@Swift_Cube Wiser words have never been spoken, my friend.
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It couldâve been worse, Google couldâve bought Mojang instead.
In all seriousness, Microsoft is a smart company, as well as a company that can make good products, as well as crap. Vista anyone? They also have a lot of credibility in the gaming world, as they make the Xbox, make AAA games, and so forth. Since this is Minecraft were talking about, a billion dollar game, I see no excuse to see as why Microsoft wouldnât take care of it.
Windows editions are like Star Trek movies: every other one sucks. XP good, Vista bad, 7 good, 8 bad, so 9 should be good 
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Indeed.
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For some reason, I would prefer Google in this case. They are not (yet) bound to a single platform - in addition, by spreading Minecraft, they could of course promote their products to users as well. Which Microsoft canât do, because the only product people really use is the operation system and their Office series. Google has lots to offer for about anything, which is also used by people (unlike Microsoftâs things).
What happened when Microsoft bought something can be seen with Skype, as example.
Google has lots of credibility in the gaming world too - for example by about any Android game. So would Sony have, or any publisher really. Itâs not something that makes MS special - if anything, their wild ideas and their XBone launch should ring some alarm bells when it comes to a game that is played online.
Interesting thought here: I doubt Minecraft is worth that much anymore. I would guess that most people nowadays already own Minecraft, and with the Alphaâs promise of free-content-forever there isnât too much money that can be gained from these customers either.
Well, Google is not exactly good as they say, seeing as they have don dozens of shady things in the past, like selling their userâs personal info to improve advertising, as well as some other things. They are also not mainly an software or hardware company, they are mostly an advertisement company. Also, Microsoft isnât that dumb to limit the game to only a few platforms. As they are a company, their main goal is to maximise sales, and they have the resources to expand their platforms. Also, Windows and Office isnât their only used products, itâs just their flagship products. Thereâs Skype, Bing, Windows Phone, Surface, etc. Also, I donât recall anything bad that happened to Skype after it was bought. Infact, I think it improved because of their extra funding and developers.
I find Googleâs credibility in the gaming world is as small as Facebookâs credibility. Remember when Facebook bought out Oculus, although having little to no credibility. Also, they donât make games, unlike Microsoft. They just own the platform in which developers publish the game on. Also, many times their wild ideas, such as using DirectX 12 to improve graphical performance, are pretty good and can improve their services by a lot. Also, they have REALLY improved over the last year or so. Infact, I think the XBOne can actually stand up, if not better, than Sonyâs PS4, just based on the services, features, and most importantly, games.
Minecraft may have been mostly milked of, but with Microsoft, they can make it better, and bring in more consumers. Then, they can probably find out a way to make more cash out of it, as long as it isnât too over the top and insulting.
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Agreed. Windows has some sort of specific pattern for some reason that makes every other version terrible. 3x was odd, 95 laid the path for future versions, 98 had bad stability issues, 2000 was awesome, ME needs no explanation, XP is terrific and loved, Vista, not as as bad a ME but still bad, 7 was what Vista should have been, 8x had personality and stability issues, and since 9 should b good, which is why I am so excited about it. Virtual desktops and such for the win(dows). 
But, we could talk about this on my tech thread. A day or so ago, W9 pictures and a video were leaked onto the interwebs! 
As has about every single IT company in the USA if some intelligence ought to be believed. Ignorance is a bliss, I doubt that Google has ever actively sold user information to anyone - except maybe the government, for free of course. And maybe even willingly.
Well in that case, Samsung is mainly a mobile device manufacturing company. Advertisement is the biggest chunk of Googleâs income, I wonât deny that, yet they use enough of that money for a good cause (either to bring technology or the internet itself forward - a good example would be GMail back in the day, recent examples would be Google Fiber). I remember the 30-MB-of-Hotmail days too well.
They do, and by limiting the platforms they do exactly that. Oh, you want to play Minecraft? You can now enjoy Minecraft on every Windows(R) compatible device, including the XBox One, Windows 8 and more!
Why do you think âconsole onlyâ games exist? Of course there is a (substantial) effort to create multiplatform games, but why would anyone miss out voluntarily on that big piece of money from other consoles?
