In article <46fdfa28@news.povray.org>, war### [at] tagpovrayorg says...
> Tim Cook <z99### [at] bellsouthnet> wrote:
> > I call BS.  Microsoft hardly forces anyone to write programs that just
 
> > run on Windows; everybody just decides that they won't support other 
> > OSes.  The could if they wanted.
> 
>   Sadly that's simply not true. The vast majority of hardware and softwar
e
> manufacturers can *not* abandon Windows and start making software for
> other platforms instead. It would be an economical suicide.
>   In the majority of cases making the software for Windows *and* other
> platforms is not cost-effective enough. If the Windows version brings 99.
5%
> of the money and the other versions the remaining 0.5%, it's certainly no
t
> worth the money and resources spent porting the software to those other
> platforms.
>   It's *not* a choice. They *have* to make Windows software if they want
> to stay in business. (Sure, there are exceptions, but those are few. We
> are talking about the average hardware/software house here, not the few
> lucky exceptions.)
> 
Not to mention that often MS makes special deals with many companies to 
include Windows only features, such that they not only are not supported 
by other OSes, they can't be. DirectX is one of the biggest examples of 
this, however, many software companies have fallen for that sort of 
"deal" as well, where MS allows them a look at the dark recesses of the 
web of connections within their code, as well as help making it work, 
knowing full well that the agreements they make to get that benefit will 
prevent them from providing the same functionality to anyone else's OS. 
Most companies are starting to wake up and realize they sold their souls 
to the devil via those agreements, but some of them are so heavily 
reliant on the products that exist under such cross licensing that it 
would in fact be financial suicide to try to break loose from them.

-- 
void main () {

    call functional_code()
  else
    call crash_windows();
}

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