Quoting: elmapul

Quoting: ArdjeThese days any windows server release still can not do network wise what any linux system could already do 25 years ago.

can you be more specific?
it lack support for some api/protocol?

E.g Linux can out of the box perform much more advanced routing than dedicated enterprise routers, now the performance might not be the same since Linux have to use the cpu and the routers uses dedicated hw but this one area where Windows isn't even close.

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Quoting: scaine

Quoting: KlaasSo that will lead to native Ubisoft Connect… right? That's something that I've always wanted.

To be honest, I'm not sure this will lead to native anything. I think all they're trying to do here is make their stuff run better on the Deck.

That and Amazons streaming platform and they are also most likely planning ahead in case any one else is going to introduce a new Stadia and they want to be ready when that happens (and knows full well that such a platform will be Linux based).

They could also be interested in having at least internal Linux builds ready for that one day in the future when there might be a market for it (just how ID had a native Linux version of Doom inhouse).

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Quoting: Eike

Quoting: F.Ultra

Quoting: EikeBut by the way, if they want to higher 1 (one) Linux developer, and they want to port the game, wouldn't the job description contain knowledge in some Linux graphics API? Or do they already have some of those?

The graphics API part is a different job : https://gamejobs.co/3D-Graphics-Programmer-Snowdrop-at-Ubisoft-3802 [External Link]

Intimately familiar with various graphics APIs (DirectX 11/12, OpenGL, Vulkan) and associated shader languages

But wouldn't I want to have someone knowing Linux and OpenGL/Vulkan?

Not necessarily, game engines like this are huge pieces of software so you might be working on making it work better on say the Switch without ever having to touch the graphics part of the system at all. Or you might work on Vulkan and never once touch parts of the engine that have anything to do with which platform it runs on.

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Quoting: Eike

Quoting: scaine

Quoting: GuestSo they are trying to hire a developer without being even clear about the job?
It seems more like a promotional thing than a job opportunity.

What's unclear? The careers website and the job description look pretty bog standard to me.

Right. Even if they want to try to make the game for Linux, they would not publicise it yet, and they don't need to for a job offer.

But by the way, if they want to higher 1 (one) Linux developer, and they want to port the game, wouldn't the job description contain knowledge in some Linux graphics API? Or do they already have some of those?

The graphics API part is a different job : https://gamejobs.co/3D-Graphics-Programmer-Snowdrop-at-Ubisoft-3802 [External Link]

Intimately familiar with various graphics APIs (DirectX 11/12, OpenGL, Vulkan) and associated shader languages

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Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: scainePretty sure that if you risk being arrested for using a product, you tend to be fairly finicky about what that product (Steam in this case) is reporting to some global HQ. So I'm with Ultra on that point.

Well, but it's a global HQ, not a Chinese HQ. And how likely are they to report people for insisting on being their customer and making them profit?

Where your HQ is have zero meaning here, what counts is where you have your offices, where you employ people, where you have financial resources and where you do business. If any of those points exists within say China then China can (and so does many other countries including the US so I'm not singling out China here) put pressure on a company to follow the rules or they loose the rights to all those assets. And in China those rules are that you hand over data if the PRC asks for it just like how it works with the Patriot Act in the US (the main difference being that you have to present a warrant signed by a judge in the US AFAIK but don't take my word on it, I'm no lawyer nor do I play one on TV).

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Quoting: TheSHEEEPYou are just making stuff up here.
"For a few seconds"? Why would you assume that? Could easily be a lot longer.
I have no clue what time frame is needed for Steam to trigger that popup on your end, or under what conditions it fires, or if it is just random, or...

Could just be a "user X who was selected for survey has come online" trigger, which would be fine with even just some seconds...

The point OP made was "were able to connect for a short time" so I assumed that a short time was in the neighbourhood of seconds. Why? Because I also assume that the PRC keeps a very tight eye on their firewall and that such accidental unblocks are remedied ASAP. My main argument this point is that it sounded more like Steam was able to connect so Steam collected data, when there is a lot more that have to happen for the survey to be both received and sent, which includes the user having to click in a "I agree".

