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Jagged Alliance

Jagged Alliance

The Jagged Alliance series is a collection of turn-based strategy computer games. All games are for the PC. The first games in the series were for DOS, but they work well under all flavors of Microsoft Windows and in emulators like DOSBox. From Jagged Alliance 2 on, the games were developed using DirectX for native Windows operation.

Description

Games of the Jagged Alliance series center on strategically controlling mercenary squads, on and off the field, who fulfill various missions such as freeing countries from oppressive dictators. A sticky phrase describes these games as "X-COM with personality." They features a unique mix of turn-based small arms battle simulation and roleplaying. Sharp humour via spoken character comments is a trademark of the series. The characters of the individual mercenaries range from mildly eccentric to obviously disturbed, and their spoken lines give the games a cartoon-like quality. This can be seen by some as inappropriate for a game with a subject matter linked so close to war and death, but the intent is to avoid a false sense of realism and overt references to real political events. Each mercenary is an individual with their own traits, and fans quickly selected their favorites from the lot (such as the dour, bearskin-cap wearing Ivan Dolvich, who spoke only Russian in the original game and broken English in the sequel). Part of the strategy and genius in the game was the player's freedom to select a multi-faceted team to win the game in different ways. And not all teams would work; for example, Ivan and his nephew Igor, are hated by Steroid, the Polish bodybuilder. "Buns" hates "Fox," a medic with centerfold looks. In contrast, "Fox" loves working with "Grizzly," on whom she has something of a crush. Many fans claim the turn-based combat system is the best that has ever been created in a 2D isometric environment. They feel that from both viewpoints of tactical depth and practical playability, especially the second part of the series, this series is the yardstick of the genre. Jagged Alliance mercenaries can choose to save up their alotted action points during their turn to attempt an interruption of the enemy turn. This provides for a simple, arcade-style system of switching the initiative and break out of the normally sequential flow of turns during battle.

The Intellectual Property

The Intellectual Property (IP) for Jagged Alliance has been bandied about a great deal. The series and IP were created by Sir-Tech with the original game and its add-on. The second game, Jagged Alliance 2, was also started by Sir-Tech but when its publishing arm went bankrupt was transfered to its development house Sir-Tech Canada, and published by TalonSoft. By the time Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business was released, Sir-Tech was out of business and the game was published by Interplay . Subsequently, Talonsoft went bankrupt. At the moment, Strategy First owns the IP and has published Jagged Alliance: Wildfire and is extending the series with Jagged Alliance 3D and Jagged Alliance 3.

Titles in the series

Jagged Alliance

Strategy First bordering the playing field. In Jagged Alliance 2, the mercs are lined up along the bottom.]]Strategy First Released in 1994 for DOS this first game of the series tasks the player with freeing the land of Metavira. The player must recruit mercenaries as they explore, capture, and hold new territory. The natives harvest the valuable trees from which a revolutionary medicine can be extracted. The more trees the player holds, the more income they make. Income can be used to hire native guards or hire more mercenaries to take the offense and clear sectors of enemies. This game featured a top-down perspective of the game field for battles, with character portraits framing the view on the left and right sides. A separate map view showed the entire country broken up into bite-size conquerable sections.

Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games

Released in 1995, Deadly Games was a DOS sequel to the original game. It featured a different format, however, and therefore is considered by some to be more of a spin-off than a sequel. This game featured the same top-down perspective as the original game. In Deadly Games, the player takes a group of mercenaries through a series of missions. The missions are linked chronologically, removing the need for micro-management on a strategic map. Mercenaries are hired and fired between missions, and the first equipment trader of the series offers his services. The most innovative aspects of Deadly Games include a wide variety of special ops mission types like hostage rescues, demolition and infiltration missions. Strategic features like turn limits and a boosted AI as well as networked multiplayer capabilities make this the most complete package in the series. The integrated scenario and campaign editors allow for the creation of custom strategic scenarios, adding to the replay value.

Jagged Alliance 2

This game was released in 1999 for Windows, and was later ported to Linux by Tribsoft. The mission of this second official game of the series is to free the country of Arulco from its evil dictator Deidranna. Gameplay is similar to the original grand adventure style of Jagged Alliance, but features higher-resolution graphics and an isometric pseudo-3D view of the battleground. The terrain has two height levels (ground and rooftops) for player/enemy sprites and a basic physics engine for thrown objects and ballistics. It also features "destructible terrain" in that players are able to blow open walls and buildings with explosives. The weapons arsenal has grown considerably to include automatic weapons. There are some more roleplaying elements like specialty professions and the possibility to create a custom mercenary as well.

Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business

This 2000 game is a shorter, more mission-based sequel. At the time of the release, Sirtech was already financially in dire straits and the product title is rumored to reflect the quirky Sirtech humor about a somewhat rushed product. Nevertheless, a number of very good mods add a lot of replayability. This release added some tweaks to the combat engine, as well as a somewhat limited scenario editor.

Jagged Alliance 2: Gold edition

This release added the improvements from Unfinished Business to the final release of Jagged Alliance 2. Unfinished Business is included in the package. Like the rest of the series, this version of Jagged Alliance is out of print.

Jagged Alliance 2: Wildfire

Originally a user mod, Wildfire was released in 2004 as another official add-on by the new publisher. It features a campaign that is decidedly less of a cakewalk than other user mods. The game's sourcecode was also published in the package, albeit under a slightly restrictive license. A renewed commercial release of Wildfire 6 through European publisher Zuxxez in the spring of 2005 sees the Jagged Alliance series stay on shop shelves five years after the debut of its second iteration.

Jagged Alliance 3D and 3

Strategy First and Game Factory Interactive announced in June 2004 that Russian developer MiST Land South would develop the next two games in the Jagged Alliance series: Jagged Alliance 3D (JA3D) and Jagged Alliance 3. Details are as of yet unclear, but apparently, though a full game, JA3D will be used to test the 3D engine which will be used for Jagged Alliance 3. MiST Land South will also be developing an unrelated title for Strategy First, Disciples III, for their Disciples series of games.

Jagged Alliance DS (tentative title)

In June 2005, Pocket PC Studios and Strategy First have announced a conversion of Jagged Alliance 2 Gold for the Nintendo DS.

External links

- [http://www.jaggedalliance.com Official Jagged Alliance website]
- [http://www.ja2.de/wf/index.html Official Wildfire website]
- [http://www.mobygames.com/game_group/sheet/gameGroupId,159/ The MobyGames' entry on the Jagged Alliance series]
- [http://www.strategyfirst.com/press/DisplayArticle.asp?sLanguageCode=EN&iArticleID=3043 Press release on new Jagged Alliance games] Category:1994 computer and video games Category:1995 computer and video games Category:1999 computer and video games Category:Computer and video game franchises Category:Computer and video role-playing games Category:Turn-based strategy computer games Category:Tactical role-playing games Category:Fictional mercenaries Category:PC games Category:Nintendo DS games

Turn-based

A turn-based game, also known as turn-based strategy, is a game where the game flow is partitioned in well-defined and visible parts, called turns or rounds. For example, when the game flow unit is time, turns represent units of time, like years, months, weeks, or days. A player of a turn-based game is allowed a period of analysis before committing to a game action, ensuring a separation between the game flow and the thinking process, which in turn leads presumably to better solutions. Once every player has taken his turn, that round of play is over, and any special shared processing, is done. This is followed by the next round of play.

Types

TBS games come in two flavors, depending on whether inside a turn players play simultaneously or take their (mini-)turns. The former games fall into the simultaneously-executed TBS games, with Diplomacy a notable example. The latter games fall into player-alternated TBS games, and are subsequently subdivided into (A) ranked, (B) round-robin start, and (C) random, the difference being the order under which players start within a turn, (A) the first player being the same every time, (B) the first player selection policy is round-robin, and (C) the first player is randomly selected. Most board games are turn-based, otherwise gameplay would most likely get out of hand. Many single-player strategic video games are also turn-based. However, when a particular player gains access to the game during his/her turn it is not uncommon to value the time taken by the player to make the move to improve the fairness of the game. In Chess, a pair of stop clocks may be used to track the time taken by players to make their moves. Turn-based gaming refers to Internet gaming sites that allow for game play to extend beyond a single session, over long periods of time—often taking months for complex games like Go or Chess to finish.

