Zune Home -- Potentional Application Suite

[SimReality]

If that's good for you, fine, but there's a huge flaw there. Without running the applications/games in a separate AppDomain there is absolutely no way to insure that a game is actually unloaded. I can, in my application, just create a new ContentManager and load up 15MB of textures. Now there's no way to reclaim that memory without restarting all of Zune Home. By executing in a new AppDomain not only can you run all the existing games and apps without much extra work (there's a tiny amount just to change the content directory to match), but when that AppDomain goes out of scope it reclaims ALL memory allocated within it.

So it's just a more robust solution. I am mocking up a basic app launcher using ZuneBlade right now to see if I can get it to bounce back and fourth between a launcher application and all the extra games. Hopefully it does.

[SilentWalrus]

That looks beautiful.
I would thoroughly enjoy having this application.

[Tiptup300]

Originally Posted by SimReality

If that's good for you, fine, but there's a huge flaw there. Without running the applications/games in a separate AppDomain there is absolutely no way to insure that a game is actually unloaded. I can, in my application, just create a new ContentManager and load up 15MB of textures. Now there's no way to reclaim that memory without restarting all of Zune Home. By executing in a new AppDomain not only can you run all the existing games and apps without much extra work (there's a tiny amount just to change the content directory to match), but when that AppDomain goes out of scope it reclaims ALL memory allocated within it.

So it's just a more robust solution. I am mocking up a basic app launcher using ZuneBlade right now to see if I can get it to bounce back and fourth between a launcher application and all the extra games. Hopefully it does.

Each module gets it's own content manager, which gets unloaded!

[SimReality]

But you can't enforce that. I can make as many ContentManagers in my module as I want and there's nothing you can do to stop it. Plus I could just create a 100,000,000 array of Vector2s and you wouldn't be able to free that memory. I'm not saying your solution is a workable solution, but you won't be able to enforce these things.

[ShotgunSnipist]

This has to be one of the greatest idea's ever!
I would help if I could... But i'm just a C# nub...
='(

[gaurdian]

Would be great if it were possible to let a im run on the background, so you can just read a book or something and other people can chat to you if they want. That way the im will be used longer, wich means a bigger chance to actually meet someone with an zim active.

[Anachostic]

Well, Tip and Sim, both your ideas have merit. Tip's would be great if you wanted to share information between modules in the suite; Sim's would be great if all the applications worked independantly. Maybe it could even be a combination of the two.

Right now, I would see a benefit in Sim's design that would avoid the needed restart after exiting a game before changing to another. I think Tip's design would be good for an integrated suite. If you could get developers to agree on a format (maybe VCF), you could swap info between calender, contacts, alarm clock, notes. As long as the entire suite didn't exceed 16MB. But apps usually aren't graphic intensive anyway, so this seems doable.

I have to imagine the Zune team is just shaking their heads in disbelief at what Zune users are doing to their device.

[Tiptup300]

Originally Posted by Anachostic

Well, Tip and Sim, both your ideas have merit. Tip's would be great if you wanted to share information between modules in the suite; Sim's would be great if all the applications worked independantly. Maybe it could even be a combination of the two.

Right now, I would see a benefit in Sim's design that would avoid the needed restart after exiting a game before changing to another. I think Tip's design would be good for an integrated suite. If you could get developers to agree on a format (maybe VCF), you could swap info between calender, contacts, alarm clock, notes. As long as the entire suite didn't exceed 16MB. But apps usually aren't graphic intensive anyway, so this seems doable.

I have to imagine the Zune team is just shaking their heads in disbelief at what Zune users are doing to their device.

NOTE: The zune may have 16mb, but C# is a managed language, where any time an app is opened and closed, all the resources taken by the app will be released.

[Justananomaly]

Honestly I can't wait until something like this eventually turns into a full mini OS and someone buys the rights from the creator for some 5-6 didget figure. Good luck!