So yes I am making stuff up here, but no more and no less than either OP nor you. None of us sits on any facts, so this is all 100% speculation. I just find this point to be highly improbable.

Quoting: TheSHEEEPYes, absolutely.
You radically overestimate how much people care about stuff like that.
We are not talking about some (rightfully) paranoid dissenters, but just a gamer who wants to play a game.

Granted, I just somehow believe that people living under the watchful eye of their government and society does things with a bit more caution than you and me who lives under more or less total freedom (and even if our freedom isn't total there are a lot of people who live like it is without consequences while people in China most likely can see the consequences of people misbehaving).

In the end only Valve (and the PRC) knows, I just got the feeling from OP that this is telemetry that Valve collects just by being connected while it does require a manual step to send in the survey and one can opt out of it completely as well.

The most likely scenario to me is that it is the very same that happened last time, aka that this is Internet Cafe data, people using a rented machine at such a Cafe would have no problems from any of my above mentioned reasons to just click OK on whatever they get since it is not their machine.

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Quoting: elmapul

Quoting: 04ELYNo way Valve and Linux scared Microsoft to put effort, we're going good! :grin:

of course we do.
we kicked their butt in the server, super computer and mobile devices.
consoles are able to reach numbers as big as 150 millions devices and we are doing relatively good , especially if we use as reference the first xbox.

if other companies like google (chromebooks), amazon (luna) start beting on linux, then we will have big capital investing on us, so even if valve isnt the one to bring linux to the masses, if they show its possible others may follow and someone finally break windows monopoly.

valve is proving that is possible WITHOUT exclusives to break into that space, nowadays most of the games people want do work and people seems to be willing to compromise on the others or wait for then to work instead of dualboot/changing to windows on their deck.
not to mention the network effect that is starting to get shappe on everything related, all techs related to gaming like wine,dxvk, drivers, anti cheat, lutris are evolving on our ecosystem faster than ever, if microsoft dont manage to desacelerate it, they might get into serious trouble.

imagine an chromebook with full integration with your phone (transfer calls etc), full support for android apps and the same compatibility of windows games/softwares that steamOS have + a few exclusive apps from google.
imagine luna using linux as their main system instead of windows, and maybe even geforce now with nvidia having an reason to put linux as their first class citizen at least on servers.
(amazon already is looking at techs like wine)

on linux already have more games than any console ever had (counting only verified+playble) more than mac (if we include native+verified+playable), the only pc platform with more games is windows, it also still get more games per day than we do, but that can change.
as for mobile, its another niche but some gamers play both including android emulation for pc and if we count mobile games, then the number skyrockt for an ridiculous high number!
even non steam games are becoming easier than ever to install, im starting to get hope again!

Well to be fair they where never big in either servers or supercomputers. So it was not so much us kicking them out as we simply kept them out so to speak. Mobile devices was a whole other story though. AFAIK the Steam Deck have sold about 1M units which is nothing compared with the amount of Xbox series X that MS have sold so I don't think that they actually see it as any form of competition, at least not yet.

And then it also looks like this whole thing was just something that a single MS developer tried to sell in house and failed to do so.

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Quoting: TheSHEEEP

Quoting: F.Ultrayou have to agree to send it to Valve once it pops up and I have a hard time seeing anyone performing either of your points as thinking "yeah lets have Valve receive some telemetry".

You seriously think 99% of people care about their data being used?
:grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin:

You start Steam.
The popup about the survey comes up.
You click through it half-blind like you click through most popups of that style.
Done.

Ok so let's go over his 4 points:

#1: Steam proper got temporarily un-blocked by the Great Firewall for whatever reason, and all the people with Steam installed were able to connect for a short time. -- Since the survey have to be sent manually it would not be triggered by their computers accidentally being able to connect to steam for a few seconds.

#2: Some very popular game was released/updated on Steam, so a lot of Chinese people risked using a VPN to connect and download it. -- So people trying to fly under the radar of the Chinese Gouvernment would be perfectly fine with sending telemetry to a western company? and also not being 100% vigilant on what they click and agree to?

