Quoting: edgleyTrue, we will never know for sure what their full agenda was -- however, Linux was such a minor competitor and generally speaking regarded as only something for hobbyists, I can't imagine that they would have pre-emptively tried to strike it down *on purpose*.

Linux was being viewed as being a potential threat by Microsoft for years beforehand (and it was, especially in the server market where MS lost out) so it is conceivable that Apple could have had a side motivation to side-line Linux, although I definitely agree it was not really what they set out to do with those commercials. 

This idea that Linux only recently became interesting or a source for potential for growth that seems to be asserted by your posts is not true at all however. Yes, Linux has grown since then, but we are actually not in that much of a different position than we were back when those advertisements were posted. We are just as interesting now as we were then, so if we did not matter then we do not matter now. It certainly has not changed much over the many years I have been using Linux - we have always been there just off the radar, on the cusp of something great. Realizing that has just been harder than many people would have thought, at least on the desktop space.

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Considering Dirk Dashing 2 is already on the service, do you have any plans to put this new Special Edition of Dirk Dashing on Desura?

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The thing is this would not be the first time that a Kickstarter were to fail for having too high an asking price to be suitable for the platform. I am thinking of Interstellar Marines here, which got a lot of money and a lot of contributors but threw it all away by having too high an asking price. Certain games take a lot of money to develop yes, but there is only so much one can reasonable expect to get from Kickstarter. That is my fear with this, but they still could hit it if they get the word out enough.

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This was actually mentioned on GoL before in August 2011, but things went up in the air with it. Glad to see they are committing to a DRM free release as for awhile it looked like it was going to be Steam only. The goal is a little high though, but they probably will still hit it.

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Still says "FEATURED PC GAMES" for the Windows listings though... *sigh*.

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To be fair, it was not so much trolling as asking a question. There is a difference. I would not head the Twitter comment that much as everything on Twitter is borderline troll by it's very nature, but that was definitely not the way his thoughts were presented on reddit.

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Carmack is discussing things with businessmen though, which part of the problem. See the quote I highlighted. Taken in those terms I can understand why he has decided upon the direction he has taken, even if it makes me dislike the Zenimax acquisition even more. I can also understand even more why TTimo jumped ship.

Still, as a side note, has anyone else here read David Kushner's excellent book Masters of Doom? I think that should be required reading for anyone before they attempt to make a character assassination of either Carmack or Romero.

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I think people need to tone down some of the hate that is being thrown about though. He is not being as unreasonable as some people are making out. Read his reddit post:
http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/17x0sh/john_carmack_asks_why_wine_isnt_good_enough/c89sfto [External Link]

That is not to say that I agree with his WINE comments, but I think some of the bile that is making it's rounds around the net is uncalled for. Especially since people need to take into account this comment here:

However, I don’t think that a good business case can be made for officially supporting Linux for mainstream games today, and Zenimax doesn’t have any policy of “unofficial binaries” like Id used to have. I have argued for their value (mostly in the context of experimental Windows features, but Linux would also benefit), but my forceful internal pushes have been for the continuation of Id Software’s open source code releases, which I feel have broader benefits than unsupported Linux binaries.

And he is actually exactly right about the fact that the source code releases are more important - I would rather have access to a games source code be made available than a single port to a single platform any day. Especially since in doing so it decouples the games from Steamworks or any other potential forms of DRM. I am still waiting for the day I can play Rage natively on my machine without the Steamworks requirement, like what is possible with Doom3: BFG already. This idea I support fully

I do not support the idea of WINE as a primarily means for gaming however. I do use it and recognize it's value, but I am also well aware it's shortfalls. The sound is not working for me at the moment, and for the longest time doing anything with it (like launching FirstClass so I could send off my school assignments) would bork my sound server (it has now thankfully settled down somewhat and simply does not work without borking anything else). And there are so many other technical and practical reasons why his proposal is a bad idea, from increased overheard, worse support, and of course the message it sends out.

TTimo said it well. :)

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Seems a bit like Shadowgrounds Survivor as an FPS at the moment. Which is still cool.

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