Because to play The Last Of Us, you need a Playstation. Because for Smash Bros, you need a Wii. Once you got that going, you might as well buy additional games, and the publisher (or rather creator of the console) is happy. Itâs a shill, a lure, a bait. Itâs hooking you up to a system.
âOh, Iâm using Windows at Home because we use it at work and I just know it so wellâ - ever heard that sentence? Why are people using Office instead of any of the dozen free versions that are, more or less, equal? Because itâs known by the workers and so itâs bought. People are amazingly resistible to change and new thoughts.
Iâve got only limited knowledge of this, so Iâm open for any corrections:
- Skype was not invented by Microsoft, it was bought up (rather recently). I donât think that Skype had any financial problems, nor was it really changed or expanded by Microsoft. Theyâve replaced their own product, MSN Messenger, with it - it was just a acquisition of something new. By the same logic, we would probably give some medieval monk credit for todayâs smartphone locking mechanisms. Or Apple.
- Windows Phone isnât that widely spread and to my knowledge died with Windows 8 altogether because they want to âunify their platformsâ (great idea, horrible implementation). In any case itâs not a serious player compared to Android and iOS (people usually buy the phone they like and very rarely because of its operating system - the acquisition of Nokia (see a pattern?) might help there too. Since weâre talking about Nokia, MS has effectively shut it down in its country of origin, Finland.).
- Surface is just (financially) failed tablet. If we want to count that as serious invention, we would end up with a few dozen manufacturers which each have something special to add.
Yes, letâs compare a company which is now desperately dabbling into other fields of money making because this whole social media thing is going to fail very soon with a company which has done this for literally decades.
Thatâs not entirely true. I think the Google Doodles do count as games, the Earth flight simulator maybe too. If we want to go pitnicking around, Microsoft themselves donât make games - the studios theyâve gobbled up do, under their command. Microsoft itself likely knows very little about how to make games themselves - but then again, weâre talking about huge companies, in the case of Microsoft with over three hundred (ex-)studios just for games.
While at the same time maintaining the status quo, once again weâre talking about platform binding: DirectX requires Windows, and certain versions of DirectX require a certain version of Windows. This limitation might even be entirely virtual to get people to upgrade their OS - and giving MS money again.
As a little Disclaimer, I think we shouldnât try to whiteknight either company, nor try to bash the other. At the end of the day, they both have their good sides, and they both have skeletons in the closet. Theyâre not comparable and neither is better than the other.
Except Apple. Apple should have bought Minecraft. The Minecraft 4S Plus would have been so great.
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I smell fumes, which means an upcoming flame war. Iâll just avoid it.
moves cursor off the reply button
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Think weâre venturing a little far afield here 
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Yes, Microsoft, Google, Apple et al all have their good and bad features, the thing in this case though, is do those good/bad features make it likely said company will negatively affect Minecraft?
Now Google & Apple⌠frankly I donât know any real games theyâve done recently (doodles etc donât count), and certain other publishers (ohai EA!) are well known for doing bad things to their games. Personally though, I donât have the same feeling with Microsoft - sure, they could easily screw up Minecraft, but unlike others Iâm not convinced itâs a major concern.
I donât think this deal will be all that great. It seems like what makes indie games like minecraft great is that the developers are very community focused. Itâs like how Stonehearth is. The developers are all about making a game WITH us, along with FOR us. I donât foresee Microsoft to be as community minded.
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In the gaming world, they are fairly consumer and community minded.
Oh, well I learn something every day! Thanks!
Frankly, I think Minecraft just got incredibly lucky: had it been just a little different (either in timing, or design, or w/e) I donât think it would have exploded onto the gaming scene the way it did. Heck, with no publisher or advertising except word of mouth⌠yeah. Itâs easy to imagine it being like a sandbox version of Dwarf Fortress - a quiet little dedicated community around a game and its developer(s).
I think the juryâs still out for Microsoft. Theyâve made a bunch of great games (Age of Empires, Metal Gear Solid, Age of Mythology, etc.) Iâm kind of excited (but nervous) if they make any major changes to Minecraft.
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I am starting to get pissed at Mojang. They were so awesome, but when that Jeb guy took over Minecraft s*** really hit the fan.