#3: Some game was released on Steam which was interpreted to be critical of the CCP, so a bunch of fake accounts got created to review-bomb and report the game for "hate speech". (As has happened before) -- Why would these people (who most likely are bots anyway) bother by also agreeing to the survey? AFAIK new accounts also don't get sent the survey in the first place.

4. Valve accidentally mixed in the stats from the PRC Steam version with the main Steam stats (again?) -- Ok so this one might be true since I don't even know what it would mean, to be completely fair I missed to read this one before my first comment.

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Quoting: elmapul

Quoting: gradyvuckovicI have some theories and opinions on why Linux isn't particular popular in non-English speaking countries.
.

as someone who the main language inst english , i can tell you why, at least one of the main reasons.

as you said, the documentation for us is lackuster, but there is something even worse.
i have an good english, im good at reading, writing, listening , the only issue i have is speaking, even then, i prefer to use an system on my native language, its more confortable.

if you try to use linux in an non english lang, and got any error message, you cant find almost any help online.

just think about it:
what distro are you using? ubuntu, fine, what version of it? 20.04, fine that is still quite popular, what hardware do you have? x cpu, y gpu, z ram etc... fine, that became quite nicher if its a problem specific to this hardware config, but someone else might have the same problem and posted the solution online, google search the error message in english on google and you will find tons of ansewers online, now, put you system in portuguese and wait for the error message to appear again, control c, control v the error message on google... you will find almost no result! or maybe you find someone that solved it in 2014 in another distro, you try their solution and it may seem to fix the issue but cause another one, and now your system is in an strange niche configuration that its unlikely that anyone else have it.
like you have an ubuntu 20.04 with an package intended for fedora from 2014 installed on it.

honestly,i think we need error codes in our system.
with an message like:
"error code 01 package not found"
you have 2 ways to search for the solution, try to google "package not found" and try to google "ubuntu error code 01"
if its in portuguese, you just have to know that the translation for "código de erro 01" is "error code 01". and you can find results even if they are in english.

if you had to translate "package not found" or any other specific term, then the different ways that an phrase can be translated could result in you searching for an error message that dont exist in english.

for example, recently firefox changed the way he calls the term "save file as" from "salvar arquivo como" to "guardar arquivo como" different translations like that may confuse people who cant find the error message in portuguese and manually try to translate it to english.

(btw: this guardar como is inconsistente, i tried now and it says "salvar" again for some reason)

Something that is of course a problem in any OS and/or application completely dependent upon the size of the community. I mean neither Windows nor macOS have any edge here other than a larger community and thus larger chance of some one else having written about the very same error in your language.

Thankfully it's possible in Linux to change the language temporarily in the console to English by "LANG=C command" and the GUI part can by switched by having English installed as a secondary locale and then at least in Gnome you got that language switcher on the right side of the menu bar.

edit: at least we don't have the same problem as Windows used to have back before Windows 7 (I think it was in 7 they fixed it) where you had C:\Program Files if you had an English locale and e.g C:\Program if you used say the Swedish locale.

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Quoting: RomlokGiven that Steam proper is blocked in mainland China [External Link], but AIUI many people there still use it because the local version of Steam has very few games, here's some hypotheses:

1. Steam proper got temporarily un-blocked by the Great Firewall for whatever reason, and all the people with Steam installed were able to connect for a short time.

2. Some very popular game was released/updated on Steam, so a lot of Chinese people risked using a VPN to connect and download it.

3. Some game was released on Steam which was interpreted to be critical of the CCP, so a bunch of fake accounts got created to review-bomb and report the game for "hate speech". (As has happened before)

4. Valve accidentally mixed in the stats from the PRC Steam version with the main Steam stats (again?)

The main issue with this theory is that the survey isn't automatic, you have to agree to send it to Valve once it pops up and I have a hard time seeing anyone performing either of your points as thinking "yeah lets have Valve receive some telemetry".

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