[sableholic]

Originally Posted by Justananomaly

Honestly I can't wait until something like this eventually turns into a full mini OS and someone buys the rights from the creator for some 5-6 didget figure. Good luck!

not to be rude, but why would anyone buy a mini OS for a zune for 5-6 digit figures?

[SimReality]

A 5-6 digit number isn't out of the ordinary for purchasing the rights to a piece of software if the purchaser believes they can re-sell it for profit. Granted you can't sell anything made with the XNA 3.0 CTP so it's not really relevant.

[Justananomaly]

A game publisher bought the rights to "Sling-o" which is a game he made in second-life and paid him $210,000 and now its on nintendo DS, PC, and XBox arcade and it took him a total of 20 hours to make it.

Things like this happen a lot thats why you see many freelancer coders and designers out there expecially now days.

[sableholic]

Originally Posted by SimReality

A 5-6 digit number isn't out of the ordinary for purchasing the rights to a piece of software if the purchaser believes they can re-sell it for profit. Granted you can't sell anything made with the XNA 3.0 CTP so it's not really relevant.

I specifically said a Zune mini-OS. I just don't see a Zune mini-OS as being something someone could resell was my original point and as you said they can't since anything made with XNA can't be at this point. Hell if they ever get Linux on the zune through hacked firmware it would be quite useless. That was my point. Not that software doesn't sell for 5-6 digits, that I don't see a Zune mini-OS reselling for that much.

Originally Posted by Justananomaly

A game publisher bought the rights to "Sling-o" which is a game he made in second-life and paid him $210,000 and now its on nintendo DS, PC, and XBox arcade and it took him a total of 20 hours to make it.

Things like this happen a lot thats why you see many freelancer coders and designers out there expecially now days.

Again I specifically said a Zune mini-OS. Using other examples to try and prove that it could happen seems pointless to me. Just out of curiosity though, got a link to this sling-o purchase? I just haven't seen a game on my 360 xbla called sling-o

[Justananomaly]

Originally Posted by sableholic

I specifically said a Zune mini-OS. Using other examples to try and prove that it could happen seems pointless to me.

It's a good example, it just has not happened thus far in XNA, but I GUARENTEE you it will.

It was something self-coded that he made from scratch for his entertainment inside of a game in which nothing until then that was created had ever been bought out before.

Anything could happen, if those three words alone seem pointless to you then maybe you don't get the concept of life itself I suppose, let alone how the software industry works. People get offers for their seamingly useless products all the time, expecially even rediculous operating systems. Bill gates bought QDOS from a man who built it just to make life easier for him, and lisenced it to IBM and charged $1 per computer sold for it and thats the foundation of Microsoft.

Now please stop with the empty rhetoric and blind running and just accept that my cookies are 10x better then yours.
OHMNOMNOM

[sableholic]

Right I don't understand how the software industry works, I just work in it...

Yes anything could happen, but in this case the chances are very very slim. The fact is a Zune mini-OS no matter how cool for us Zune users, would be useless to anyone else. There are free OS's and not free ones that would be more useful on other systems, have a bigger development base, more support, etc. Just throwing out the "oh x software sold for x dollars, im sure this could" is silly. There has to be some sort of need for it and some way for the person buying it to recoup the costs ala how Bill Gates recouped the costs in your post. What could the Zune mini-OS be used for outside of being on a Zune? Seriously.

In an effort to not derail the thread anymore I'd just like to say again that this would be cool for us Zune users and I look forward to seeing the progress.

[tenritsu]

Those screens look awesome!

[Quaay]

alright, well i don't understand all of the code stuff you guys
are talking about. But I do think it's a great idea and it looks
amazing! I'd be glad to help out with graphics and or concepts
for apps or whatever. But can't really help with code, it seems
to disagree with me somewhat

[Tiptup300]

@All of you, please disregard that entire conversation. There were no winners, but there was one loser.

HINT: It was justannormally

ON TOPIC: I'll get some work on this tomorrow since I don't have any work! yeah!

[ESPKH2]

This is seriously such an amazing idea. I can't believe how much potential zune has.

[Jrmint97]

Yay! I hope it will be awesome!