Will that game work on your PC?

"Will this work on my PC?"

Microsoft aims to take the guesswork out of answering that question with a new method for evaluating a PC's capability to run a given piece of software, including the complex games that often choke older PCs.

The system, described in a patent application published two weeks ago by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, would assign a "capability rating" to a PC or specific component. Patent application 20040268341, submitted by Mark Kenworthy on behalf of Microsoft, describes a comprehensive system, including an independent ratings board, that would provide an easy-to-understand numerical rating for determining whether a PC can handle a given piece of software.

Kenworthy is currently group program manager for Microsoft's Visual Studio developer tools.

Making sure a PC can run certain software is often a vexing process for consumers, especially with games such as the new "Doom 3" that demand the latest video cards and other hardware. Game buyers are often surprised to find that a PC a year or two old can't run the latest games.

Determining if your PC is up to snuff often requires digging into details beyond the average consumer's knowledge, such as whether a video card supports the latest version of Microsoft's DirectX graphics library or can handle sophisticated "transform and lighting" graphics effects.

"Purchasing software for use on a computer system currently requires an understanding of the system requirements of the software and technical details of the computer system," according to the application. "Unfortunately, the average consumer is often unable to match software requirements to system specifications due to the level of technical knowledge required."

The application describes a "capability tool" application that would examine a PC's innards and assign it a numerical rating based on standards set by an advisory board. A software application or game would be assigned a similar rating, based on the amount of computing resources it requires. Match the numbers, and you should be able to buy that new game or graphics application with confidence.

"Consumers, hardware vendors and software vendors will benefit from techniques and tools that allow a person with a limited understanding of computer system capabilities and software requirements to make informed software and hardware purchases," according to the application, "allowing them to purchase demanding multimedia software applications...without having an unsatisfactory experience due to substandard performance on their PC."

[Fray9]

Right..

So now Microsoft is claiming it has invented the benchmark score.

This kind of reminds me of Al Gore saying he invented the internet.

And the patent office is going to let them have this?

People have been using benchmark tests like Sandra to determine if their system can run a program and how well it will perform for years.

But suddenly its a Microsoft idea.

[Christopher Hall]

Not exactly

They aren't claiming to have invented the benchmark. I'd venture a guess that if you don't know if your computer can run certain programs or games, chances are that you've never even heard of a benchmark. Like when Microsoft put firewall protection into Windows XP. They didn't claim to have invented the firewall, they just made it accessible to anyone who uses their OS. That's not to say that firewalls (or benchmarks) are difficult to come by, but a majority of consumers haven't got a clue about what to do with their computers.

When it comes to games, many parents look at the box, think "that's new," and get it for their children. The minimum specs and the recommended specs get ignored. If your computer has a scored rating and the box has a similar score rating on it, that's much easier to do as a check than expecting everyone to remember exactly what is in their computer. It's just a way of distilling information so that more people can use it.

[NWLB]

At last!

Hey, what an idea! Now we only have to wait five years before they issue the software, and five more years until they get around to the third version that almost works!

I'd make a joke about how Apple will do something that works better first, but nobody makes games for them! :)

NWLB
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http://www.nwlbnet.blogspot.com

[nzamparello]

Remember MPC???

This was attempted YEARS ago with the MPC standard... You had mpc levels 1,2,3 each meaning your computer could play different levels of software depending on your hardware... The only problem was that technology started changing so fast that the MPC standard was abandoned... "Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it.." GeeWhiz M$!!! ;-)

[Andrew J Glina]

Good point

Actually I clean forgot about that. It was more for the then big multimedia software craze however. Even so, I thought it was a good idea, but it was more supported by the hardware guys than the software.