Examples

Example board games

- Risk, Monopoly, Parcheesi, Scrabble, Sorry!, Uno, Poker, Chess, Go, Othello, Diplomacy, Draughts

Examples Play-by-mail games

Play-by-email TBS games allow the orders to be passed in a very loose synchronization mechanism: email. In a way, it's the modern successor of the old play-by-mail style used in Europe in the mid-17th century: two chess players would be able to play together from miles away, if they could transmit their moves through some fast transport service, which happened to be (horse-powered) mail (postallion). PbeM examples: Atlantis PbeM or Dominions II.

Example computer games

Mainstream companies

After a period of converting board and historic TBS games to computer games, the big companies have started to come up with new ideas for computer TBS games. Probably the best known turn-based game is Sid Meier's Civilization, which evolved into a long series of successor games and derivatives. Other notable examples include:
- Heroes of Might and Magic
- Jagged Alliance
- Magic: The Gathering
- Roguelike games
- X-COM For a more complete list of turn-based games, see:
- List of turn-based computer and video games In addition, many other games that are not generally turn-based have the notion of turns during specific sequences. Notably the roleplaying game Fallout is turn-based in the combat phase, allowing players and foes to lay up tactics against each other.

Indie game developers

An interesting market trend is the rise of Indie TBS games (games produced by small groups, independent or slightly affiliated with the computer games industry), which normally extend or refine one or another already existing TBS strategy games. Amongst others, three good examples are
- [http://www.ageofcastles.com/ Age of Castles],
- [http://www.battlesofnorghan.com/ Battles of Norghan] and
- [http://www.suntasticsoftware.com/leaderz.html Leaderz].

Open source games

Open source has also seen the rise to games such as [http://www.wesnoth.org/ The Battle for Wesnoth]. Directories such as [http://freshmeat.net/browse/83/ Freshmeat] provide large lists of open source turn-based strategy projects.

Strategy game

Strategy games are typically board games, video or computer games with the players' decision-making skills having a high significance in determining the outcome. Many games include this element to a greater or lesser degree, making demarcation difficult. It is therefore more accurate to describe a particular game as having a degree of strategic elements. Strategy (and tactics) are usually contrasted with luck, games exist on a continuum from pure skill to pure chance.

Abstract strategy

In abstract strategy games, the game is only loosely tied to a real-world theme, if at all. The mechanics do not attempt to simulate reality, but rather serve the internal logic of the game. Chess, checkers, and go are excellent examples.

Simulation

This type of game is an attempt to capture the decisions inherent to some real-world situation. Most of the mechanics are chosen to reflect what the real-world consequences would be of each player action and decision. Abstract games cannot be cleanly divided from simulations and so games can be thought of as existing on a continuum of almost pure abstraction (like Abalone) to almost pure simulation (like Strat-o-Matic Baseball).

Real-time strategy

Usually applied only to certain computer strategy games, the moniker "real-time strategy" indicates that the action in the game is continuous, and players will have to make their decisions and actions within the backdrop of a constantly changing game state. Very few non-computer strategy games are real-time; one example is Icehouse. The game considered the father of RTS games is Dune II, by Westwood Studios, and was followed by their seminal Command & Conquer. Cavedog's Total Annihilation (1997), Blizzard's Warcraft (1994) series and StarCraft (1998), and Ensemble Studios' Age of Empires (1997) series are some of the most popular RTS games.

Turn-based

The term "turn-based strategy game" (TBS) is usually reserved for certain computer strategy games, to distinguish them from real-time computer strategy games. A player of a turn-based game is allowed a period of analysis before committing to a game action. The most notable games of this genre are the Civilization, Heroes of Might and Magic, Jagged Alliance, Total War, Master of Orion and X-COM series. TBS games come in two flavors, differenciated by whether players make their plays simultaneously or take turns. The former types of games are called simultaneously-executed TBS games, with Diplomacy a notable example. The latter games fall into the player-alternated TBS games category, and are subsequently subdivided into (a) ranked, (b) round-robin start, and (c) random, the difference being the order under which players take their turns. With (a), ranked, the players take their turns in the same order every time. With (b), the first player is selected according to a round-robin policy. With (c), random, the first player is, of course, randomly selected. Almost all non-computer strategy games are turn-based; however, the personal computer game market trend has lately inclined more towards real-time strategy games.

War game

War games are simulations of historical or hypothetical military battles, campaigns or entire wars. Players will have to consider situations that are analogous to the situations faced by leaders of historical battles. As such, war games are usually heavy on simulation elements. Some games of this type will use physical models of detailed terrain and miniature representations of people and equipment to depict the game state. A popular wargame with physical models is Warhammer 40,000. Diplomacy and Global Diplomacy are also strategic wargames.

City building

City-building games are a type of computer strategy game, where players, normally from a point-of-view high in the sky, can build and manage a simulated city. City building games normally do not support online or hotseat play. The most notable games of this genre are the Simcity by Maxis and the City Building Series by Impressions Games.

IBM PC compatible

model 5150.]] IBM PC compatible refers to a class of computers which make up the vast majority of smaller computers (microcomputers) on the market today. They are based (without IBM's participation) on the original IBM PC. They use the Intel x86 architecture (or an architecture made to emulate it) and are capable of using interchangeable commodity hardware. These computers also used to be referred to as PC clones, and nowadays, just PCs. In addition, most modern x86 server-class machines are IBM PC compatible, being essentially a more robust version of the modern desktop PC.

History

Origins

The origins of this platform came with the decision by IBM in 1980 to market a personal computer as quickly as possible in response to Apple Computer's rapid success in the burgeoning market for low-cost single-user computers — what later came to be known as the "personal computer market". On 12 August 1981, the first IBM-PC went on sale. There were several operating systems available for it but the best remembered is DOS (the cheapest). IBM licensed DOS from Microsoft; IBM's version was called PC-DOS and was sold as an "add-on" to the IBM PC. In a crucial concession almost unnoticed by either party at the time, IBM's agreement also allowed Microsoft to sell its version MS-DOS for non-IBM platforms. Also, in creating the platform, IBM used only one proprietary component: The BIOS. Columbia copied the IBM PC and produced the first 'compatible' (i.e., more or less compatible to the IBM PC standard) PC in 1982. Compaq Computer Corp. produced its first IBM PC compatible a few months later in 1982 — the Compaq Portable. The Compaq was not only the first "sewing machine-sized" portable PC but, even more important, was the first essentially 100% PC-compatible computer. The company could not directly copy the BIOS as a result of the court decision in Apple v. Franklin, but it could reverse-engineer the IBM BIOS and then write its own BIOS using clean room design. Compaq became a very successful PC manufacturer, and was bought out by Hewlett-Packard in 2002.

