Quoting: "Bumadar, post: 5978, member: 93"Valve did not really care for Linux until Microsoft mentioned the App Store and the simple fact that only App Store programs are allowed on the (metro) UI and that App Store programs are not allowed to install software on windows 8

This isn't really the case, since porting work had been going on since before Metro, etc. were announced. I imagine it put a bit of pressure on though (whether through genuine dislike or through the opportunity it might provide for facilitating a stronger Linux launch (their customers who're loyal to Windows are locked into using Steam by their game libraries, so Valve have nothing to lose and lots to gain by publicly talking about how bad they think Windows 8 is/will be regardless of whether that's a true representation of Valve's internal attitudes).

Quoting: "Bumadar, post: 5978, member: 93"On another note, I mentioned this before, but what will happen to the Linux community when windows people will start using Linux because Steam brings out games for it, they will come into a totally different desktop experience and things not always run out of the box like they are used to, will the forums and the community be able to handle the comments/rants/expectations of all those new users ?

This is a question I've been posing for a while. I think the answer will be no. We're not prepared, and it's going to end up being pretty overwhelming, both from the perspective of the drop in median skill levels, but also from the influx of people who don't know or don't want to know about the Free Software movement. I have no idea whether it's going to end up leading to positive or negative community experiences, but it's definitely going to be fairly intense for the first 6 to 12 months.

I wrote [URL='http://cheesetalks.twolofbees.com/tf2.php']an article[/URL] last year when Team Fortress 2 went "free to play", looking at some of the negative behaviours that had emerged. I think a lot of parallels can be drawn between the situations (at least at this early stage), and I suspect we'll see some similar dynamics where older users will become concerned with the changes in dominant attitudes/behaviours, and newcomers will feel alienated by that. I just hope that everybody is rational enough that it doesn't get as out of hand as TF2 community did for the first 3 to 6 months.

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This is interesting. At the point that Interstellar Marines was put on Greenlight, I'm pretty sure Valve were recommending that only titles that were nearly ready for publishing should be submitted (now there's a separate category for games earlier in their concept/development phases). $600,000 seems a little farther behind than I expected this game to be.

Quoting: "motorsep, post: 5964, member: 154"The Kickstarter says "Planned for Steam". Did they get accepted after all ? Cos I see no confirmation anywhere :/

They were Greenlit in the last batch of titles. See [URL='http://steamcommunity.com/games/765/announcements/detail/1320937763755446194']here[/URL] (it also shows up in the [URL='http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/browse/?appid=765§ion=items&browsesort=pending&browsefilter=pending&p=1']list of Greenlit titles[/URL] on Greenlight...).

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It's worth noting that Receiver was originally made for the 7 Day FPS Challenge (and has only received minor updates since then). It's got some really interesting concepts and mechanics, but I suck at it tremendously :D

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If I were to guess, I'd say they're on the cusp of getting the beta out, and that's taking precedence.

I've been in a couple of projects where we've wanted to coordinate a lot of stuff with a release date, but that date slipping has caused other things to hang in limbo.

Since the beta is only going to be accessible to a tiny portion of Linux enthusiasts, too much beta news probably wouldn't be a good thing. That said, I'm surprised that there wasn't a corresponding blog entry talking about the survey - I guess they'll be continuing to ask people to fill out the survey after the initial limited beta has gone live.

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Actually, the Valve guys had said in comments on the recent blog post that they wanted as broad a selection of hardware and software configurations as they could get. Perhaps that'll work in your favour ^_^

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Quoting: "Qantourisc, post: 5937, member: 181"Me neither, but I assume you made a typo ? Otherwise I agree with your quote.

"if it's free: lot more work to develop, more bugs, and bigger code."
Free Software doesn't require more work, bigger codebases or encourage more bugs either.

Quoting: "Qantourisc, post: 5937, member: 181"And it's not that there are no open standards, is that they aren't used and people don't care. This hurts them, and it also hurts us (imo).

Yeah, definitely. A lack of awareness isn't healthy for anybody (that probably goes for everything though :D ).

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Quoting: "Qantourisc, post: 5930, member: 181"If B is commercial: increased cost; if it's free: lot more work to develop, more bugs, and bigger code.

Edit:
My main point is just, closed-source software is not nearly as bad, as the lack of open standards is bad.
I see more and more cloud applications that create more and more vendor lock-in.

Ah, I see. There are open standards in the spaces you were talking about though (some of which you mentioned). I don't agree that using open standards requires bigger codebases or encourages more bugs.
I agree that the lack of dominant open standards is not a good thing, but I don't feel that embracing proprietary software (or saying it's not so bad) is going to help overcome that.

Also, the beta survey page on the Valve site went live earlier :)

http://gamingonlinux.com/index.php?threads/steam-for-linux-beta-survey-is-live.1108/ [External Link]

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Quoting: "Qantourisc, post: 5921, member: 181"IMO Free software is over-rated. It's WAAAY more harmfull to build closed systems: closed file standards, protocols (Apple-talk, Skype, Cloud-sync services). While they could be using: Jabber, vcarddav, imap, scp, sftp, ...
This is holding back FOSS a LOT more. This also makes so you can't drop product A and replace it with a better product B because you'd tied to the closed standard.
It will also block and increase the cost of making product B, because it's less economical viable. And for FOSS people it's a LOT more work.

I'm not quite sure of what it is you're saying. Is B Free Software in this case? If so, why would costs of development be increased?

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Quoting: "Phillyreal, post: 5916"It means an opportunity for linux and it's distros to survive.

Are distros in danger of not surviving, though?

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I'm with KIAaze. I'd really like to see greater discussion and awareness of the implications of running non-free software on a Free OS. I'm comfortable running Steam and some other non-free software, but it's something I've put a lot of thought into, and I am massively wary of the number of new people who a) won't care about this stuff, and b) will actively be dismissive of/against the Free Software movement (we've always had them, but I suspect that following the launch of Steam, those people will outnumber those who do understand the value in Free Software, which has the potential to get unpleasant if the b) people get vocal).

I'm hopeful that rational, open, polite discussion can help create bridges of understanding between those that are passionate about the Free Software movement and those that aren't. It's sad that there's what seems to be aggressive behaviour from the existing community.

By the way, it seems that this Linux Beta Access group and the Steam For Linux "group" are the same thing.

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