bingo.

with hardware these days the OS barely takes a toll on a rig, especially a gaming rig.
 
Impulse said:
To be fair it's really only three retail versions, which is only one more than what XP had (Home & Pro), and the differences are probably more clearly outlined and publicized than they were w/XP. There's Home Premium (Media Center, etc), Business (Remote Desktop, etc), and Ultimate which is a combo of both.

The other versions are either for enterprises buying tons of licenses or emerging markets/other countries. There's still more versions than there should be though.
Click to expand...

Two retail versions.Windows 7 home premium and professional. That is all that will be on store shelves in developed nations. You won't see any other version on a store shelf.

The first two are for developing nations. Won't see them. Enterprise is a multi license version for business. Ultimate is a single license version of enterprise. Windows 7 ultimate is not like Vista ultimate.

So you will only see two versions on store shelves.
 
10+ years ago when PC gaming was still hot and OS's were inefficient bloat hogs this just might work as a marketing gimmick for more cash flow. Now...no.
 
Just came across this thread and the title alone made me ROFL.

Get with the times people and buy a quad-core.

/thread.
 
They do, it's just called "Xbox 360 OS" :D It's Windows Media Center, very highly modified, with some other goodies thrown in for good measure, for entertainment purposes only...

If you want just gaming, that's your solution: Windows is a personal computer operating system, not a console operating system. Big difference...
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
Because kids will still "gunk it up" and make it run screwy. Installing kajillions of toolbars, adware, spyware, trojans from torrents/p2p programs.

It's not the operating system, it's the end user..that usually causes performance problems.

Give 12x people the same computer hardware and Windows.....all running great, lean 'n mean. Let them us the computers for a few months. Now come back and examine the computers after a few months of their use...you'll get 12x totally differently performing computers due to end users.

Straight up Windows is fine..as others noted above...even if you spent a day trying to strip it down...you gain what.... .02% more performanace, at the loss of so many features.

Build you computer using quality good hardware
Keep it clean
Sit back and enjoy.
Click to expand...

This is so true. A good friend of mine once complained that his cpu was constantly running at > 50% speed even when idle. His guesses for the problem where viruses, bad OS install, driver conflict etc. Seeing how odd this was, I took a look at his pc. The first thing I noticed was that his wallpaper was moving. Apparently he put a .gif as his wallpaper. So I asked him why he had suck a stupid wallpaper and he said he thought it was cool and made him leet, etc. Anyways, long story short, it was the god damned .gif that was hogging all the resources. Took me 1min to figure out the problem and 10sec to fix it.
 
Building an OS for gaming is like removing locks on a car to make it go faster. Given the power of computers, OS efficiencies in managing resources and changing technology you should look more to game developers and hardware companies for optimizations. See Crysis for an example.
 
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