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Valve joins the Linux Foundation

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Re: Valve joins the Linux Foundation

#71
post #30
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's broken about it?

Video, sound, competing standards (which will hinder adoption), antiquated X11. Also when a full-screen X11 overlay (like a game) freezes then the whole desktop freezes (CTRL+ALT+F1 doesn't help). A Linux enthousiast will forgive these mistakes and find a way around them but Linux noobs wouldn't know what to do.

Even if they would know what to do, it would still be something you wouldn't have to do on Windows, so anyone who is agnostic to what OS he is using and chooses based on practical criteria and not ideology or philosophy, will most often choose Windows over Linux. Linux experience just isn't there (would like to add "yet", but I don't see it even moving in that direction). I said this before and I'm gonna say again - Linux forces user to learn about OS and computer in general, which is not needed for most of people.

Re: Valve joins the Linux Foundation

#72
post #6

It will be interesting to see whether Valve can encourage the move to Linux gaming. Their biggest asset at this time is the distribution model of Steam, but that's not sufficient to get the big publishers to develop for OSX, never mind Linux. Edit: Valve's game list: http://www.valvesoftware.com/games/

OS X is not a good platform for gaming. It has a significantly smaller user base of which only an even more significantly smaller are gamers. Playing on a MacBook (or at least on my MacBook) is impossible, and I wouldn't buy an iMac for gaming. On the other hand, you can put Linux on anything (for free!), from your mom's 2002 pc to the latest generation hot stuff. This means there is indeed a potential, and somebody…

[deleted]

Re: Valve joins the Linux Foundation

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OS X is not a good platform for gaming. It has a significantly smaller user base of which only an even more significantly smaller are gamers. Playing on a MacBook (or at least on my MacBook) is impossible, and I wouldn't buy an iMac for gaming. On the other hand, you can put Linux on anything (for free!), from your mom's 2002 pc to the latest generation hot stuff. This means there is indeed a potential, and somebody…

I've been playing Dota 2 / Hereoes of Newerth on my 13in mac air for years just fine. My only gripe is the mouse acceleration on OS X... the mouse feels horrible and you have to get third party software to make it only slightly better.

http://smoothmouse.com

Re: Valve joins the Linux Foundation

#74
post #16

Until Linux fixes its desktop story I'm going to stick with my Windows PC.

Which completely steers out of the point in the discussion related to this news announcement.

Valve joining the Linux Foundation does have more to do with the next Valve console and less with the desktop. If Valve wants support from vendors and kernel developers, this is clearly a step in the right direction.

Nobody cares about your desktop. Linux runs way more machines than Windows.

In case you do not know what the Linux Foundation is, I will quote it here:

    The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the 
    growth of Linux and collaborative software development. Founded in 2000, 
    the organization sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and 
    promotes, protects and advances the Linux operating system and 
    collaborative software development by marshaling the resources of its 
    members and the open source community. The Linux Foundation provides a 
    neutral forum for collaboration and education by hosting Collaborative 
    Projects, Linux conferences, including LinuxCon, and generating original
    research and content that advances the understanding of Linux and 
    collaborative software development.

Re: Valve joins the Linux Foundation

#75
post #68
post #10

Right now the only thing keeping me from running linux full time is the Adobe Master Collection (PS AI LR ID AE...)

Indeed, it's seriously lacking a competitor in that sense. I would say that GIMP is in top 5 of worst software ever made, what made me think of that is this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_music_considered_the_wo... I quote: Paradoxically, a piece of music needs to have been noticeable, popular or memorable to be deemed the "worst ever." A piece that was unpopular and quickly forgotten is unlikely to top all-ti…

I would hardly call it worst. It does not have the most intuitive UX, but once you get used to it it's quite nice and gets the job done. And it's open source (royalty free). I like it.

I'd call it PS-incompatible. Would be nice to see a study on two control groups who each either start learning PS or GIMP for a few weeks and see how they get common tasks accomplished and how they feel about their control group software.

I mostly see PS damaged people with bold statements of it's superiority and the rubishness of GIMP. I never seen anyone getting good with GIMP first and then ditching it for PS.

Can any of you give some personal anecdotes?

Re: Valve joins the Linux Foundation

#76
post #69
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intel GPUs lack performance when compared with ATI/NVIDIA. Plus they manage to have even more buggy OpenGL support, and their drivers are well known among OpenGL developers for lying about supported features.

There are Macbooks (and Macs) with dedicated GPUs.

Which cost almost three times the average salary of most European countries.

Re: Valve joins the Linux Foundation

#77
post #6

It will be interesting to see whether Valve can encourage the move to Linux gaming. Their biggest asset at this time is the distribution model of Steam, but that's not sufficient to get the big publishers to develop for OSX, never mind Linux. Edit: Valve's game list: http://www.valvesoftware.com/games/

OS X is not a good platform for gaming. It has a significantly smaller user base of which only an even more significantly smaller are gamers. Playing on a MacBook (or at least on my MacBook) is impossible, and I wouldn't buy an iMac for gaming. On the other hand, you can put Linux on anything (for free!), from your mom's 2002 pc to the latest generation hot stuff. This means there is indeed a potential, and somebody…

I game on my iMac. Currently just played through BioShock Infinite, and play StarCraft 2 daily, and really should get back to Guild Wars 2 at some point... but yeah, I'm considered odd by my friends for doing so.

Re: Valve joins the Linux Foundation

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OS X is not a good platform for gaming. It has a significantly smaller user base of which only an even more significantly smaller are gamers. Playing on a MacBook (or at least on my MacBook) is impossible, and I wouldn't buy an iMac for gaming. On the other hand, you can put Linux on anything (for free!), from your mom's 2002 pc to the latest generation hot stuff. This means there is indeed a potential, and somebody…

You seem to be contradicting yourself. Gaming doesn't work on OS X because it has too small a user base, but Linux's user base is much smaller. Playing on a Macbook is impossible (presumably for performance reasons?), but you talk about putting Linux on a 2002 PC for gaming. And Linux may or may not run on the latest generation hot stuff, depending on how much time you want to spend to get your newest graphics card w…

> And Linux may or may not run on the latest generation hot stuff

I've now installed Linux on two custom built machines, both with new hardware, neither of which were specifically built for linux. I was very surprised, compatibility was really good, and hardware issues were almost none...

> depending on how much time you want to spend to get your newest graphics card working.

Other than the one that had a dedicated GPU (even here, worked out of the box on Ubuntu). But then, this is an area that Valve seems to be focusing on heavily, and throwing steam support behind linux is a good reason to get Nvidia (et al) involved in better driver support.

It's still a longshot overall IMHO, but I do agree that the potential user-base is higher. You can't get a budget gaming Mac - the closest is the iMac for >$1,000, and that can be easily out-performed by a $5-600 custom built box.

Re: Valve joins the Linux Foundation

#79
post #10

Right now the only thing keeping me from running linux full time is the Adobe Master Collection (PS AI LR ID AE...)

Some of it runs okay under Wine, some not. A shame, I wish a startup would try and tackle the Adobe Collection at some point, but I guess the capital requirements and network effects are too great :(

Re: Valve joins the Linux Foundation

#80
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's broken about it?

Well linux have 10 main desktop managers that are under development right now. Each and every one of them does roughly 80% of what I want from a desktop. And I have uncomfortable experience on all.

I know that feeling. Thankfully, thats why I recently decided to get my hands dirty and help :)
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