Compatibility issues

Simultaneously, many manufacturers such as Xerox, Digital, and Sanyo introduced PCs that were, although x86- and MS-DOS-based, not completely hardware-compatible with the IBM PC. While such decisions seem foolish in retrospect, it is not always appreciated just how fast the rise of the IBM clone market was, and the degree to which it took the industry by surprise. Later, in 1987, IBM itself would launch the PS/2 line of personal computers which was only software compatible with the PC architecture; this was also hugely unsuccessful. Microsoft's intention, and the mindset of the industry from 1981 to as late as the mid-1980s, was that application writers would write to the API's in MS-DOS, and in some cases to the firmware BIOS, and that these components would form what would now be called a hardware abstraction layer. Each computer would have its own OEM version of MS-DOS, customized to its hardware. Any piece of software written for MS-DOS would run on any MS-DOS computer, regardless of variations in hardware design. During this time MS-DOS was sold only as an OEM product. There was no Microsoft-branded MS-DOS, MS-DOS could not be purchased directly from Microsoft, and the manual's cover had the corporate color and logo of the PC vendor. Bugs were to be reported to the OEM, not to Microsoft. However, in the case of the clones, it soon became clear that the OEM versions of MS-DOS were virtually identical, except perhaps for the provision of a few utility programs. MS-DOS provided adequate support for character-oriented applications, such as those that could have been implemented on a minicomputer and a Digital VT100 terminal. Had the bulk of commercially important software fallen within these bounds, hardware compatibility might not have mattered. However, from the very beginning, many significant pieces of popular commercial software wrote directly to the hardware, for a variety of reasons:
- Communications software directly accessed the UART chip, because the MS-DOS API and the BIOS did not provide full support for the chip's capabilities.
- Graphics capability was not taken seriously. It was considered to be an exotic or novelty function. MS-DOS didn't have an API for graphics, and the BIOS only included the most rudimentary of graphics functions (such as changing screen modes and plotting single points); having to make a BIOS call for every point drawn or modified also increased overhead considerably, making the BIOS interface notoriously slow. Because of this, line-drawing, arc-drawing, and blitting had to be performed by the application, and this was usually done by bypassing the BIOS and accessing video memory directly. Games, of course, used graphics. They also performed any machine-dependent trick the programmers could think of in order to gain speed. Thus, games were machine-dependent — and games turned out to be important in driving PC purchases.
- Even for staid business applications, speed of execution was a significant competitive advantage. This was shown dramatically by Lotus 1-2-3's competitive knockout of rival Context MBA. The latter, now almost forgotten, preceded Lotus to market, included more functions, was written in Pascal, and was highly portable. It was also too slow to be really usable on a PC. Lotus was written in pure assembly language and performed some machine-dependent tricks. It was so much faster that Context MBA was dead as soon as Lotus arrived.
- Disk copy-protection schemes, popular at the time, worked by reading nonstandard data patterns on the diskette to verify originality. These patterns were difficult or impossible to detect using standard DOS or BIOS calls, so direct access to the disk controller hardware was necessary for the protection to work.
- The microcomputer programming culture at the time was hacker-like, and enjoyed discovering and exploiting undocumented properties of the system. At first, other than Compaq's models, few "compatibles" really lived up to their claim. "95% compatibility" was seen as excellent. Reviewers and users developed suites of programs to test compatibility, generally including Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Flight Simulator, the two most popular "stress tests." Gradually vendors discovered not only how to emulate the IBM BIOS, but the places where they needed to use identical hardware chips to perform key functions within the system. Eventually, the Phoenix BIOS and similar commercially-available products permitted computer makers to build essentially 100%-compatible clones without having to reverse-engineer the IBM PC BIOS themselves. Meanwhile, IBM damaged its own franchise by failing to appreciate the importance of "IBM compatibility," when they introduced products such as the IBM Portable (essentially a Compaq Portable knockoff), and later the PCjr, which had significant incompatibilities with the mainline PCs. By the mid-to-late 1980s buyers began to regard PCs as commodity items, and became skeptical as to whether the security blanket of the IBM name warranted the price differential. Meanwhile the incompatible Xeroxes and Digitals and Wangs were left in the dust. Nobody cared that they ran MS-DOS; the issue was that they did not run off-the-shelf software written for IBM compatibles.

The declining influence of IBM

Since 1981, IBM PC compatibles have dominated both the home and business markets of commodity computers, with the only notable alternative architecture being the Apple Macintosh computers, which have a market share of only a few percent. However, IBM itself lost the leadership role in the market for IBM PC compatibles almost two decades before its complete withdrawal from the PC market in April 2005. Three events in retrospect are likely turning points:
- Compaq beating IBM to the market in 1986 with the first 80386-based PC.
- IBM's 1987 introduction of incompatible technologies, such as its proprietary MicroChannel Architecture (MCA) bus, in its PS/2 line.
- The 1988 introduction by the "Gang of Nine" companies of a rival Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus aimed at toppling, rather than copying, MCA. Dell and Hewlett-Packard hold the largest shares of the PC market in North America. They are also successful overseas, with Acer, Lenovo, and Toshiba also notable. Despite advances in computer technology, all current IBM PC compatibles remain very much compatible with the original IBM PC computers, although most of the components implement the compatibility in special backward compatibility modes used only during a system boot.

Expandability

One of the strengths of the PC compatible platform is its modular design. This meant that if a component became obsolete, only an individual component had to be upgraded and not the whole computer as was the case with many of the microcomputers of the time. As long as applications used operating system calls and did not write to the hardware directly, the existing applications would work. However, MS-DOS (the dominant operating system of the time) did not have support for many calls for multimedia-hardware, and the BIOS was also inadequate. Various attempts to standardise the interfaces were made, but in practice, many of these attempts were either flawed or ignored. Even so, there were many expansion options, and the PC compatible platform advanced much faster than other competing platforms of the time.

"IBM PC Compatible" becomes "Wintel"

In the 1990s, IBM's influence on PC architecture became increasingly irrelevant. Instead of focusing on staying compatible with the IBM-PC, vendors began to focus on compatibility with the evolution of Microsoft Windows. No vendor dares to be incompatible with the latest version of Windows, and Microsoft's annual WinHEC conferences provide a setting in which Microsoft can lobby for and in some cases dictate the pace and direction of the hardware side of the PC industry. The term "IBM PC Compatible" is on the wane. Ordinary consumers simply refer to the machines as "PCs," while programmers and industry writers are increasingly using the term "Wintel architecture" ("Wintel" being a portmanteau combination of "Windows" and "Intel") to refer to the combined hardware-software platform. This term may be a bit of a misnomer as more PC manufacturers are beginning to use AMD CPUs.

The breakthrough in entertainment software

The original IBM PC was not designed with games in mind. The monochrome graphics and very simple sound made it unsuitable for multimedia applications. That, and the fact that it was priced out of the entertainment market, made it seem unlikely that the PC platform would be used for games. As the technology of the PC advanced, games started to appear for the PC. At first, these were inferior to the games for other platforms. Thanks to the modular design, the technology behind the PC advanced rapidly. What PC games lacked in multimedia capabilities, they made up for in raw speed. A few years later, VGA cards started to appear. These offered 256-colour graphics out of a palette of 262144. At around this time, sound-cards started to appear. They improved the beeping sounds of the PC speaker to give a more rich sound. By the time the PC had superior hardware to the competing platforms of the time, it still was not taken seriously as a games machine. This could have been caused by the higher price, or the fact that video game consoles rather than personal computers were now starting to attract gamers, or it could have been that the hardware was very awkward to program for, and required the development of different drivers for all the multimedia hardware. The PC platform did not manage to create a cult-following as the other platforms had done. At the time, there was a demo scene on the PC but it was small, did not appear until many years after the original IBM PC and demos were few and far between. The lack of a demo scene meant that there were few programmers who knew how to get the most out of the machine. One thing that PCs did have in their favour was raw processing power. This made them suitable for 3D games. The PC made a breakthrough as a games machine when Doom was released in 1993 thanks to its outstanding graphics and gameplay. Because networking hardware was widespread on PCs, Doom also offered multiplayer support across a network. Few games offered that at the time. Doom finally established the PC as a games-machine.

Design flaws and more compatibility issues

When the PC was originally designed, even though it was designed for expandability, even the designers of the original IBM PC could not take into account the hardware-developments of the '80s. By the late '80s, IBM, the creator of the IBM PC, hardly had much say, and a lot of other companies were trying to push their standards. To make things worse, IBM, Intel and Microsoft introduced several design flaws which created hurdles for developing the PC compatible platform. One example of such a design flaw was the DOS 640k barrier (memory below 640k is known as conventional memory). This was partly to do with the way IBM mapped the memory of the PC (see the article on the Upper Memory Area for more), and partly because the memory-management of DOS (which was the most widely used operating system) had a way of dealing with it that made things worse. In order to expand PCs beyond one megabyte, EMS was devised to allow access to the memory above 1 megabyte. However, once Intel released the 80286 processor, an alternative memory management scheme was introduced — XMS. EMS and XMS were originally incompatible, so anyone writing software that used more than one megabyte had to support both systems. Graphics cards suffered from their own incompatibilities. Once graphics cards advanced to SVGA level, the standard for accessing them was no longer clear. At the time, PC programming involved using a memory model that had 64KB memory segments. The standard VGA graphics modes used screen memory that fitted into a single memory segment. SVGA modes required more memory, so accessing the full screen memory was tricky. Each manufacturer developed their own ways of accessing the screen-memory and even numbering the new graphics modes. This meant that the manufacturers needed to develop device drivers in software that allowed the SVGA modes to be used by a program that accesses the graphics-card at the driver level. Unfortunately, there was no standard for device-drivers that all manufacturers followed. An attempt at creating a standard called VESA was made, but not all manufacturers adhered to it. To make things worse, the manufacturers' drivers often had bugs. To work around them, the application developers had to write their own drivers for the cards with buggy drivers. Programming the PC was a nightmare. It put many hobbyists off, and may have been responsible for the slow take-off of the PC as a multimedia platform. When developing for the PC, a large test-suite of various hardware combinations was needed to make sure the software was compatible with as many PC configurations as possible. Eventually, a new memory-model was devised — DPMI. It offered a flat memory model and made life for programmers easier. Meanwhile, consumers were overwhelmed by the many different combinations of hardware on offer. To give the consumer some idea of what sort of PC would be needed to run a given piece of software, the Multimedia PC standard (or MPC) was set in 1990. It meant that a PC that met the minimum MPC standard could be considered an MPC. Software that could run on a minimalistic MPC-compliant PC would be guaranteed to run on any MPC. The MPC level 2 and MPC level 3 standards were later set, but the term "MPC compliant" never caught on. After MPC level 3 in 1996, no further MPC standards were set.

