I have my doubts, but I do hope this acquisition tries to fix some of the culture at Activision-Blizzard, from all of the reports of mass layoffs and underpaid workers, it does not sound like a pleasant place to work.

Transactions like $68.7 billion dollars to buy companies??? If even a small fraction of that went back to the open-souce projects that these corporations rely upon, what a world we would live in.

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These articles are fantastic, thank you always Hamish, they are a really good look at a history of Linux that I am not super familiar with.

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Fantastic news, this was an amazing title to play in co-op and very happy indeed to see a Linux port on GOG is coming. Absolutely brilliant.

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Pop!_OS for me is right now my premium experience on Linux. I feel so productive due to the pre-configured shortcut system, being able to quickly search for and open applications and Pop Shell making window management so easy.

I've used multiple distributions including Arch, openSUSE, MX Linux and more with various desktop environments and window managers, but Pop!_OS just feels great. I am really looking forward to when they release their own DE.

To everyone at System76, keep up the great work.

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Cheers for letting us know Liam, added!

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I am a huge supporter of DRM-Free games, movies and software and only currently buy from GOG because of that.

I bought multiple games from Steam in the past, but upon realising that you are only buying a licence and that even backing up the games still requires Steam and an infrequent connection to Steam's servers to play them, kind of put me off from Steam (I realise some games are DRM-Free on Steam, but getting some of them to run is a real faff). I need to have the option to download and backup the games I own to a local drive.

Not to be dismissive of Valve, I am very grateful for the upstream contributions they have made to the Linux Kernel, the WINE Project, MESA development and more - I hope that continues. If Valve made the switch and removed the majority of DRM on their games, I would only buy through Steam, to be sure of that.

Currently, I donate the money I would use to buy some games to the WINE Project itself and any other Linux distro/open source software that I use. In my opinion, they need the money more than an $8 billion dollar corporation like Valve.

Back to GOG though:

GOG/CD Projekt Red, I really hope the following gets addressed (for your sake if nothing else):

- GOG Galaxy Linux Client - I find it very difficult to believe that after years of selling Linux versions of games on GOG, that we still don't have a Linux client. While the website interface is usable enough, it is painful trying to download games unless you use a client like Lutris or MiniGalaxy.

- Contributions to Linux upstream - I feel that GOG would get a lot more credibility, certainly in the Linux community (just look at what Valve has done), if they used some of their clearly talented staff to contribute upstream to projects that use/connect to GOG or its games (like the WINE Project).

- Better Regional Pricing - More currencies need to be supported on GOG, I currently have to buy my games in dollars (with whatever exchange rate I am given).

Aside from that, the store and my library is easy enough to navigate and as I mentioned before, DRM-Free is the way to go in my opinion.

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A new Linux user on KDE will much more likely be using the KDE Discover store to manage their software, as opposed to the terminal. From that standpoint, I can see why they implemented the change, so as to not brick their system.

However, for Linux power users who may be using the Discover Store, I can also see why this change is vexing. It is just another blocker; they know about the risks and what will happen to their system.

I think the best way forward is to do what Linux does best: choice. Add an option to the Discover Store that says "I know what I'm doing to my system, please don't bother me" and that keeps both newer and more experienced users happy.

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I'm always happy to see more RTS games come out, bring them on!

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Thanks for the link to the PDF Liam, I had a read through it and all I can hope for is that they win in court. More projects like this need to thrive and they are unable to due to potential litigation from corporations.
I applaud them for standing up to Take Two.

If they require donations for their legal fees, I'll certainly be adding money to the pot.

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I politely disagree with the APT developers on this change. In my opinion, a new user to Linux coming from Windows wouldn't be in the terminal in the first place and even if they do have to use the terminal for something, the warnings in the output clearly stated:

WARNING: The following essential packages will be removed.
This should NOT be done unless you know exactly what you are doing!

Then at the bottom of the output:

You are about to do something potentially harmful.

With the user having to type "Yes, do as I say", so even accidentally entering the "Y" key will not execute the command.

Therefore, APT has done everything it can to inform the user that a major change will occur in their system. The impetus is now on the user. Like with anything in life, you should read and understand something to the best of your ability before accepting the terms and conditions.

I think the focus should be on guiding a new user to the appropriate documentation/resources, so they can learn why if they enter "Yes, do as I say", it could break their system.

Regardless of size, making changes to the wider ecosystem of Linux due to any YouTuber or "influencer" reaction, is not the direction we want to be going in. I hope this change by the APT devs can be reverted, but the decision is ultimately theirs of course.

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