Minecraft: Education Edition was revealed last week by Microsoft. It was based on MinecraftEdu, an unofficial third-party modification that was eventually adopted and endorsed by Mojang. But if Microsoft hadn’t stepped in and took the reins, it’s possible that MinecraftEdu could have been rendered unfunctional in the future.
Here’s the deal: Minecraft: Education Edition is coded in a different programming language than the original PC Minecraft is. Minecraft was written in Java, while Minecraft: Education Edition was created with C++. The result is that mods created for the original PC Minecraft won’t work with the Education Edition — not that it’s much of a problem since they serve different markets, but it could become a problem in the future.
If Microsoft ever decides to radically upgrade Minecraft for PC, it’s possible they could introduce a newly-coded version of the software, because the company doesn’t really work with Java (the Pocket Edition for smartphones, which was also created under Microsoft, was also made with C++). If that happens, it’s safe to say the majority — probably all — of the mods created for Minecraft would no longer be usable.
The end result could split the Minecraft community between traditionalists who insist on using the original to the bitter end and casual users who decide to take the new version. The only other options are to continue using Java (which is less stable than C++) or to somehow code a C++ version of Minecraft in such a way that all mods are compatible with it, a sheer impossibility. It’ll be interesting to watch how Microsoft handles this upcoming issue.
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