The rise of Windows

Microsoft announced Windows 1.0 in November 1983, but wasn't able to get it out the door until 1985. It wasn't successful. The same thing happened in 1987 with the launch of Windows 2.0; followed by the launch of Windows/286 and Windows/386 in 1988. It is probably the lack of success of these early versions of Windows that threw IBM and Microsoft together to produce their version of the future with OS/2 in 1987 (it was launched with IBM's PS/2). At the launch Bill Gates is quoted as saying "DOS is dead". OS/2 had been written from scratch by Microsoft and IBM (with IBM taking the lions share) and was vastly superior to the DOS based Microsoft Windows. But OS/2 had a problem (amongst many, it turned out); it was written for the 80286 processor. The 80386 had been launched the year before and, according to Intel Chairman Gordon Moore, Intel had told IBM that the 386 would be ready in time for OS/2 shipping, Moore says IBM didn't believe him and carried on writing OS/2 for the 286. When the 386 was launched in September 1986 it left OS/2 seriously underpowered. Then, making things worse, IBM and Microsoft didn't deliver OS/2's various 'extra bits' (namely Presentation Manager - the Windows like front end for OS/2). Despite Microsoft and IBM saying "DOS was dead" users wholeheartedly stuck with it. Thus by 1990 the market — and the technology on the PC platform — was ready for something new. Microsoft was still working with IBM when it launched Windows 3.0 and — according to Gates — it sold twice as many copies as Microsoft had expected. Windows 3.0 sat 'on top' of DOS; thus users would load DOS on their machine and then load Windows. This allowed users to swap between DOS and Windows rather than picking just one environment, making the gradual move to Windows possible. Windows 3.0 resembled Apple Computer's System 7 (Microsoft went as far as hiring Apple employees in its Windows design team) and revolutionised the way users 'used' their PCs. In the past, users had typed in commands into the MS-DOS interface (a Command Line Interface or CLI) where now they had a Graphical User Interface GUI which used a mouse to point to small pictures of tasks icons to 'make things happen'. Windows 3.0 was followed by Windows 3.1 in 1991 and eventually Microsoft, realising that users wanted to network their PCs, included standard network protocols into a newer 3.11 version. With the two companies still working together in the early 1990's the success of Windows 3.0 — and the relative failure of OS/2 — caused some friction. According to Gates, IBM said to Microsoft that it should drop Windows and work solely on OS/2. Microsoft declined and eventually the two split; Microsoft took its code for OS/2 3.0 — codenamed OS/2 NT (for New Technology) with it. OS/2 NT would mutate into Windows NT and therefore into Windows 2000 and XP. Windows NT was launched in 1993. It was a parallel development to Windows for DOS, aimed at the server market it was supposed to be a fully professional system that wouldn't rely on DOS. At this time take up was very small, the system was power hungry and had few applications. Development of the traditional Windows platform continued, adding more features, standardised protocols and building on hardware support, and in 1995 Windows 95 was born. Before Windows 95, games and gaming were a totally MS DOS experience. Users had to tolerate rebooting into DOS, fiddling with memory (see the 640k barrier) and reconfiguring their PC every time they wanted to load a game. Windows 95 provided a system called DirectX which allowed programmers access to a standard API to perform video and sound card calls from Windows, revolutionising the games arena. For the first time, a PC programmer could benefit from Windows 95s memory management capabilities and extended functionality, and have API access to the graphics and sound cards - of which there were many versions and drivers. 3D graphics were possible from within Windows, (for those with 3Dfx cards) and now Network Multiplayer 3D graphics games were in the realms of possibility to almost every programmer. Windows 95 was replaced with Windows 98 in 1998 then with Windows 98SE (Second Edition) in 1999. It was Microsoft's intention to combine its Windows NT and Windows 9x (as the various versions of Windows 95 to ME were called) operating systems and the phasing out of the Windows 9x operating systems. At first Microsoft were to finish the 9x line with Windows 98SE but when it was apparent that its NT line needed more power than the average 9x PC could deliver, the phasing out was delayed and Microsoft launched an 'interim' version of Windows: Windows ME (Millennium Edition) in 2000. In February 2000 the latest version of Windows NT was released called Windows 2000 and finally began to show signs that it could exist on the PC desktop. And in October 2001 Windows XP was launched, this was to replace all previous versions of Windows and, at time of writing (Jul 2005), has had two service pack updates and is not expected to be replaced by the next version of Windows — called Windows Vista — until 2006.

Challenges to Wintel domination

The success of Windows had driven nearly all other rival commercial operating systems into near-extinction, and had ensured that the PC was the dominant computing platform. This meant that if a manufacturer only made their software for the Wintel platform, they would be able to reach out to the vast majority of computer users. By the mid to late 1990s, introducing a rival operating system had become too risky a commercial venture. Experience had shown that even if an operating system was superior to Windows, it would be a failure. However, a free operating system was being developed by enthusiasts — Linux. Because they were doing it for fun, they were not concerned with taking risks. Despite the fact that Microsoft programmers were programming for a living and the programmers working on Linux were programming in their spare time, Linux became a first class product. The sheer number of contributors to the Linux project allowed development effort comparable to that of the Microsoft programmers. After a couple of years, Linux had become a very powerful operating system and, because it was free, it spread widely. By the late 1990s, Linux was being taken seriously. It was seen as an example of what could be achieved by the open source movement. While initially lacking in software and being incompatible with Windows, Linux (like Windows NT) did solve one of the main problems with Windows — stability issues. Despite this, Windows still remains the dominant desktop operating system. On the hardware front, Intel decided to licence their technology so that other manufacturers could make x86 compatible CPUs. In other cases, companies such as AMD and Cyrix produced alternative CPUs compatible with Intel's. Towards the end of the 1990s, AMD was taking a huge chunk of the CPU market for PCs and even ended up playing a significant role in directing the evolution of the 'x86 platform when its Athlon processors were released in 1999, two years before the comparable Intel Pentium 4 architecture was released. DirectX, while solving many of the problems in programming the PCs, was only compatible with Windows. OpenGL, which was available for several platforms, was ported to Windows, and offered a means of rapidly developing cross-platform 3D applications.

The PC today

OpenGL cases used throughout the '90s and late '80s.]] The original IBM PC is long forgotten and the term PC compatible is not used. The processor speed and memory are many orders of magnitude greater than they were on the original IBM PC, yet any well-behaved program for the original IBM PC that does not call the hardware directly can still run on a modern PC. Some say that the desire for backward compatibility might have hindered the development of the PC, but many believe the ability to run legacy software is what helped keep the PC alive. The modular design makes it possible to choose every component of a PC from a variety of different manufacturers and to buy only what is needed for the tasks the computer is intended to carry out. Upgrades are easy. It is also possible to choose the operating system to run on the PC, and what software to run. Software and compatibility amongst different PCs and hardware compatibility is no longer a major issue. There are other platforms in existence today (mostly the Apple Macintosh), but they are a minority. Thanks to intuitive user interfaces and the information-gathering and communications capabilities of the Internet, the computer has finally escaped from the domain of computer professionals and computer hobbyists, and has become mainstream. The design of computer cases has become more elaborate and users can modify the cases themselves (this is known as case modding), but even so, the plain beige box case design that has been around since the 80s is still common. There is a thriving demo scene, and a huge community of people willing to write free software.
Hardware configurations
free software PC compatible computers.]] A PC can come in one of the following configurations:
Desktop computer
A computer that sits on the top of a desk (or often under the desk, with its peripherals on top of the desk). Portability is not part of the design, so the desktop computers tend to be too heavy and too large to carry. This has the advantage that the components do not need to be miniaturised, and are therefore cheaper.
Portable computer
Not long after the first IBM-PC came out, Compaq produced the Compaq Portable — one of the first portable PC compatible computers. Weighing in at 28 pounds, it was more of a "luggable" than a "portable". The portable computer evolved into the laptop. Unlike laptops, portable computers usually do not run on batteries.
Laptop
Laptop] A Laptop (also known as a Notebook) is a PC that has been miniaturised so that it is easy to carry and can fit into a small space. It uses a flat-screen LCD which is folded onto the keyboard to create a slab-shaped object. Carrying a laptop around is easy, but this increased portability comes at a cost. To reduce size and mass, a special design is used with smaller components. These components are more expensive than regular components. The design is more integrated meaning that it is less expandable, although the RAM and the hard drive can be upgraded. Laptops are also battery powered, so as well as being smaller, the components need to have a low power-usage. Laptop
Palmtops and Sub-notebooks
In 1996, Toshiba produced the Libretto range of sub-notebooks (mini-notebooks). The first model (the Libretto 20) had a volume of 821.1 cm³ and weighed just 840 g. They were fully PC compatible (unlike PDAs). There were several models produced in the Libretto range. Librettos are no longer produced.
Operating systems
Over the years, there have been many operating systems for the PC: DOS, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, OS/2, BSD, BeOS, Solaris and others.
See also

