JohnnyRotten wrote on Mar 11, 2013, 20:53:
Maybe the server is written on a *nix server? That would throw a wrinkle in things.
...and if retargeting for a Windows OS isn't possible, then you can just use a *nix image and one of the free VM players.
EA just doesn't want to lose control. After doing a bit more reading it does seem that the game can continue on with simulating city life for a period of time after losing connection to EA's servers. So is it just the social aspects and economy/interaction between other cities that is being simulated on the server?
While I agree that it wouldn't be a trivial fix, I highly doubt the server-side code is written in anything other than C/C++, C#, or Java. I haven't bought the game yet, so I haven't been able to do any digging first-hand but I'd be surprised if the server-side processes are anything special or esoteric.