The latest Steam Hardware Survey shows Linux market-share has declined again

What I always ask myself concerning linux: I have used it for many years now and I'm really satisfied, since it's very customizable and I like open-source software very much. But why is it actually said to be more safe and privacy focussed than for example windows? An argument that often comes up is that there are fewer viruses for linux going around than for windows since we have much less users. I mean, yeah that's true but as I have heard the majority of servers run GNU/Linux distros and to me they seem as much a juicy target for a hacker as a personal computer.

So what is it that makes linux distros actually more safe than windows and if it is the case that the answer is: 'there are much fewer linux users than windows users', shouldn't we be happy about being unpopular? :D

Quoting: legluondunetAnd what about the linux game sales on GOG?

GoG from CD Project RED is a weird one. They started in a very positive way, The Witcher 2 was announced for Linux, and they pushed much on the retro gaming for linux. Then they announced The Witcher 3 for linux and quickly backed out from that (after being the pushing force for Steam Machine - on the main page of Steam STORE).

Since then nothing big. No more announcements, no GOG galaxy for Linux; suddenly CDProgectRED forgot about linux.

STEAM has done something similar, still promoting Linux games but if I am not too wrong, they even hinted on having a STUDIO for porting games 1:1 from windows to Linux. It can be possible as part of the agreement with Valve, when the Software House decides to put its game on Steam.

I have not seen anything of the sort. Steam and VALVE are so money centred that it will never happen! They started with good intentions and I bet that Steam Machines producers feel betrayed by this lack of support. Notice how many of these Steam Machines have not been in production anymore. Smart decision I would say, and VALVE suddenly stop talking about them. Just like they have done with HALF-LIFE 3. That is the policy and bad manners of big profit focused companies!

SHAME ON THEM!

Quoting: appetrosyanAnd in all fairness, Carmack was right.

QuoteLinux is unsuitable for business. Maybe as a development environment, but not as a target. But if I were to push for games on Linux, I'd focus on such projects as Wine

I've been saying this for a while now.

Currently, native ports are merely a form of philanthropic advocacy coming directly from the developers -- we'll never see them come from a company that doesn't already believe in Linux. Even Feral, Aspyr et al would be better off financially if they refocused as consultants on engine rework and console-to-Windows ports, but they believe in a higher calling. This small minority can't give us much-needed momentum -- they barely keep us on the map.

We can't ignore Wine. We NEED Wine. I would've never started WineOpenVR if native ports alone would get us anywhere.

Linux adoption due to Wine maturing will lead to developers officially supporting it. Wine itself, being a huge complex wrapper, is a support liability, but initially is worth it because of this minority fanbase and the minimal development work required. Inevitably, there will come a breaking point where their Linux fanbase is large enough for a native port to be worth saving them the headaches. That's the endgame -- Wine popularity fostering native ports and an industry-wide strong preference for crossplatform middleware. That's how we win.

Quoting: Mountain ManThose of us who were already vested in Linux are thrilled with the improved game support we've seen over the past several years, but Valve has done an exceptionally poor job making the argument that anybody else should prefer Linux as a gaming platform.

Because it's a hopeless argument in the first place. They realized that the hard way, and have refocused their efforts on changing that. They haven't abandoned Linux -- their heavy investment in Mesa development and improving SteamVR on Linux is testament to that.


Last edited by roothorick on 3 October 2017 at 10:01 pm UTC

Its a evolving platform that keeps getting better for games and developers. Once MESA (DC) and RADV are concrete then things will start looking up I think, which from what I hear could happen by 4.15-4.16 official kernel release.

Personally I'm pretty happy with the latest KDE Plasma desktop, it seems to be a gem imo, gnome derivatives are extremely experimental and often have LOTS of features removed or hidden in a 'wall of text in editor' type of way to accessing them (MATE/XFCE).

Just give me the GUI complete desktop customization options, don't force me to remember/find/guess text edit hacks... (or download 50 plugins to do basic modifications!)


Last edited by TheRiddick on 4 October 2017 at 1:30 am UTC

Quoting: roothorick

Quoting: appetrosyanAnd in all fairness, Carmack was right.

QuoteLinux is unsuitable for business. Maybe as a development environment, but not as a target. But if I were to push for games on Linux, I'd focus on such projects as Wine

I've been saying this for a while now.

