Quoting: slaapliedje

Quoting: Eike

Quoting: damarrinTo rain a little on everyone's parade (mine included), people on another gaming website I go to have been saying en masse how it's an instant Windows install for it to be even remotely useful. That's what the "general public" thinks, unfortunately :-(

Well, while I fear too many will, taking loud people on the net for the "general public" might also lead to the impression that most people wouldn't like to have a Covid vaccination...

Or that the earth is flat! :P

Yeah, I don't see a whole lot of people buying it just to format and install Windows on it. There are plenty of Windows Mobile PCs out there. Windows could potentially also stink for the controls that the Valve guys have been tweaking and perfecting to run under Linux. Windows' game input can consume a full satchel of richards as far as I'm concerned. Only Windows would force me to disable drivers in device manager because it can't figure out that my mouse is not a game pad, or even allow me to re-order the game controllers it does detect, so that I can actually get the controller to work. This happens on a lot of games in Windows... Never had such an issue in Linux.

I think it would be beneficial for Valve to not be too loud about "you can install Windows". If it runs like a console, most people won't care that it's Linux on it. Unless you say "it's Linux" and some go "ugh, Linux?! That's for nerds, I'm installing Windows".
Most poeple don't care that the PS4 is technically running a version of FreeBSD (afaik).

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Quoting: Eike

Quoting: LoftyThere's no effort required. Just choose a counter narrative and your given a special shiny hat and told to sit in the corner whilst all the big kids walk themselves off the edge of that existential cliff.

I've often heard this claim, but never actually seen anybody called conspiracy theorist that didn't actually tell, well, something that was a conspiracy theory in the end. I don't care if that was "effort" or "counter", it was nonsense (and it included many people doing secret stuff over them normal people).

It is a well known bad-faith, straw-man argument. I mean, if you call something a conspiracy theory, the person you discuss with will be put enitrely on the defensive and instead of trying to discuss the issue at hand must explain why it isn't Flat Earth. It's easy to use if you don't want to have that discussion, either because you dont want to think about such things, or you don't like that the "answer" it.
You probably won't be called a full-blown conspi-nut, but it'll be insinuated that "this sounds like conspi territory" and that (often) makes it very hard to keep an honest discussion going on that subject.

In Norway, we actually had a representitive for the pharma companies say, on camera on the national news channel (equivalent to the BBC), that the representative for Medicines sans Frontiers was engaging in conrpiracy thinking when they (MsF) said that the pharma companies was more concerned with making money than vaccinating the developing world against Covid, since they were not willing to give up or even temporarily lift patent rights on vaccines. I mean, this is such blatant attempt at conspi-shaming and silencing that it's pathethic.

It's like when you try to discuss how Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc are "conspiring" to eat away at your privacy and rights in order to make money. "Normal" people will quite quickly look at this chain of thought as you being a sorta "conspiracy nut" (and, yes, technically, it is a conspiracy, so there).

There are suprisingly many topics that have gotten an insta-conspi label. Which is bad, because the extremist tinfoil hats have ruined the topic, making the issue almost impossible to discuss without first having to exonorate oneself as *not* a conspi nut, which in the end only benefits the people/companies profiting off the untouchability of the issue. Try discussing pesticides or GMO. You likely won't be allowed to voice your opinions of how it affects the environment or "lock-in" to food crops, because you have to dig yourself out from under a ton of "so you belive that they have targeted the GMO to remote control us, do you hate vaccines too?" before even starting.

"Conspiracy theory" being equivalent to "basement dweller who believes in flat earth and lizard people" makes it almost impossible to discuss *actual* conpiracies or issues that "looks" like a conspiracy, since they of course do exist. Ever tried to discuss TTIP, TISA and TTP with someone who doesn't know what they are? They'll instantly go "lol, what it this conspi shit? Are you anti-vaxx too, maybe?" And, of course, there's no end of actual tinfoil-hat takes on this (finally, something REAL! This must be the Illuminati!), which even further pushes the issue into not being talked about due to getting a conspi-stamp.


/walloftext

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Quoting: elmapul

Quoting: Eike

Quoting: LoftyThere's no effort required. Just choose a counter narrative and your given a special shiny hat and told to sit in the corner whilst all the big kids walk themselves off the edge of that existential cliff.

I've often heard this claim, but never actually seen anybody called conspiracy theorist that didn't actually tell, well, something that was a conspiracy theory in the end. I don't care if that was "effort" or "counter", it was nonsense (and it included many people doing secret stuff over them normal people).

here on my country many people believed that covid was just an conpiration to break the economy and implement comunism or something like that...

And instead we broke the economy of poor poeple (even more), and gave away lots of (tax) money to big companies.

So yeah. One could say we did break the economy (for normal people) and implemented communism (for corporations) 😉 HL3 confirmed.

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Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: Appelsin150 000 units accross the US and EU isn't enought to entice anyone.

They had 110,000 pre-orders in the first 90 minutes. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict more than 150,000 total sales. Call me a starry-eyed optimist.

