Microsoft Buying Mojang, makers of Minecraft

[Dragonbite]

I think I am more nervous about this than I was when Microsoft bought Skype! Probably because I play it just about every day (and Skype was once-in-a-while).

What I don't like is according to Mojang (https://mojang.com/2014/09/yes-were-...-by-microsoft/),

What about the other editions of Minecraft? Will they stop being developed?
There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop. Of course, Microsoft can’t make decisions for other companies or predict the choices that they might make in the future.

Anybody else notice the absence of "Linux" in that list?

Normally I would take it with a grain of salt, but it is otherwise getting annoying that Linux is being ignored even though Android is (OneDrive, Office, Google Drive, etc.)

The deal itself, other than market-wise, seems strange to me in the first place anyway. It's written in Java, a competitor for their own .NET and another technology they will need to learn and/or move over to their own over time (like Hotmail was first on some *nix servers and early attempts to move to Windows servers failed enough they want back the *nix servers and ran with it for quite a while.)

I just the game to stick around for Linux so that I don't have to boot my Windows partition for anything.

What are your thoughts?

[kostkon]

I'm guessing the platform is PC/Mac (IBM compatibles in other words) and that includes Linux.

[Dragonbite]

I'm guessing the platform is PC/Mac (IBM compatibles in other words) and that includes Linux.

That's what I am (really) hoping it is.

Just don't like having to rely on Microsoft and it isn't a "Evil-Empire" type reason either. It's more that their definition of "cross platform" consists of "Major OSs" and sometimes Linux doesn't make the list of "Major OSs".

[sffvba[e0rt]

Minecraft is a java application, and as long as they don't change that then all you need to have it work on your platform is... java.

[Dragonbite]

Hope they don't change it to C#! Then it is whether it supports Mono or not.

Since Microsoft has become more chummy with Xamarin, who can handle making mobile apps in C# for iOS and Android, anything could (theoretically) be possible.

[EuclideanCoffee]

I don't Minecraft often, but it's a sad day indeed for independent games.

[sffvba[e0rt]

Some more perspective on the matter - http://notch.net/2014/09/im-leaving-mojang/

[user1397]

Hope they don't change it to C#! Then it is whether it supports Mono or not.

Since Microsoft has become more chummy with Xamarin, who can handle making mobile apps in C# for iOS and Android, anything could (theoretically) be possible.

This:

Minecraft is a java application, and as long as they don't change that then all you need to have it work on your platform is... java.

I really doubt they would take the existing java code which (as far as I know makes up most if not the whole game, and suddenly rewrite it all in C#

[Dragonbite]

This: I really doubt they would take the existing java code which (as far as I know makes up most if not the whole game, and suddenly rewrite it all in C#

The thing is that C# has for a long time been accused of looking and acting very similar to Java, in part to try and attract Java developers.

Oh, it would not be in the short term, if ever, but over time it could be slowly pushed that way as they start making the Java more C# friendly with each update. By that time, however, Minecraft may have lost it's appeal for something else.

Unlikely, but they've done more bonehead things before..

[Linuxratty]

I don't Minecraft often, but it's a sad day indeed for independent games.

It is indeed. I wish they had offered it to Canonical for less money, oh well.
Those of us who play Minecraft at LI (see sig) will be looking for alternative games to go on our server since we are suspicious of Microsoft..Anyway,time will tell how things sort themselves out.