- Computer hardware
- Computer software
- IBM PC
- Personal computer
- History of computing hardware (1960s-present)
- PC speaker
Notes
# Lotus 1-2-3 and Context MBA belonged to a now-mostly-forgotten genre known as "integrated software," today exemplified by Microsoft Works and AppleWorks. Before GUIs, user interfaces were mediated mostly by command keys, and every program had a unique user interface, making it difficult for a user to master more than one or two programs. And the lack of hard disk drives made programs slow to launch, making it inconvenient to use more than one program to accomplish a task. In response to this, monolithic multifunction "integrated" packages arose. Lotus 1-2-3 was build as a three-function "integrated" program: spreadsheet, database, and chart-making. Context MBA included these functions plus a spreadsheet and terminal emulator, the same five functions to be included years later in Lotus Symphony.
External links

PC Resources

- [http://www.pcguide.com/ The PC Guide!] – Contains detailed historical and technical information. Many resources about PCs and some links.
- [http://www.wiredguide.com/resource.htm WiredGuide Resources Page] – A collection of links to PC resources.
- http://server.physics.miami.edu/~chris/pc_resources.html – A collection of links to useful PC programs, utilities and Web sites.
Buying a PC

- [http://www.pricewatch.com/ Pricewatch] – Compare prices of PC hardware from different vendors.
- [http://www.css.msu.edu/PC-Guide/ Dave's Guide to buying a Home Computer]
Building a PC

- [http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/ Build your own PC]
- http://www.buildyourowncomputer.net/ – Learn to build your own computer.
- [http://mysuperpc.com/ My Super PC]
- [http://www.tomshardware.com Tom's Hardware]
- [http://computer.howstuffworks.com/pc.htm Howstuffworks' article on "How PCs Work"] Category:Computing platforms
- Category:Personal computers ja:PC/AT互換機

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows refers to a series of operating environments and operating systems created by Microsoft for use on personal computers and servers.

Background

Microsoft first introducted an operating environment named Windows in 1985, as an add-on to MS-DOS. This was in response to Apple Computer's then-new computer system, the Apple Macintosh, which used a graphical user interface (GUI). Microsoft Windows eventually came to dominate the world personal computer market with market analysts like IDC estimating that Windows has around 90% of the client operating system market. [http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;940707233;fp;2;fpid;1] All recent versions of Windows are fully-fledged operating systems. Windows is proprietary closed source software: Microsoft Corporation owns the software's copyright and controls its distribution. Windows was developed for IBM PC-compatible computers (these were based on Intel x86 architecture), and today, almost all versions of Windows are made for this hardware-platform (although Windows NT was written as a cross-platform system for Intel and MIPS processors, and later appeared on the PowerPC and DEC Alpha architectures). The popularity of Windows made Intel CPUs more popular and vice versa. In fact, the term Wintel became used to describe PC-compatible computers running a version of Windows.

Microsoft Windows versions

The term Windows is used as a collective term for several generations of operating system products which can be classified into the following categories: ; 16-bit operating environments : The early versions of Windows were just graphical user interfaces or desktops, mostly because they used the underlying MS-DOS for file system services and all operating processes. Soon, 16-bit Windows versions would have their own executable file format and provide their own device drivers (graphics, printer, mouse, keyboard and sound). Unlike DOS, the Windows environment allowed all users to execute multiple graphical applications at the same time (cooperative multitasking). Finally, they implemented a software segment-based virtual memory scheme which allowed the GUI to run applications larger than available memory: code segments and resources are swapped in and thrown away when useless or memory becomes scarce and data segments move in memory when a given application has relinquished processor control. Examples include Windows 1.0 (1985) and Windows 2.0 (1987) and its close relative Windows/286. ; Hybrid 16/32-bit operating environments : Windows/386 introduced a 32-bit protected mode kernel and virtual machine monitor. For the duration of a Windows session, it provided a device virtualization for the disk controller, video card, keyboard, mouse, timer and interrupt controller. The user-visible consequence was that it became possible to preemptively multitask multiple MS-DOS environments in separate windows (graphical applications required switching the window to full screen mode). Windows applications were still multi-tasked cooperatively inside a real-mode environment. Windows 3.0 (1990) and Windows 3.1 (1992) perfected the design, notably thanks to virtual memory and loadable virtual device drivers (VxDs) which allowed them to share arbitrary devices between multitasked DOS windows. Most important, Windows applications could now run in 16-bit protected mode (when Windows was running in Standard or 386 Enhanced Mode), which gave them access to several megabytes of memory and removed the obligation to participate in the software virtual memory scheme. They still ran inside the same address space, where the segmented memory provided a degree of protection, and multi-tasked cooperatively. For Windows 3.0 Microsoft also rewrote critical operations from C into assembly, making this release faster and less memory-hungry than its predecessors. ; Hybrid 16/32-bit operating system : With the introduction of 32-Bit File Access in Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Windows could finally stop relying on DOS for file management. Leveraging this, Windows 95 introduced Long File Names, reducing the 8.3 DOS to the role of a boot loader. MS-DOS was now bundled with Windows; this notably made it (partially) aware of long file names when its utilities were run from within Windows, but angered the competition. The most important novelty was the possibility of running 32-bit multi-threaded preemptively multitasked graphical programs. There were three releases of Windows 95 (the first in 1995, then subsequent bug-fix versions in 1996 and 1997, only released to OEMs, which added extra features such as FAT32 support). Microsoft's next OS was Windows 98; there were two versions of this (the first in 1998 and the second, named "Windows 98 Second Edition", in 1999). In 2000, Microsoft released Windows Me (Me standing for Millennium Edition), which used the same core as Windows 98 but adopted the visual appearance of Windows 2000, as well as a new feature called System Restore, allowing the user to set the computer's settings back to an earlier date. It was not a very well received implementation, and many user problems occurred. ME was considered a stopgap to the day both product lines would be seamlessly merged. Microsoft left little time for Windows Me to become popular before announcing their next version of Windows which would be called XP. ; 32-bit operating systems : Originally designed and marketed for higher-reliability business use with no DOS heritage. The first release was Windows NT 3.1 (1993, numbered "3.1" to match the Windows version and to one-up OS/2 2.1, IBM's flagship OS codeveloped by Microsoft and Windows NT's main competitor at the time), which was followed by NT 3.5 (1994), NT 3.51 (1995), and NT 4.0 (1996); the latter implemented the Windows 95 user interface. Microsoft then moved to combine their consumer and business operating systems. Their first attempt, Windows 2000, failed to meet their goals, and was released as a business system. The home consumer edition of Windows 2000, codenamed "Windows Neptune", ceased development and Microsoft released Windows Me in its place. Eventually "Neptune" was merged into their new project, Whistler, which later became Windows XP. Since then, a new business system, Windows Server 2003, has expanded the top end of the range, and the forthcoming Windows Vista will complete it. Windows CE, Microsoft's offering in the mobile and embedded markets, is also a true 32-bit operating system. ; 64-bit operating systems : The newest category, are designed for AMD's AMD64 CPU architecture, Intel's Intel Architecture 64-bit, and EM64T. The 64-bit Windows family comprises Windows XP Itanium edition, Professional x64 Edition, and Windows Server 2003; Windows XP Professional and Server 2003 x64 editions were released on April 25, 2005. Itanium editions already came out in 2002. Early indications are that Windows Vista, the projected successor to Windows XP, will be released in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. See also: List of Microsoft Windows versions.

