Quoting: EikeI don't want to predict, nor did I say so.

That's what fitting the data to a curve is.

I want to describe what has happened.

That's what the trend line does.

Which you already know because of your super statistical analysis skills, obviously.

Should you wish to examine the positive trend line for any range of the data, you already can. Slapping an arbitrary curve onto the data is pure fappery.

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Quoting: EikeI'm open to learning.

No, you aren't. You just don't like being told that your chuffing stupid idea is chuffing stupid.

You can fit those data points to an exponential curve. You can fit those points to a polynomial curve. You can fit those points to a sinusoidal curve. Absolutely none of those curves provide a model that has any predictive power to define the relationship between the date and what proportion of Steam users will be sampled using Linux, nor the proportion that would be sampled using Mac or Windows. It's just pointless fappery.

The trend is upwards, just like it's upwards for Windows and downwards for Mac. As shown by the trend line.

Were your statistical analysis skills as great as you claim, you would already know all of this; which would make suggesting such fappery even more chuffing stupid.

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Quoting: EikeIn my humble opinion, everybody with a bit of a mathematical heart should feel their toe nails roll up on the graphics.

It's a shame that you don't understand the concept of a trend line, but I'm not your statistics teacher.

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Quoting: EikeWhy do you think so?

Because it is.

As to why it is worse, fitting a curve is explicitly enforcing a particular model on the data. There is no model here; it is simply a record of sampled users over time. Curve-fitting would be wildly inappropriate.

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Quoting: HighballI'm fine with the way it is. But it would be interesting to see a graph that sort of starts when the Steam Deck was released.

You can already do that. Liam's graph lets you pick any start or end point from the dataset.

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Quoting: EikeIt fails to demonstrate the actual trend from 2018 to mid-2021 as well as in 2023.

The actual trend is that the number is going up over time. The trend line demonstrates that perfectly.

Is there any reason not to look for a better representation than this?

Arbitrary curve-fitting is not better in any way - it is much worse.

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Quoting: EikeBecause the linear approximation systematically overestimates all of the oldest points and underestimates all of the youngest points (except a single one we would attribute to some measurement error, probably located in the far east). The line doesn't fit, and this not in a "jumpy" way (as to be to be expected), but in a systematical way. The curve to be approximated isn't linear, at least not over the whole time.

So we could either try two linear curves, or some curve with a slope (slightly) increasing over time.

It's not a fit to a curve. It's not supposed to be a fit to a curve, and it's not trying to be a fit to a curve. It's a trend line: a line which demonstrates the trend over time.

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So if it's coming to PlayStation in 2025 and coming to PC a bit afterwards - 2026, say - that's... just in time to be an early release for the Steam Deck 2.

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Quoting: Purple Library GuyWait, "Naked Snake"? I had no idea Metal Gear Solid 3 was a porn title! :tongue:

Really? Solid Snake? Snake Eater? And that's what tipped you off?

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Quoting: Mountain ManThere are different kinds of music licenses. The most expensive one grants rights in perpetuity, which is typically the license purchased by television and movie studios. Or they might cut a deal with the artist (or more likely the record label) to pay a small royalty on every sale.

While video games are popular, they do not generate anywhere near the revenue of a top movie or television studio, so game studios tend to have less clout when negotiating music licensing deals

Games publishers absolutely have the revenue to buy perpetual licences. But whereas film and TV studios want to be able to license their products for re-distribution and syndication - which is much easier to do with clear upstream licensing - game publishers would much rather not have sales of their old titles competing with sales of their new titles. So films/TV get the perpetual licence and games get the marginally cheaper temporary licence.

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