Notch officially said that he would not support getting bought by Microsoft. And several Mojang employees say that they already have more than enough money so that wasnât really the important thing with the deal.
I dont know, I think Notch wanted a nice, small, friendly gaming community. It was, I bought the game in Beta 1.2! It was so âpeacefulâ on the forums, and the developers had a lot of conversations with us.
I dont think Mojang can be classified as indie anymore⌠And with them considering a deal with Microsoft, they could just go burn for all I care.
mod edit: language
I honestly feel that Minecraft was a one hit wonder all of their other games were just so blatantly bad and I think this probably upsets Notch more than the actual team, Notch has zero interest in minecraft any more, and heâs pretty much said as much in tweets. He doesnât want his name tied to one creative enterprise, and thatâs why heâs been trying to have a go at other games⌠the issue being none of them have been remotely good.
As it seems now Mojang has nothing else in the works currently, so its shackled to Minecraft and that wouldnât be so bad for Notch if he wasnât sick of it. As someone who has changed careers myself simply because I lost passion and got bored I can see the appeal of completely wiping the slate clean. Rumors or not I honestly feel that Mojang as we know it will not be around much longer simply because they arenât developing anything but minecraft and you donât need such a huge staff for that to happen. I think if this continues youâll see many of the Mojang team get laid off or otherwise leave and I think Notch will soon be walking away.
Also it is apparent to anyone who has been playing since the alpha or beta that minecraft as good as it is failed to live up to the original development map⌠updates have been slow, and pretty uninspired. The many grand things that were supposed to get added werenât and what we ended up with was a couple new blocks now and then. This is why many of the older players who have been into the game for a while have decided to give up on the game, this isnât across the board but it is happening to a large degree. Everything is just so stale now, nothing very innovative to keep the game feeling fresh. Although the game is still insanely popular especially at this second increase in sales due to kids picking up on the game⌠I think it is quickly heading to a brick wall and I wonder where Mojang will be when it does.
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How so?
Theyâre still an indie company ATM insofar as theyâre independent. Theyâre not indie any more insofar as they succeeded, and made it big in a big way.
Thatâs what practically every indie developer wants after all - to make a game that becomes wildly popular, takes the world by storm, sells millions, et cetera et cetera et cetera. Iâm sure the people ate Radiant Entertainment are hoping that happens with Stonehearth, for example.
Finally, why the âburn in hellâ attitude WRT a deal with Microsoft? Itâs hardly set in stone that itâll be appalling (now, if they were being bought out by EA on the other handâŚ), and it may well turn out good for Minecraft.
Indeed. Still, as one-hit wonders go⌠itâs impressive.
Too late for that IMHO. Hell, he could go on a murder spree tomorrow, and the headlines would be something like âMINECRAFT MURDER SPREE!â - for good or bad, his name will be associated with Minecraft for the rest of his life I suspect.
Perhaps - I havenât really paid attention to the roadmap stuff for MC - but with a modding community like the MC one, I think they can afford to be slow with the updates.
The trick is to keep new kids getting into Minecraft as fast as the older players give up on it. Or indeed, to get new players into Minecraft 2 or whatever (because letâs face it, if that was announced, thereâd be a lot of pre-orders & interest). Maybe sales stop growing⌠but I think that itâs a game that could still be selling several years from now, even long after all development etc has stopped on it.
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Mojang has only gone down after Jeb technically took over as leader
To me, an indie company is a company who less than 10 employees, or max 20. Mojang have 3 projects at once, and have 18 million people buying their game.
I dont think Radiant wants their community to grow with 10 million, no I dont.
Microsoft has largely pissed me off with DirectX. Windows in general. Metro. Xbox. What is it Microsoft havenât screwed up? They would obviously discontinue the deals with Sony too if they took over. And frankly, I dont want these big ass companies installing DRM all over the place. I dont have anything against EA, because they are platform independent. They use OpenGL. Why not?
Blizzard and Crytek are both considered âindieâ, and theyâve had massive success, even more than Mojang.
With the mediaâs opinion on video games, it would be more like âVIDEO GAMES PROVEN TO CAUSE MASSECRESâ