Quoting: ShmerlWhat I wonder about, is whether exFAT and ActiveSync implementations can be used in Linux distros without patent threats from MS now.

No: http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2018/10/10/microsoft-oin-exfat.html [External Link]

Most importantly, the non-aggression pact only applies to the upstream versions of software, including Linux itself. [...] While we at Conservancy were successful in getting the code that implements exfat for Linux released under GPL (by Samsung), that code has not been upstreamed into Linux. So, Microsoft has not included any patents they might hold on exfat into the patent non-aggression pact.

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Quoting: BeamboomGoogle contribute a *lot* to the Open Source communities

Yes, when it benefitted them. And then they sold their user's data to advertisers, because that benefitted them as well. And they kept quiet about data breaches, because that benefitted them. As long as they can make money, all is fair game to them. Capitalism.

Quoting: BeamboomAnd don't forget that Valve is a corporation too

Yes, and it should be well known that I have a heck of a lot of issues with Valve.

Quoting: BeamboomAs well as Feral

And hell do I have problems with Feral. I mean, I *did* have a job interview with them a few years ago. And I did not sign the contract they've offered me.

I repeat: cooperations are not your friend.

Quoting: BeamboomMicrosoft has changed attitude towards Linux, That's just how it is.

If that's what you need to tell yourself to sleep at night, fine. But I'm telling you, you have a too romanticized view on it.

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They "support" Linux where they have to, because they couldn't shut out the competition. Coorporations are not your friends, especially not big ones like Microsoft (and neither is Apple, or Google, or EA, or Amazon, or...).

If they are such a great Linux supporter, show me their recent games running on Linux. State of Decay 2 and Sea of Thieves, both Unreal Engine 4 games. Do they run on Linux? Nope. Heck, you can't even buy them on Steam. Forza Horizon 4? Nope. Ori and the Blind Forest? It's a Unity game! Linux support? Nope.

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Quoting: BeamboomMicrosoft has actually changed with the new CEO

lol

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Quoting: ColoneilGame refunded, they should change that "Out now for MacOS and Linux" to "Out now for MAcOS and Ubuntu"...

It works fine on my Gentoo box.

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Quoting: lucifertdarkJust wait till they start going through all older posts to find something to ban you for that you said 5+ years ago.

Oh, no, not personal responsibility! Whatever shall we do?!?

Quoting: lucifertdarkrational people

lol

EDIT: Aww, GOL cut out my emoji use here :P

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Ah, yes, that would make more sense. Postal 2 is completely unavailable on Steam in Germany, yeah

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No, Portal 2 is not censored in Germany. At all.

The first Portal game was lightly censored for a while, with blood generated when turrets hit you painted gray instead of red, but even that has been removed years ago.

Stop telling lies.

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Valve is actually paying people to moderate things? Well, there's a first for everything, I guess.

Here's hoping they do it right, but I won't be holding my breath.

Quoting: 0aTTThe game was, of course, immediately banned in Germany

Nope, the game isn't banned in Germany. In fact, Germany (and many places in Europe) is way laxer than the US in terms of nudity and sexuality. The US is kind of...prude.

These games are perfectly fine and not-banned in Germany. They are, however, age-restricted. And there's the rub: it's just that the Steam age gate is, well, useless and not up to the German standards. Regulations in Germany require Valve to verify the age of buyers. Just saying "Yes, I'm 18" is not enough.

One way to do this for digital goods (for physical goods, our postal service offers age verification) would be, I guess, Postident [External Link], which is used for opening bank accounts, getting a mobile phone SIM, and things like that.

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I haven't looked at all of them, and not in-depth either, just skimmed through some, so I can't give a 100% fair answer to that.

In general, most of these books read more like tutorials by people who are just figuring it out for themselves as they go along. If you can work with that, and/or if you only need to pull a few tricks out of them, they can be useful.

But they won't give you a rigorous understanding of the subjects. If you only use them to learn, you will leave with half-truths and myths, with "okay, this works, but I don't know why or how". They might get you to where you might want to go, in a pragmatic and round-about way, though.

So for me, personally, it probably was not a good investment, except for when I'm out of other material to wince at.

Also, the Vulkan Cookbook is okay. I actually have the printed version here. It's useful as an annotated reference of sorts, more focussed on getting specific things to work instead of fully explaining the underlying concepts.

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