Quoting: mphuZ

Quoting: LightkeyI think you are mixing up SteamOS with Steam SDK.

No. Runtime did not appear immediately and a lot depended on the distribution itself.

I do agree with you about this--SteamOS provided a sort of reference for game developers, and indeed other distros, a target that said "If I target this, most people should be able to run my games" or, on the distro side, "If I do it like this, games should run."

But you perceive that this did not in any way depend on the quality of SteamOS as a distro. It just had to exist. And I've never really heard that SteamOS 1&2 were all that great to actually use.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: TodC

Quoting: GuestI think the FSF has a good page explaining free software (and another how "open source" is not equivalent): FSF page [External Link]

It isn't a very good explanation -- very long winded. To shorten it: basically "free" software means 1) you can run it how and why you want, 2) study and change it how you want, 3) distribute copies how you want, and 4) distribute modified copies how you want.

With "open source" software, the only real requirement is that the source be publicly available. The open source developer might choose a "free" license, or a "proprietary" license, or something in-between (like a no-paid commercial sales license).

That is indeed shorter, but it's not accurate. I'm more of a "free software" guy than an "open source" guy, but even I admit that the Open Source Definition is a lot more stringent than that.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

They say their customers are "ecstatic with the results". Either they're exaggerating a tiny wee bit, or we have adult game developers jumping around with glee and going "OH! Oh yeah! So goood!!!" over some scheme to encumber the hats they sell with DRM.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: mphuZ

Quoting: michaldybczakWe already have community OSes like Chimera OS....

Somethin' I really don't need. All these systems "from the community" had decades to gain a foothold. None of them met expectations.

SteamOS isn't growing fast because it "meets expectations", it's growing fast because it "has a hardware platform it comes preinstalled on". Much like Pop!OS. It's big-selling hardware with Linux preinstalled that we've been really needing, not Linux distros with some sort of corporate "royal jelly".

Plenty of "community" type distros are very good. I personally am very fond of Mint. As to Chimera, previously known as GamerOS, I haven't tried it but lots of people speak highly of it, and as far as I can tell there are nifty things it does that SteamOS doesn't. Well, and things SteamOS does that GamerOS doesn't, to be sure--but if neither of them had their own hardware platform, I'm not convinced that there would be huge grounds to prefer one over the other.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Mountain ManGreat for Valve and the Steam Deck, but what does it really mean for Linux? It reminds me of the Android situation, where everybody who has an Android phone in their pocket is technically using Linux, but that in and of itself does nothing to advance the cause for Linux.

I think there is a pretty simple, key distinction here: Programs written to run on Android will not run on desktop Linux. But programs written to run on SteamOS, or for that matter programs SteamOS arranges to run even though they were written for Windows, do.
So. Improving the software ecosystem for Android does not improve it for Linux, but improving the software ecosystem for SteamOS does.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: nocriAccording to the trend line in the plot, linux will hit 50% of the market share sometime in June of 2500. I need to make memo for my grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand children to check this out :)

Well, yes, but now that Valve have "more than doubled" production of Steam Decks, the trend line should improve; we could hit 50% by only around 2260! :woot:

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: GuestI always knew I didn't play main games...Stellaris is the only game on the list I own/play and plan to ever play on that list.

I actually find it rather gratifying that Stellaris is that popular.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: jens(they could have made Proton completely closed, but decided to go 100% Open Source!).

It's based on wine. So no, they could not have kept it closed. So please don't make an essential requirement look like they did a great thing.

It needs Wine to work, but Proton itself is a separate thing, and Wine is LGPL not GPL, so there's nothing to stop someone from attaching Wine to a closed module. Sooo, yes, they could have kept Proton closed.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: denyasisI'm a little sad GOG is struggling, but their business model failed and they seem to be struggling with what to do next.

Which is a problem when your business model is to be the anti-Steam and in the process, Steam becomes a near Monopoly.

I'm the end, turns out people are really more ok with DRM and a nice, albeit mandatory, client than they bet on.

How do you retake market space without alienating uses that bought in on those founding principles?

Perhaps the bigger problem is that they had principles in the first place.

I think you're making an unwarranted assumption. I don't think the principles involved hurt them. Certainly not around here, where everyone basically says "I like their principles, if only they didn't suck in other ways". The Linux crowd is perhaps unusual there, but I think GoG's problem is that while their no-DRM idea was good and by and large helped them, it wasn't enough to beat a competitor which was superior in some other ways and had big network effects.

It may be that GoG tried to grow too big. Sometimes you have a small but profitable business, you decide to expand, you spend a bunch of money to expand, and it turns out the additional revenue isn't enough to make up for all the new expenses.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: randyl

Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: GuestDepends on your definition of care. They might care, but can't justify, which is a wildly different scenario than simply not caring.

I think one could have serious and interesting philosophical discussions about whether those two things are actually wildly different.

I think of it like the Trolley Dilemma.

About which one can also have serious and interesting philosophical discussions. :grin:

View this comment - View article - View full comments