Microsoft Windows history

The first independent version of Microsoft Windows, version 1.0, released in 1985, lacked a degree of functionality and achieved little popularity. Windows 1.0 did not provide a complete operating system; rather, it extended MS-DOS. Microsoft Windows version 2.0 was released in 1987 and was slightly more popular than its predecessor. Microsoft Windows version 3.0, released in 1990, was the first version to achieve broad commercial success. It featured improvements to the user interface and to multitasking capabilities. In 1995, Microsoft released Windows 95, which made further changes to the user interface. In 2001, Microsoft released Windows XP, a version that used the kernel from Microsoft Windows NT. With Windows XP, Microsoft merged the consumer-oriented Windows 3.1 line with the more commercially-oriented Windows NT line of products.

Interface

kernel The most obvious feature of the more recent Windows versions (since Windows 95 and NT 4.0) besides the window, is the desktop, which holds various icons, or graphical objects that the user can double-click to open. Windows has produced a significant change in the way people interact with computers; it is possible to perform most common tasks, some quite complex, with very little computer knowledge. Another quite significant feature of Windows since Windows 95 is the Start Button and Start Menu, which gives users access to installed programs and many of the other features of the operating system. It is attached to the taskbar (blue in the picture on the right). Windows XP introduced a new visual style dubbed "Luna", which updated the classic Windows style (a plain grey box look) with a more graphical appearance. The new style features bold colors and a larger titlebar and start button, which some people have labelled immature or childish. Users can still elect to use the old Windows 9x/2000 visual style. There is a view that modern operating systems need to cater to the vastly increased user base with a lower average computer skill level and the increased power and complexity of modern computer systems. However, some users accuse the Windows interface of isolating the user from too much of the inner workings of the computer, making it more difficult to control, configure and troubleshoot some system features. Windows also comes with features to help the disabled through its accessibility options. Under Windows XP, these features include the Narrator, Magnifier and contrast display mode. However, these are not suitable for everyone. Other customized builds of other operating systems may provide the needed features.

Popularity

Microsoft Windows is installed on the majority of personal computers. A July 2005 poll of Network Computing magazine readers found that 87% of their organisations used Microsoft's desktop operating systems. [http://www.networkcomputing.com/showitem.jhtml?articleID=165701950&pgno=8#2] It achieved enormous market penetration due to the domination of MS-DOS in the early days of PC compatible computers (IBM-PC clones). It is also the primary platform for Microsoft Office and many computer games. Microsoft's operating system has also benefited from not being tied to the success of one hardware manufacturer, and from Microsoft's willingness to license the operating system to manufacturers. For example, this is in contrast with Apple Computer, which does not license Mac OS X to other manufacturers, as well as Sun, which did not license Solaris before it was made free and open-source. In the past, companies who wanted to be in the computer business had to create their own operating system (such as the Amiga) or choose another OS; even an exclusive license with one vendor was significantly cheaper than developing and supporting a new operating system and software base. Due to Microsoft's exclusive licensing agreements with many computer vendors, Windows today comes pre-installed on most computers as a bundled OEM version, making it the default or only choice for much of the market. Most consumers do not delete Windows and install another operating system. For some consumers, Windows is the only valid option as their computing environment or is mandated by their workplace; additionally, the unfamiliarity with most other operating systems limits the desire to switch to other operating systems. Further, a growing part of the computer market lacks the technical knowledge needed to install an operating system. Finally, the large software base of programs available for the Windows family of operating systems has become the single largest self-perpetuating reason for the popularity of Windows. In recent years, many companies have started up with the sole intention of releasing Windows software; the fact that there is already a large customer base in place is reason enough for such companies to only spend resources on Windows software development. In turn, the fact that many companies are supporting Windows exclusively is reason for many customers to choose Windows.

Security

OEM Security has been a major weakness of Windows for many years. Due to the widespread usage of Windows on desktops, many crackers (also known as Black Hat hackers) have targeted Windows rather than the lesser used operating systems such as Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, and FreeBSD. Additionally most modern operating systems were designed for security in a multi-user and/or networked environment and have a relatively small number of security issues. Windows was originally designed for ease-of-use on a single-user PC without a network connection, and did not have security features built in from the outset. Combined with occasionally flawed code (such as buffer overflows), Windows is a continous target of worms and virus writers. In June 2005, Bruce Schneier's Counterpane Internet Security reported that it had seen over 1,000 new viruses and worms in the previous six months. Microsoft publicly admitted their ongoing security problems shortly after the turn of the century and now claims to regard security as their number one priority. As a result, Service Pack 2 for Windows XP greatly increases the security. Microsoft releases security patches through its Windows Update service approximately once a month, although critical updates are made available at shorter intervals. In Windows 2000 and Windows XP, updates can be automatically downloaded and installed if the user selects to do so. A study conducted by Kevin Mitnick and marketing communications firm, Avantgarde, found that an unprotected and unpatched Windows XP system lasted only 4 minutes on the Internet before it was compromised. [http://www.avantgarde.com/ttln113004.html] The AOL/National Cyber Security Alliance Online Safety Study of October 2004 determined that 80% of Windows users were infected by at least one spyware/adware product. [http://www.staysafeonline.info/pdf/safety_study_v04.pdf] Much documentation is available describing how to increase the security of Microsoft Windows products. Typical suggestions include deploying Microsoft Windows behind a hardware or software firewall, running anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and installing patches as they become available through Windows Update.

Windows emulation software

Emulation allows the use of some Windows applications without using Microsoft Windows. These include:
- WINE – an almost complete free software / open source software implementation of the Windows API, allowing one to run some Windows applications on x86 Unix-based platforms, including Linux.
- Cedega (formerly known as WineX) – TransGaming Technologies' proprietary fork of WINE, which is designed specifically for running games written for Microsoft Windows under Linux.
- ReactOS – open source operating system, aimed to be compatible with Windows NT apps and drivers.
- Freedows and Alliance OS – a very ambitious project, and a subsequent spinoff, that tried to clone Windows but withered away.
- Project David – ambitious and controversial project to fully emulate Windows programs to run on other OSs.
- CrossOver Office – another WINE spin-off that allows Windows programs to run on other OSs.
- Captive NTFS – a software "wrapper" for fuller, more-compatible open-source implementations of the Windows NTFS file system.
- ndiswrapper – a driver wrapper designed to let Linux/IA32 use Windows drivers for wireless networking hardware.
- E/OS – a virtual machine emulation system that strives for making it possible to run any program designed for any operating system without the need to actually install any other operating system.

External links

Official

- [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/default.mspx Microsoft's Official Windows Website]
- [http://www.windows.com Official Promotional Website (Windows.com)]
- [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/WinHistoryProGraphic.mspx Windows history time line from Microsoft]

Tips and documentation

- [http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/multiboot1.html How to run multiple versions of Windows on one PC]
- [http://www.tech-recipes.com/windows.html Tech-Recipes Windows Guide] - Listing of almost 500 Windows Tutorials
- [http://wiki.havenite.net/index.php?title=The_Windows_Documentation_Project The Windows Documentation Project (wiki)]
- [http://www.aeroxp.net "AeroXperience"] – Windows Vista Information and Customization
- [http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/securing-windows.html Securing Microsoft Windows (for Home and Small Business Users)]
- [http://wiki.dehumanizer.com/index.php/Windows_tips Windows tips] (security, stability, etc.) (wiki)
- [http://www.sarc.com/ Symantec Anti-Virus Research Center] – excellent informational security resource, and Symantec are makers of Norton Anti-Virus (3rd party software sold separately)
- [http://www.dotwhat.net/ dotwhat? - File Extension Listing] – a huge listing of file extensions and the programs that use them
- [http://www.bredel.homepage.t-online.de/Windows/Windows-English/windows-english.html Windows] – tips and tricks for Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP
- [http://markhobley.yi.org/windows/supportscript/index.html Windows Support Script]
- [http://markhobley.yi.org:8000/WinHome The Windows Wiki]

Reviews and evaluation

- [http://www.winsupersite.com/default.asp Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows] – an exhaustive evaluation of Microsoft's products and technologies
- [http://www.avantgarde.com/xxxxttln.pdf "Time to Live on the Network"] – a security study by Kevin Mitnick and AvantGarde (PDF)
- [http://www.actsofvolition.com/archives/2001/december/windowsxprough Windows XP: rough around the edges] – an UI review of Windows XP
- [http://www.frankmahler.de/mshame/ Frank Mahler's Interface Hall Of Shame]
- [http://www.staysafeonline.info/pdf/safety_study_v04.pdf AOL/National Cyber Security Alliance Online Safety Study (October 2004)] (PDF)
- [http://www.pixelcentric.net/x-shame/ Interface Hall of Shame] – an analysis of user interfaces with a focus on Windows