My intent was more along the lines of "150 000 units that Valve are willing to sell", while they could have moved ten times that :) I'd have preordred one, if I was allowed.

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Quoting: CatKiller

Quoting: AppelsinChecking out the Steam Deck page from Norway gives the following, happy message:

QuoteThis item is not available for reservation in your country

Valve is somewhat repeating the commercial and marketing success of the Steam Link and Controller. "Let's not sell this to people with lots of money, eager to spend!" Seriously...

My understanding is that it's all because they fundamentally aren't a hardware retailer. Those would have distribution centres in most countries they do business in, and agreements with brick-and-mortar shops to cover things like returns and revenue sharing. And a bunch of people employed specifically to handle logistics.

Valve doesn't have any of that. They're a shop that sells software. They've got a couple of empty rooms in the countries that they have developers in where they can store boxes, and they get the postman to take them from there and deliver them to customers.

It's why they tried to get other people to make Steam Machines, why they're content to sell limited numbers of the premium Index, and why they're so relaxed about other companies making Steam Decks. If they want to sell as many units of the Steam Deck as they can they'll need to get all the trappings of a hardware retailer; otherwise they'll be limited to just selling a few units in a handful of countries.

Yeah, but the thing is, they're selling it (or rather, it'll be available for order) all over Europe, except three countries, since we're not "part of the EU". Though they've inlcuded the UK, which afaik has even more hurdles atm with regards to import/export than EEA (we're EU, but we're kinda not).

They may be relaxed about it, but that seems to me to lead down the same Road to Success that they've done with their previous HW ventures. Especially the initial phase is critical, I should think. That's when it's hot, and people would buy it just because it's something new (and they can't get a hold of the PS5).

They were relaxed about Steam Machines. And it crashed (but there was a lot of causes for that crash).
They were relaxed about Steam Link. And it flopped. 3 people were allowed to buy it.
They were relaxed about Steam Controller. And it's a niche product most people only vaguely remember having seen a post on some gaming site about.

Bottom line is that I'm "worried" that this will go the way of the Link and Index. People get all exited about it, but then Valve doesn't want to sell it to anyone, and it dies one the vine. Here's *the* chance for Linux gaming going big, and Valve needs to move units to make that happen.
And if publishers can release games on the Switch natively, they can release them on *Native Steam Deck Linux* too (unless Valves somehow, inadvertently, makes it seem a better idea to just install Windows on it). But that relies on a lot of units being sold. 150 000 units accross the US and EU isn't enought to entice anyone.

/somewhatranty

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Checking out the Steam Deck page from Norway gives the following, happy message:

QuoteThis item is not available for reservation in your country

Valve is somewhat repeating the commercial and marketing success of the Steam Link and Controller. "Let's not sell this to people with lots of money, eager to spend!" Seriously...

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Quoting: F.Ultra

Quoting: Appelsin

Quoting: Tuxee

Quoting: Appelsin

QuoteCurrently it's limited to United States, Canada, European Union, and the United Kingdom with more regions becoming available in 2022.

Nothing for Norway then (or Switzerland, or Iceland or Luxemburg)? Or is this just a ploy to make us join the EU?

Last time I checked Luxembourg was still part of the European Union. Did they leave in silence?

They are? Then you've just corrected a misunderstanding I've had since early school xD I though they were outside, like us. I could have sworn they've always been mentioned in the same breath as the non-EU-member-trade-agreements we have and such things. But that may have been for other reasons then. TIL something basic x)

Luxemburg is not only one of the founding members of the EU, they are also one of the 4 official capitals of EU :-)

That's what I found yesterday, when I had to look it up 😂 Which only makes me thinking they weren't EU even better 🎯 😂 If making an error, make it big.

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Quoting: Tuxee

Quoting: Appelsin

QuoteCurrently it's limited to United States, Canada, European Union, and the United Kingdom with more regions becoming available in 2022.

Nothing for Norway then (or Switzerland, or Iceland or Luxemburg)? Or is this just a ploy to make us join the EU?

Last time I checked Luxembourg was still part of the European Union. Did they leave in silence?

They are? Then you've just corrected a misunderstanding I've had since early school xD I though they were outside, like us. I could have sworn they've always been mentioned in the same breath as the non-EU-member-trade-agreements we have and such things. But that may have been for other reasons then. TIL something basic x)

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Quoting: F.Ultra

Quoting: Appelsin

QuoteCurrently it's limited to United States, Canada, European Union, and the United Kingdom with more regions becoming available in 2022.

Nothing for Norway then (or Switzerland, or Iceland or Luxemburg)? Or is this just a ploy to make us join the EU?

Nah it's a conspiracy to dismantle 7th of June 1905 and bring you guys back in the caring arms of Mother Svea

Söta bror is devious, indeed!

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QuoteCurrently it's limited to United States, Canada, European Union, and the United Kingdom with more regions becoming available in 2022.

Nothing for Norway then (or Switzerland, or Iceland or Luxemburg)? Or is this just a ploy to make us join the EU?

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