Check out our Monthly Survey Page to see what our users are running.
Latest Comments by Salvatos
Embrace, extend, and protect? Microsoft joins the Open Invention Network to 'protect Linux and open source'
11 October 2018 at 4:17 am UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: Purple Library GuyUrgh, tell me about it. At my library we got a new system for all our info, and it's in the bloody cloud. So where it used to be if we checked out a book the reaction was instant, because the database was in the buiding, now there's a couple seconds lag on every single action because we're in Vancouver and the server is in bloody Toronto. It's also browser based, and the people who wrote it cunningly set it up so that if you open a new tab to do two things at once with it, your actions on the two tabs write to both or something so it corrupts your data. So we can't do that. And it breaks if you use browser controls like the reload or back button, you have to use their little "back" control instead, which varies its position depending how the browser is laying out the page. Has all the disadvantages of a web app but few of the advantages. But, you know, web apps and the cloud are fashionable. Gah.
One agency I translate for uses a Web-based translation interface. It's great because I don't need to pay hundreds for a license to a proprietary program that only runs on Windows. It sucks because for three hours today I couldn't get any work done while the server constantly threw up 502s or logged me out of my session. And I can't ever have two files opened at once in different tabs or computers because oh boy that is way beyond the Cloud's capabilities apparently.

Embrace, extend, and protect? Microsoft joins the Open Invention Network to 'protect Linux and open source'
10 October 2018 at 10:26 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: x_wing
Quoting: SalvatosMan if Windows becomes a Linux distro it's going to become tricky telling people they should switch to Linux.

My only concern would be that they start saying: "Linux was difficult, but Microsoft made it easy".
I'm already cringing

Embrace, extend, and protect? Microsoft joins the Open Invention Network to 'protect Linux and open source'
10 October 2018 at 9:34 pm UTC Likes: 5

Quoting: GuestI expect them to turn Windows into a Linux distro + proprietary libraries/API/DE at some point. It will be cheaper for them to maintain, will be able to enter most markets Windows can't enter/dominate now, like mobiles/servers, and will still allow them to be top dog, assuming they create a good and polished Linux based desktop OS and make linux-compatible versions of their stuff like Office...
Man if Windows becomes a Linux distro it's going to become tricky telling people they should switch to Linux.

According to Kotaku, Microsoft is close to buying Obsidian
10 October 2018 at 2:29 am UTC

Quoting: 14I feel like it's more important to buy any remaining Obsidian games on my wish list DRM-free. *walks over to GOG*
Good point. I have yet to buy and play anything past the first PoE base game, but when I do GOG might be a safer option, if this comes to pass.

The Steam Play whitelist just had a large update including The Witness and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
8 October 2018 at 9:34 pm UTC Likes: 1

While I agree that a bigger list makes it more attractive, if Valve need to provide support themselves for any title they endorse through Proton, I understand that they want to be damn sure a game works before they add it. As for crowdsourcing, your post got me to think that they do already have some data points that they can leverage to guide their picks of which games to consider endorsing next: they know who plays what through Proton and for how long. Even without looking at SPCR's list themselves, they could very well see those numbers and think that if thousands of people have been playing a given game through Proton consistenly for the past 2 weeks for more than a few minutes at a time, that game is probably at least playable on a number of configurations. And those that get the most playtime are likely to be the most attractive to prospective Linux converts and therefore warrant the exposure and commitment of the whitelist.

(That said, I still can't imagine that something like that led to Commander Keen making it onto the list at this stage :P )

The Steam Play whitelist just had a large update including The Witness and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
8 October 2018 at 5:38 pm UTC Likes: 1

That was to be expected. If Valve don't have the workforce to vet every game that is added to the store in the first place, they certainly won't pay an army to retroactively test everything on even one "standard" Linux configuration. I'll be surprised if we get more than a handful of additions to the list per month. That's why I'm curious to know how they choose which games to vet first, and why I was surprised to see something like Commander Keen there.

The Steam Play whitelist just had a large update including The Witness and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
7 October 2018 at 5:37 pm UTC

Quoting: g000hI'm a long term Debian user, and I use it properly... i.e. I install the packages from the regular repositories so that my system doesn't get messed up. I have tried backports and all sorts of things in the past, but generally find that forcing a later graphics driver onto the system ends up borking it.
I'm kind of in the same boat. I'm on Mint, but it's only offering me 340.107 and 390.48 so I'd rather stick to that. Didn't someone say that the newer drivers were only necessary for Vulkan games anyway, or something along those lines?

The Steam Play whitelist just had a large update including The Witness and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
6 October 2018 at 1:10 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: SadL
Quoting: hardpenguinOne of the most notable titles on the list is Spelunky :) And Stick Fight The Game as well!
I was going to say "Commander Keen" instead..but that would make me feel really old..

..oh too late..darn it!
Did a double take when I saw that! I never did finish that game... Don't think I would have the patience for it now :P

Monkey Island™ 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge™ is the first game on the whitelist that's in my library. Pretty excited for that, I was really happy with how they remastered the games.

Linux market share on Steam now at a 16 month high after a rounding error was fixed
6 October 2018 at 12:55 pm UTC

Quoting: GuestI set my OS to French without thinking a lot about it but i sometimes wish i had not. (Well, it sets your keyboard automatically).
Can't you just change it now?

Quoting: GuestNow why would someone set the system and every application to English instead of their native language? For me it’s because the translations always suck and it’s easier to understand things in English (it’s also true under Windows btw).
I did mean to ask about Steam specifically since that is the part that would influence the survey :) I can see plenty of reasons to set the OS to English. The few times I saw Steam's French interface, it seemed very well translated. Which is surprising, in retrospect, since I think I remember them crowdsourcing their translations to volunteers.

Quoting: GuestProbably some game with a bad French translation insisted on using the same language as Steam?
Ah, that issue sounds familiar, yes. I think Hand of Fate did that at launch, but with the system language. Maybe it was a different game, but I distinctly remember something giving me no reasonable way to set the language.

Though again, I don't think any of that would differentiate Linux from Windows use cases and skew the survey.

Linux market share on Steam now at a 16 month high after a rounding error was fixed
5 October 2018 at 6:51 pm UTC

Is there a reason Linux users would be more likely than Windows users to use Steam in English rather than their own language?