Other

- [http://www.levenez.com/windows/ Windows history] – a Windows history time line graph by Éric Lévénez
- [http://www.aci.com.pl/mwichary/guidebook/interfaces/windows GUIdebook: Windows Gallery] – a website dedicated to preserving and showcasing graphical user interfaces
- [http://www.download.com/ Download.com] – application programs for download, for Windows operating systems
- [http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1868435,00.asp Windows 20th Birthday] Category:Operating systems Category:Windowing systems Category:Microsoft Windows zh-min-nan:Microsoft Windows ko:마이크로소프트 윈도우즈 ms:Microsoft Windows ja:Microsoft Windows simple:Microsoft Windows th:ไมโครซอฟท์วินโดวส์

DirectX

DirectX is a collection of APIs for easily handling tasks related to game programming on Microsoft Windows. It is most widely used in the development of computer games for Windows. The DirectX SDK is available free from Microsoft. The DirectX runtime was originally redistributed by computer game developers along with their games, but later it was included in Windows. DirectX 9.0c is the latest version of DirectX. The latest versions of DirectX are still usually included with PC games, since the API is updated so often.

DirectX APIs

The various components of DirectX are in the form of COM-compliant objects. The components comprising DirectX are :
- DirectX Graphics, comprised of two APIs (DirectX 8.0 onwards):
- DirectDraw: for drawing raster graphics.
- Direct3D (D3D): for drawing 3D graphics primitives
- DirectInput: used to process data from a keyboard, mouse, joystick, or other game controllers
- DirectPlay: for networked communication of games
- DirectSound: for the playback and recording of waveform sound
- DirectMusic: for playback of soundtracks authored in DirectMusic Producer
- DirectSetup: for the installation of DirectX components
- DirectX Media Objects: support for streaming objects such as encoders, decoder and effects

History

Originally targeted at the game development industry, DirectX has become more widely used among other software production industries. Most notably, Direct3D is becoming more popular among the engineering sector because of its ability to quickly render high-quality 3D graphics using the latest 3D graphics hardware. :See also RenderMorphics In 1994, Microsoft was just on the verge of releasing its next operating system, Windows 95. The main factor that would determine the value consumers would place on their new operating system very much rested on what programs would be able to run on it. Three Microsoft employees—Craig Eisler, Alex St. John, and Eric Engstrom—were concerned, because programmers tended to see Microsoft's previous operating system, DOS, as a better platform for game programming, meaning few games would be developed for Windows 95 and the operating system would not be as much of a success. DOS allowed direct access to video cards, keyboards and mice, sound devices and all other parts of the system, while Windows 95, with its protected memory model, restricted access to all of these, working on a much more standardized model. Microsoft needed a way that would let programmers get what they wanted, and they needed it quickly; the operating system was only months away from being released. Eisler, St. John, and Engstrom conspired together to fix this problem, with a solution that they eventually named DirectX. The first release version of DirectX was shipped September of 1995 as the Windows Games SDK. It was the Win32 replacement for poorly designed, ill-conceived APIs for the Win16 operating system (DCI and WinG). The development of DirectX was led by the team of Eisler (development lead), St. John (evangelist), and Engstrom (program manager). Simply put, it allowed all versions of Microsoft Windows, starting with Windows 95, to incorporate high-performance multimedia. Prior to DirectX's existence, Microsoft had already included OpenGL on their Windows NT platform. At the time, OpenGL required "high-end" hardware and was limited to engineering and CAD uses. Direct3D (introduced by Eisler, Engstrom, and St. John as an alternative to SGI's OpenGL) was intended to be a lightweight partner to OpenGL for game use. As the power of graphics cards and the computers running them grew, OpenGL became a mainstream product. At that point a "battle" began between supporters of the cross-platform OpenGL and the Windows-only Direct3D, which many argued was another example of Microsoft's embrace, extend and extinguish business tactic (see Fahrenheit or Direct3D vs. OpenGL). Nevertheless, the other APIs of DirectX are often combined with OpenGL in many computer games because OpenGL does not in itself include all of DirectX's functionality (such as sound or joystick support). Several attempts to address this have generally failed. DirectX was used as a basis for Microsoft's Xbox console API. The API was developed jointly between Microsoft and NVIDIA, who developed the custom graphics hardware used by the console. The Xbox API is similar to DirectX version 8.1, but is non-updateable like other console technologies. In 2002, Microsoft released DirectX 9 with support for the use of much longer shader programs than before with pixel and vertex shader version 2.0. Microsoft has continued to update the DirectX suite since then, introducing shader model 3.0 in DirectX 9.0c, released in August 2004. As of April 2005, DirectShow was removed from DirectX and moved to the Microsoft Platform SDK instead. DirectX is, however, still required to build the DirectShow samples [http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/sdk/readmepage/default.aspx].

Release history

Compatibility

Hardware manufacturers have to write drivers for and test each individual piece of hardware to make them DirectX compatible. Many modern hardware devices only have DirectX compatible drivers (in other words, you must install DirectX before you will be able to use that hardware). Early versions of DirectX included an up-to-date library of all of the DirectX compatible drivers currently available. This practice was stopped however, in favor of the web-based Windows Update driver-update system, which allowed users to download only the drivers relevant to their hardware, rather than the entire library. Some drivers only support one version of DirectX. But DirectX is backward compatible, which means that newer versions support the older versions. For example, if one has DirectX 9 installed on one's system and runs a game that was written for DirectX 6, it should still work. The game will use what is called the DirectX 6 "interface." Every version of DirectX must support every previous version of DirectX.

The future of DirectX

Microsoft is currently working on a large update to DirectX. Originally called Windows Graphics Foundation, but later renamed to DirectX 10, it will appear as part of Windows Vista. Version 10 will represent a departure from the driver model of DirectX 9.0, with the addition of a scheduler and memory virtualization system. DirectX 10 will forego the current DirectX practice of using "capability bits" to indicate which features are active on the current hardware. Instead, DirectX 10 will define a minimum standard of hardware capabilities which must be supported for a display system to be "DirectX 10 compatible". Another tool Microsoft is working on is XNA which is a framework designed to assist development of games by making it easier to integrate DirectX, HLSL and other tools in one package. Although somewhat in its infancy, during 2002 Microsoft released a version of DirectX compatible with the Microsoft .NET framework, thus allowing programmers to take advantage of .NET features (such as the use of the C Sharp or Visual Basic programming languages) simultaneously with DirectX development. This API is known as "Managed DirectX" and performance is claimed to be 98% of that of old school native DirectX software.

External links

- [http://www.microsoft.com/directx Microsoft's DirectX site]
- [http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx Microsoft's MSDN documentation & resource center for DirectX] (for programmers)
- [http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/showfaq.asp?forum_id=10 GameDev's FAQ on DirectX]
- [http://www.microsoft.com/xna/faq.aspx FAQ on XNA]

Programmer resources

- [http://www.gamedev.net/reference/list.asp?categoryid=24 Gamedev.net's DirectX Articles section]
- [http://www.wolfgang-engel.info/direct3d.net/ Direct3D.net] - Wolfgang Engel's Direct3D site
- [http://www.drunkenhyena.com/cgi-bin/directx.pl Drunken Hyena] - tutorials, code, utilities, and games
- [http://www.andypike.com/tutorials/directx8/ Andy Pike's DirectX8 Tutorials] - covering 2D, 3D, sound, music, and input
- [http://www.codesampler.com/dx9src.htm CodeSampler.com] - Code samples and tutorials for Direct3D game programming using C++ and C#
- [http://pluralsight.com/wiki/default.aspx/Craig.DirectX/Direct3DTutorialIndex.html Managed Direct3D] - Craig Andera's C# Direct3D Tutorial
- [http://web.archive.org/web/20040202203336/nexe.gamedev.net/News/News.asp NeXe] - Archive of NeXe tutorials (Direct3D 8), at archive.org
- [http://www.pieterg.com/Tutorials/ Managed Direct3D] - Pieter Germishuys's C# Direct3D Tutorial Category:Microsoft software Category:Windows-only software Category:Application programming interfaces ja:DirectX th:DirectX

Mercenary

A mercenary is a soldier who fights, or engages in warfare primarily for private gain, usually with little regard for ideological, national or political considerations. However, when the term is used to refer to a soldier in a regular national army, it is usually considered an insult, epithet or pejorative.

