Quoting: qptain Nemo

Quoting: rustybroomhandleIf you told people that in order to continue running Windows they have to allow a Microsoft goon to bash their finger in with a hammer once a month, I suspect most people would still continue to run Windows. Except now they'd be typing slower with their bashed in finger.

While I agree completely with this degree of Stockholm syndrome being prevalent, I do think that if anything is going to dethrone Windows and shake people up it's Windows stopping being an open platform. Not everyone cares for sure, but I reckon a lot of people do, people who do any development, any serious gaming, just about anything past most casual usage. So I consider them pushing this lockdown not a potential disaster but a very very fortunate possibility. Nothing will show the naked emperor that is Windows for what it is like losing its vast library of "legacy" software and games. I really wish they do this.

I think, rather, that too many people have been conditioned by their cell phones and gaming consoles to accept the walled garden, and I suspect there will be a lot of "mom and pop" home users and even "hardcore" gamers who will breath a sigh of relief when this same "convenience" is finally introduced to their desktop computer. You're right, the power users and people who actually know how to use a command line will rebel, but we're a niche within a niche.

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Quoting: ObsidianBlkThe worst part... if it happens... will be Microsoft buying Valve. It seems this is currently under consideration by MS, and IF it happens, that will be the biggest blow to gaming on Linux. Steam will get integrated into the Windows store (and, eventually abandoned on Linux). Steam OS will most definitely be shelved. There will no longer be ANY promotion of Linux as a gaming platform from Value-MS. Sure, there will be some Linux-positive outliers for a time, but, without any BIG name promoting the platform in ANY way... poof.

If that ever happens, I will abandon PC gaming for good and become a lowly console peasant.

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Quoting: GuestAs the article notes, 10 S can be easily unlocked for free to 10 Home...

For now.

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Quoting: Patola

Quoting: Mountain Man

Obviously if Microsoft somehow convinced Gabe and co to sell up, Linux gaming would change significantly...

"Change significantly" is an understatement. It would cease to be. Microsoft would kill all support for Linux gaming and force all developers to support Windows exclusively.

And is that really believable? Lots of Steam users already bought lots of games (me included) and have the legal right to continue using the platform on their OS and have the game updates. If they just shut it down, it would likely involve them in a whole amount of legal trouble, if not a downright scandal. Adding an OS to Steam is easy, stopping supporting it when you're already in legal ties with its users is not.

Two important stipulations in the Steam subscriber agreement [External Link].

First:

"NEITHER VALVE NOR ITS AFFILIATES GUARANTEE CONTINUOUS, ERROR-FREE, VIRUS-FREE OR SECURE OPERATION AND ACCESS TO STEAM, THE CONTENT AND SERVICES, YOUR ACCOUNT AND/OR YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS(S) OR ANY INFORMATION AVAILABLE IN CONNECTION THEREWITH."

Second:

"Valve may cancel your Account or any particular Subscription(s) at any time in the event that (a) Valve ceases providing such Subscriptions to similarly situated Subscribers generally..."

If Microsoft acquired Steam, they would immediately invoke that second clause against Linux users (us being "similarly situated Subscribers generally" ) which would kill Linux gaming almost on the spot, unless somebody like GoG stepped in to fill the void, and they've been rather lukewarm towards Linux in general.

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Quoting: chepatiParadox is well aware of the issue but they couldn't care less about it.

Do they really not care? Or is it simply that there's no trivial solution? Remember, Crusader Kings II was released before 4K was even a viable option for PC gaming, and the Clausewitz engine at the time didn't support anything greater than 1080. The current version does, but porting Crusader Kings II to the latest version of Clausewitz would probably be a major undertaking.

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Obviously if Microsoft somehow convinced Gabe and co to sell up, Linux gaming would change significantly...

"Change significantly" is an understatement. It would cease to be. Microsoft would kill all support for Linux gaming and force all developers to support Windows exclusively.

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Quoting: WorMzyShutdown fixes are very welcome! KDE aborting my shutdown because of steam not shutting down sensibly is a big annoyance.

Yes. That has been bothering me for a long time.

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Just give us Skyrim already, man. Or how about a native port of Doom 2016. Of course both of those are Bethesda games, so we're probably still out of luck.

Oh, and the Batman Arkham series, or at least the first two, which are the best ones in the series anyway.

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Quoting: Eike

Quoting: Mountain Man

Quoting: Dunc...like Adams's Infocom adventures from the '80s, it's not really all that good.

Correct about Starship Titanic. Incorrect about the Infocom text adventures. They're excellent, that is if you enjoy text adventures. They can be a bit of an acquired taste if you weren't of game-playing age when they were among the best games on the market.

... but I'm not sure Douglas Adams' game was among the better Infocom games. Weren't you supposed to

Spoiler, click me

rescue something like a fly from a dog in the beginning, so you could survive in a miniaturized spaceship attacked by the dog in the end

? This was stupid even by eighties' standards...

By the way, googling for the time I found you can legally play it for free now:

http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/infocomjava.html [External Link] (Doesn't work for me.)
http://iplayif.com [External Link]

And by the way II: There are at least two new (professional) text adventures for Linux, Thaumistry and Hadean Lands.

Yes, some of the puzzles were not particularly intuitive, especially since Douglas Adams introduced the radical concept that the game could lie to you! But the Infocom games were still a much better showcase for Adams' talents than Starship Titanic.

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Quoting: Dunc...like Adams's Infocom adventures from the '80s, it's not really all that good.

Correct about Starship Titanic. Incorrect about the Infocom text adventures. They're excellent, that is if you enjoy text adventures. They can be a bit of an acquired taste if you weren't of game-playing age when they were among the best games on the market.

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