[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Do you want VS .NET 2003 support?

["Brandon J. Van Every" <vanevery@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: Raimar Falke [mailto:i-freeciv-lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> On Tue, Jan 06, 2004 at 04:37:08PM -0800, Brandon Van Every wrote:
>
> > Actual code changes were pretty trivial.  Added a few needed
> > #ifdefs.  Reshuffled some functions so that libcivcommon would be a
> > "base" library, and not ask for things actually declared or
> > implemented in client or server.  I made is_server live in
> > libcivcommon, changed the client version of send_unit_info to
> > client_send_unit_info, and made a function pointer to dealloc_id.
> > Really trivial things like that, no actual changes to code
> > semantics.
>
> Please submit these changes.

Ok, I will.  I'll need some time to get things proper though.  My
priorities and pressures are shifting... I'll get to it within the next
2 weeks or so.  Probably some day when I don't want to work on "real
stuff" and feel like, "Ok, what the hell, cough it up!"  :-)

> What do you have to do to get VS .NET 2003? Paying money? Is there a
> command-line version freely available?

It costs money.  But, there are student versions available, and
universities often have site licenses.

In the Seattle metro area, a typical way for locals to obtain it is to
have a Microsoftie friend acquire it from the company store for almost
nothing.  I got my current license that way... I'm not exactly sure if
that's a kosher license, if I'm really considered an unwashed savage
who's not supposed to be able to obtain MS employee stuff.  But there
are acutally lotsa legitimate ways that external people can get access
to the MS store, it's not like a fortress of solitude or anything, so
I'll take my chances.

Finally, there's always piracy.  Although I do have licenses for all my
software, personally I feel that Microsoft is exempt from my usual
morality about software piracy, because they're such monopolistic
bastards.  They've only gotten a slap on the wrist, so I feel pretty
cavalier about turning a blind eye to things that hurt them.  I used to
rat out MS Word pirates, now I wouldn't bother.

Wouldn't want to see "their" games pirated though.  Microsoft is just a
publisher, it's really the game developers who are hurt in that case.

I also think it's legit to rip off expensive 3D modeling / animation
packages for purposes of learning them.  Of course, that's become a moot
issue now that Maya offers a Personal Learning Edition.  Very
enlightened of them, and I think they forced Discreet to follow suit.
Now, I'd only rip it off to learn their *SDKs*, which you can't access
in the learning editions.  I'd never make production use of such a
package without a license though.

Anyways... the main reason to use Visual Studio .NET 2003 is that in a
town like Seattle, you're going to make far more money hawking that
skillset than some other tool.  I don't know how important careerism is
to you, but knowing the "trendy buzzword" technology is worth more
money.

I also think VS .NET 2003 is a way better development environment on
Windows than Cygwin or MinGW are.  Of course I am a Windows developer,
not a Unix developer looking to make Windows into Unix.  I like my IDE
and integration with the "Microsoft Way" of doing things.  If you're
going to bother to code on Windows, code properly.  In the Windows
universe, that means spending money on proper tools and not expecting
everything for free.

Must admit though, I'm still scratching my head about all this Managed
Code "poison pill" stuff that Microsoft has strategized for people.
Migration, in practice, means swallowing the pill.  Haven't quite
swallowed.  Still looking for ways to dance around it with Python.
Limit the size of the pill.  At present, the Managed Code stuff is still
more about making money with what's trendy.  I'm not exactly eager to
port my working C++ 3D stuff, it's a boring project and my code works
fine as is.  C# really doesn't play well with C++.  Instead, you have to
turn C++ into Managed C++. Then things play very nicely, but then you've
swallowed the poison pill.


Cheers,                         www.indiegamedesign.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

"We live in a world of very bright people building
crappy software with total shit for tools and process."
                                - Ed Mckenzie