Mercenaries and the laws of war

See also laws of war. In the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions (GC) of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977 it is stated: Art 47. Mercenaries :A mercenary is any person who: ::(a) is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict; ::(b) does, in fact, take a direct part in the hostilities; ::(c) is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a Party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party; ::(d) is neither a national of a Party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict; ::(e) is not a member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict; and ::(f) has not been sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces. It should be noted that many countries including the U.S. are not signatory to the Protocol Additional GC 1977 (APGC77). So although it is the mostly widely accepted, it is not definitive. Under GC III if a soldier is captured by an enemy, he must be treated as a lawful combatant and therefore a Protected Person which for a soldier is as a Prisoner of War (POW) until the soldier has faced a competent tribunal (GC III Art 5). That tribunal may decide that the person is a mercenary using criteria in APGC77 or some domestic law equivalent. At that point the mercenary becomes an unlawful combatant but they must still be "treated with humanity and, in case of trial, shall not be deprived of the rights of fair and regular trial", because they are still covered by GC IV Art 5. The only exception to GC IV Art 5 is if they are a national of the authority which is holding them but in which case they would not be a mercenary under APGC77 Art 47.d. If after a regular trial, a captured soldier is found to be a mercenary, then they can expect to be treated as common criminals and may face execution. As they are not POWs they can not expect repatriation at the end of the war. The best known, post-World War II, example of this was on June 28 1976 when an Angolan court sentenced four mercenaries to death and nine others to prison terms ranging from 16 to 30 years. The three Britons and an American were shot by a firing squad on July 10 1976. The legal status of civilian contractors depends upon the nature of their work and their nationality in respect of the combatants. But if they have not in fact, taken a direct part in the hostilities (APGC77 Art 47.b) they are not mercenaries and are entitled to the protection of the Geneva Conventions. The situation during the Occupation of Iraq 2003 – shows how difficult it is to define what a mercenary is. While the United States governed the country, any U.S. citizen who worked as an armed guard could not be called a mercenary because they were a national of a Party to the conflict (APGC77 Art 47.d). With the handover of power to the interim Iraqi government it could be argued that unless they declare that they are a resident in Iraq i.e. a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict (APGC77 Art 47.d), they are now mercenaries. If no trial of the people accused of being mercenaries takes place, then the allegations tend to evaporate in a spiral of accusations, denials and counter-accusations. It should be noted that Coalition soldiers in Iraq who are supporting the interim Iraqi government are not mercenaries, because either they are part of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict or they have been sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces (APGC77 Art 47.f). See also privateer, Letter of marque, private military contractor.

Gurkhas and French Foreign Legionnaires

The two best known units in which nationals of a country serve in another nation's armed forces are the British Brigade of Gurkhas and the French Foreign Legion. Soldiers who serve in these two elite units are not mercenaries. British Gurkhas are fully integrated soldiers of the British Army. They operate in formed units of the Brigade of Gurkhas and abide by the rules and regulations under which all British soldiers serve, (Similar rules apply for Gurkhas serving in the Indian Army.) French Foreign Legionnaires are in formed units of the French Foreign Legion which is deployed and fights as an organized unit of the French Army. This means that as members of the armed forces of Britain or France they are not mercenaries under APGC77 Art 47.e and APGC77 Art 47.f.

Mercenaries and domestic law

Some countries try to stop their citizens fighting in conflicts unless they are under the control of their own armed forces:
- In 2003, France criminalized mercenary activities as defined by the protocol to the Geneva convention for French citizens, permanent residents and legal entities. (Penal Code, [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnArticleDeCode?code=CPENALLL.rcv&art=436-1 L436-1], [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnArticleDeCode?code=CPENALLL.rcv&art=436-2 L436-2], [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnArticleDeCode?code=CPENALLL.rcv&art=436-3 L436-3], [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnArticleDeCode?code=CPENALLL.rcv&art=436-4 L436-4], [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnArticleDeCode?code=CPENALLL.rcv&art=436-5 L436-5]).
- In 1998 South Africa passed the "Foreign Military Assistance Act" which banned citizens, or residents, from any involvement in foreign conflicts except in humanitarian operations unless a government committee gave its approval for a deployment. In 2005 the legislation was being reviewed by the government because of South African citizens working as security guards in Iraq during the Iraq occupation and the fallout of the case against Mark Thatcher for the "possible funding and logistical assistance in relation to an alleged attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea" organised by Simon Mann.
- Under United States law (the "Neutrality Act"), an American citizen who participates in an armed conflict to which the United States is neutral may be subject to criminal penalties. (ADDED NOTE: In actuality, the Neutrality Act only prohibits citizens from participating in conflicts, that the U.S. is involved in, on the side of states that the government has declared war, also, it appears to have been repealed.)
- Switzerland banned its nationals from serving as mercenaries in 1927 with the one exception being the Vatican Swiss Guards.

Mercenary operations

It is known that mercenaries have been hired to fight in the conflicts in former Yugoslavia. Many of these were ex-Eastern Bloc soldiers who had no employment opportunities after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Private military company (PMC)

Private military companies are companies that provide logistics, manpower, and other expenditures for a military force. Their contractors are civilians authorized to accompany a force in the field. It can be argued that paramilitary forces under private control are functionally mercenaries instead of security guards or advisors. However, national governments reserve the right to strictly regulate the number, nature and armaments of such private forces and argue that providing they are not employed in frontline pro-active military activities that they are not mercenaries. If employees of PMCs are involved in pro-active military activities they are likely to be defined as mercenaries and their employers will be called mercenary companies. Three companies which the mass media called mercenary companies in the 1990s were:
- Executive Outcomes Angola, Sierra Leone (closed 31 December 1998)
- Sandline International, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone (closed 16 April 2004)
- Gurkha Security Guards Ltd, Sierra Leone. In 2004 the industry was given a huge boost because PMCs were employed by the US and other coalition members to do security work in Iraq. In March 2004, four employees of the U.S. PMC Blackwater USA, who were guarding food shipments were attacked and killed in Fallujah. In the well publicised incident, the killings and subsequent desecration of the bodies were contributory cause for the Battle of Fallujah which occurred shortly after the killings. Private military companies tend to be frowned upon by the United Nations (even so, the UN hired Executive Outcomes to do some logistic support in Africa). Nevertheless, PMCs may be useful in combatting genocides and slaughters in situations where the UN is unwilling or unable to intervene. In a report on PMCs by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) released in February 2002, the FCO noted that the demand for military services from the UN and international organisations could mean that it would be cheaper to employ PMCs than to use troops from members states. However at that time, after considering the use of PMCs to support UN operations, the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, decided not to do so.

Mercenaries in Africa

20th century

In the 20th century, mercenaries have been mostly involved in conflicts on the continent of Africa. There have been a number of unsavory incidents in the brushfire wars of Africa, some involving recruitment of naïve European and American men "looking for adventure" and thrusting them into combat situations where they would not survive to get paid. Many of the adventurers in Africa who have been described as mercenaries were in fact ideologically motivated to support particular governments, and would not fight "for the highest bidder". Particularly notorious mercenaries include:
- Mike Hoare was involved in the Congo Crisis in the early 1960s and a Seychelles failed coup in 1978.
- Bob Denard was involved in numerous African campaigns in many countries often with the covert support of France. However his particular speciality was intervening in the Comoros. The last time was in 1995, when he staged a coup which failed (the military of the French Government intervened to oust Denard).
- Simon Mann was involved with Executive Outcomes ventures in Angola and Sierra Leone (see below). In 2004 he was found guilty in Zimbabwe of "attempting to buy weapons" (BBC 27 August) allegedly for a coup in Equatorial Guinean (see below). Mercenaries fought for the Biafrans in the 4th Commando Brigade during the Nigerian Civil War, (1967–1970). Other mercenaries flew aircraft for the Biafrans. In October 1966, for example, a Royal Air Burundi DC-4M Argonaut, flown by a mercenary Heinrich Wartski also known as Henry Wharton, crashlanded in Cameroon with military supplies destined for Biafra. In the mid-1970s John Banks, a Briton, recruited mercenaries to fight for the National Front for the Liberation of Angola FNLA against the Popula