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1.85% of Steam users run Linux

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Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#81

Post by yaeger »

1qaz2wsx3edc wrote: post #37
i80and wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most games work, but the problems fall into a few categories: 1) Missing libraries: Almost always 32-bit/64-bit problems. 2) Missing executable: this is usually fixed sooner or later. 3) Graphics problems: This shouldn't be a problem on NVIDIA systems, and the Intel Mesa drivers are pretty good these days, but it still can occur.

Ergo StreamOS. I wouldn't bother running Steam on a non-valve distro, it just doesn't seem practical given the options available (Win/OSX/SteamOS). Full disclosure: I use Steam on OSX & inside a Windows VM. My biggest peeve is that Valve restricts the Steam client to a single runtime (meaning: I can't run steam on OSX & Windows at the same time "This account is logged in elsewhere"). So I'm always switching between t…

Steam on Windows isn't all that great either. It's 2014 now and Steam still ignores the "multi user" aspect of Windows.

Have Steam installed and want to logon automatically so you don't have to enter your password everytime? Great, just tick the appropriate checkbox.

Works great for me, but when my brother uses the PC with his own Windows account, you already know what happens when he tries to start Steam and wants to play using his Steam acount. Correct, he gets auto logged in into my Steam Account. Because as far as Valve is concerned, 1 PC == 1 Steam Install == 1 Steam User.

Granted, Windows wasn't always "multi user" but I think it has been for quite some time now ;) Seeing this and looking into their Linux efforts and their SteamOS for the "Family" and "Living Room" I really see some problems for them unless they finally change this behavior. In a family and in a living room you are bound to have multiple users with Multiple Steam Accounts and especially on a TV, I bet many people would like to log in automatically instead of having to log in manually using a controller to type out the password.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#82

Post by jibsen »

frozenport wrote: post #78

Bigger Question: Do linux folk spend money on software?

I seem to remember some statistics showing Linux users generally donating more for Humble Bundles than Windows and Mac users.

That doesn't mean they are more inclined to buy Steam games of course, but it does seem to indicate they do not mind spending money on games.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#84

Post by rplnt »

crdoconnor wrote: post #58
gum_ina_package wrote: post #30

I think the big story here is that ~4% of Steam users run Vista. The year of the Linux desktop is very, very, very far away.

The Linux desktop will come when Microsoft loses its leverage over hardware manufacturers and they start to preinstall linux and stop putting up barriers to adoption (e.g. remove windows -> lose warranty). It's already better than the windows desktop (xubuntu anyway, not unity, however). The barriers to uptake are no longer technical and haven't been for some years. It's all market + legal now.

> It's all market + legal now.

And investing in re-schooling people to the new system and applications (Office suite would be probably the most notable one).

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#85

Post by macco »

crdoconnor wrote: post #58
gum_ina_package wrote: post #30

I think the big story here is that ~4% of Steam users run Vista. The year of the Linux desktop is very, very, very far away.

The Linux desktop will come when Microsoft loses its leverage over hardware manufacturers and they start to preinstall linux and stop putting up barriers to adoption (e.g. remove windows -> lose warranty). It's already better than the windows desktop (xubuntu anyway, not unity, however). The barriers to uptake are no longer technical and haven't been for some years. It's all market + legal now.

> It's already better than the windows desktop (xubuntu anyway, not unity, however).

Disaggree. Unity is by far superior to the Windows Desktop. It's the most productive DE on a notebook I know (OS X included)

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#86

Post by kuschku »

codygman wrote: post #66
eks wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It runs great here. But I have basically just Ubuntu vanilla and a NVidia card. I would expect games wouldn't run as easily on a different distro or on a heavily customized Ubuntu. The Linux ecosystem is HUGE. I suppose that's why they are making SteamOS, so they can focus on one smaller part of this large landscape.

I use xubuntu with xmonad window manager and it works fine with a tweak (same tweak for fullscreen flash videos though).

I'm running Kubuntu with KDE, but fullscreen flash videos are also very bugged, how did you fix them?

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#87

Post by tankenmate »

rplnt wrote: post #84
crdoconnor wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Linux desktop will come when Microsoft loses its leverage over hardware manufacturers and they start to preinstall linux and stop putting up barriers to adoption (e.g. remove windows -> lose warranty). It's already better than the windows desktop (xubuntu anyway, not unity, however). The barriers to uptake are no longer technical and haven't been for some years. It's all market + legal now.

> It's all market + legal now. And investing in re-schooling people to the new system and applications (Office suite would be probably the most notable one).

Retraining people to use LibreOffice (or OpenOffice) from Office 2007 is cheaper than training them to use Office 2013; the interfaces are almost identical. The municipality of Munich has proved this conclusively with their big roll out.

The only true bugbear is porting Excel spreadsheets with VBA macros.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#88

Post by crdoconnor »

rplnt wrote: post #84
crdoconnor wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Linux desktop will come when Microsoft loses its leverage over hardware manufacturers and they start to preinstall linux and stop putting up barriers to adoption (e.g. remove windows -> lose warranty). It's already better than the windows desktop (xubuntu anyway, not unity, however). The barriers to uptake are no longer technical and haven't been for some years. It's all market + legal now.

> It's all market + legal now. And investing in re-schooling people to the new system and applications (Office suite would be probably the most notable one).

Office is now easy to use on linux thanks to wine and crossover.

Everything else works pretty much the same anyhow. There's a minor learning curve for learning how to install software. That's about it.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#89

Post by EliRivers »

rplnt wrote: post #84
crdoconnor wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Linux desktop will come when Microsoft loses its leverage over hardware manufacturers and they start to preinstall linux and stop putting up barriers to adoption (e.g. remove windows -> lose warranty). It's already better than the windows desktop (xubuntu anyway, not unity, however). The barriers to uptake are no longer technical and haven't been for some years. It's all market + legal now.

> It's all market + legal now. And investing in re-schooling people to the new system and applications (Office suite would be probably the most notable one).

A bit off-topic, I haven't been able to use a version of Office since they brought that ribbon thing in and moved the "Properties" menu option that used to be under "File". What year was that? 2003?

I recall spending ages trying to figure out where on the hard drive the file actually was without having to go via "Save As" (used to be File->Properties, and there it is). I'm sure it's trivially easy, but that interface change effectively made Office a whole new program to learn for me, with the predictable result that since I now had to relearn how to use it, it was on a level playing field with other tools - one of which I switched to. While I'm only one data point, making me relearn the interface meant Office suddenly had to actually compete again.

I also struggle to use any version of Windows beyond XP. I am a total cluster on Win 8 and it's quicker for me to find someone who can use it and get them to do it for me. The older I get, the more sure I becomes that there is no such thing as an intuitive interface; only convention.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#90

Post by hrkristian »

yeukhon wrote: post #70
codygman wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux -> Mac ports and vice versa will be much easier than Windows -> Mac ports so you might be in luck!

I wonder how much work they have to do to support retina.

Retina is just Apple's marketing term for high-density display, and is something that's been common in PC gaming for a decade.

Before the age of LCD my monitor had a whopping 1920x1440 res, many gamers opt into similarly high (16:9) resolutions now.

The higher pixel density isn't necessarily a plus, though. I find 1080p does just fine for everything and want my gpu to be able to render with AA, anisotropic filtering (check out Skyrim with and without AF), and other details. There is a constant tradeoffs in an industry where software demands much more than hardware can supply.

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