A lot of what Carmack says about Linux comes from a fundamental (and very common) misunderstanding of what Linux is and what its free and open source nature actually implies. Experts kept saying the same about Linux in the server space for years, and look what happened. Open source software and closed source software simply do not play by the same rules, and their success can't be measured by the same standards. The biggest obstacle Linux has ever faced is nothing technical. It's corporate and cultural inertia.

Wine is a wonderful piece of software, but not a real solution to this particular problem. It provides a means for developers to relatively quickly and painlessly publish ports of their Windows games, or for gamers on other platforms to play them. But that's all it is and will ever be IMHO. Intermediate porting layers and wrappers won't solve the bigger challenges. Gamers won't switch to a different platform just because it's available.

But I guess time will tell. For me personally this makes very little difference. I love gaming, but wouldn't consider doing it on a closed operating system or a console.

Quoting: tuubiWine is a wonderful piece of software, but not a real solution to this particular problem. It provides a means for developers to relatively quickly and painlessly publish ports of their Windows games, or for gamers on other platforms to play them. But that's all it is and will ever be IMHO. Intermediate porting layers and wrappers won't solve the bigger challenges. Gamers won't switch to a different platform just because it's available.

Linux needs to be the better option. For the consumer, having a thousandth the content available eclipses any advantage Linux could possibly achieve. You have a better idea for solving that problem?

Quoting: roothorickLinux needs to be the better option. For the consumer, having a thousandth the content available eclipses any advantage Linux could possibly achieve. You have a better idea for solving that problem?

I don't have any better ideas, I just don't think yours solves anything either. We don't have to support everything Windows does anyway. We just need a decent catalogue of games people actually want to play. Wine or emulators are just fine for playing the oldies.

In any case, the way MS has been going from one bad decision to the next lately, they might just do the work for us and push gamers away at some point. The camel's back will only bend so far before it snaps. Let's just do our part and be ready to welcome the refugees. :)

I think the best way to support Linux gaming is the modding community, even with only 0.6% of the gamers using Linux. I would expect the percentage for developers that could provide mods (and therefore increase the sales on all platforms) is much higher.

I see many have an idea of people flocking to Linux if only this or that technical obstacle is passed.
Sorry guys, but very few will swap to Linux unless gaming becomes BETTER on Linux. Better, not just nearly as good.

PC Platform is about more than just games. It's about habits, knowledge, familiarity, a lot of things that are hard to break. And the vast majority will not break those habits unless the alternative is BETTER.

This is why a Linux console is such a tempting solution: Console owners don't care about the underlaying os. A good, competitive, properly marketed console would be our best bet.

But vulkan or this or that alone will not do much with the market share. It will only make things better for us that's already Linux gamers.

Quoting: BeamboomI see many have an idea of people flocking to Linux if only this or that technical obstacle is passed.
Sorry guys, but very few will swap to Linux unless gaming becomes BETTER on Linux. Better, not just nearly as good.

PC Platform is about more than just games. It's about habits, knowledge, familiarity, a lot of things that are hard to break. And the vast majority will not break those habits unless the alternative is BETTER.

This is why a Linux console is such a tempting solution: Console owners don't care about the underlaying os. A good, competitive, properly marketed console would be our best bet.

But vulkan or this or that alone will not do much with the market share. It will only make things better for us that's already Linux gamers.

Ya know, I read your words and remember some words from one Japanese book I had read: if you wanna sell your product on already matured market, you should be about 30% better and about 30% cheaper.
In terms of costs there are problem: Linux are free. But time is not free, and each one of us valued his time. For example, I need 1 hour to solve something on my Windows PC. So, it's costs me 1h. But on Linux, it's could be from 3h to infinity hours (unsolved problem). And what's bad: you spent time (a few hours, may a dozen), before you kneel before the problem. You're already spent much more time and earn nothing, you're still have the problem. On Windows, you can call any service in your town and they will solve it for mere $10 in remote mode... Could you do the same with some distro? Nope. You will bury yourself on forums, typing strange commands in console, they will not work, because your drivers are different, your Kernel are different, your version of Wine are different or whatsever else are different from situation in the forums or you even will break your PC to console safemode (and good luck to use Links or Lynks to Google problem and to try to solve it).
No-no-no. It's still not for human beings. And there are no service for humans as well.
And, IMO, poor selection of games is not the biggest problem (though poor quality ports it is a problem).

I see next advantages of Linux: security much better than spherical Windows with free AV software, and distros are respect you (most of them does). Microsoft doesn't respect you and in terms of security it's just a colander.


Last edited by Areso on 4 October 2017 at 9:24 pm UTC