this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2024
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Windows is the worst thing that ever happened to computer science.
And I don't exaclly mean the product itself, but the mindset and habits that came with it.
The worst thing is, that Windows (and DOS) is the only main operating system that is not POSIX compatible, or Unix like. Besides not being open source...
As someone who primarily uses Unix-like systems and develops cross platform software, having windows as a weird outlier is probably best for the long term. Windows is weird and dumb but it forces us to consider platform differences more explicitly. In the future if a new operating system becomes popular, all the checks that were implemented for windows will make it a bit easier to port to newer systems.
Xbox controller is the worst thing to happen to emulation
~~I don't agree.~~ (Edit: Read the replies, he is actually right.)
Using Xbox controller since 360, now the One and Series S controllers as my preferred gamepad for modern emulation systems (meaning I have a Snes like pad for older systems). I have no idea why you think that a Xbox controller is bad for emulation.
Oh they're very good controllers! The problem is that they took Nintendo's button names (ABXY) and transposed their positions. It's utter chaos, and very hard for me at least to remember that A is B and B is A.
Playstation, by contrast, came up with entirely new button symbols, so it's much less confusing that O -> A.
The APIs for gamepad interfacing are a total mess now, with some based on button names and some on position (south/east/west/north).
I agree with you, but Xbox just took the Dreamcast's layout, which means SEGA is the original culprit
:O I had I idea!!
I'm from the 80s and totally understand what you mean. That's a valid point, yes, its a total mess, especially for emulation where the button names collide. This was actually an "objectively" bad choice by Microsoft.
Ironically, they were probably afraid of the very explicit litigiousness of Nintendo.
Two solutions:
Third solution:
Maybe they did some early testing and got feedback that people liked the button names being the same as Nintendo. Or maybe they read criticism about Sony using different names.
Maybe they were originally the same and then the legal dept depended a swap too late to change the actual names.
Maybe none of this stuff.
As you can see, I find the legal system to be a bigger threat and generally more frustrating than Microsoft.
Yes of course, I agree this is the rationale for sure. Still I blame Microsoft (and Sega as I've just discovered) for this.
How so? It's just a controller that is just the most standard for PC because Microsoft fully implemented the drivers in Windows.
See the other comment.
Almost every emulator lets you remap buttons on your controller. There is nothing that stops you from mapping the buttons based on position instead of what the face button says. There are also plenty of controllers you can use on PCs that have the Nintendo layout.
Yes, I know I can remap, but I'm just too stupid to be able to remember that the confirm/cancel buttons are swapped so I'm constantly messing that up. It's especially a problem on the steam deck, which has Microsoft's layout.
Somehow, when I'm holding an xbox controller, my brain just knows that the A button has to be the south button.