Slashdot Mirror

See http://www.transgaming.com/gamefaq.php?gameid=9
not sure if you have to be a member to access that page

I don't know if that means it's using a wine executable to run a windows binary, or if they used libwine to compile a native linux binary, I don't own a Linux version of the Sims.

You should also note that the Windows version of The Sims does not run under winex at this point.

Furthermore, I'd like to point out to all the naysayers that Transgaming has come through with EVERYTHING they said they would just as quickly as they said they would, and they have also contributed a great deal of code back to the original wine project, and their code(minus safedisc) is available from sourceforge.

I saw a Transgaming programmer playing Max Payne on his laptop a couple months ago. If they can get a Direct X 8.0 game to run under WineX it is probably your best bet. I looked at their support for it and they said it worked best with the CVS version of Wine, though it still didn't render fonts correctly and would crash when you tried to build stuff. Though they are working on getting it working, and if you buy a copy I know they let you vote for what games to support.

WineX will eventually support Civ III. Link here to Civ III shows that it is partially working. I'm guessing the next release will probably fix the font alignment problems; thus moving the rating from 2/5 to 3/5.

As far as cost is concerned, winex is alot cheaper than vmware. You get a small say in how the development is directed along with the use of winex.

And while we're at it, maybe some could request that Transgaming publish their source under a licence like X11, rather then using the restrictive Aladdin licence

FYI: Fallout 1/2 for $9.95. Saw it in my local Fry's ad. Slashdot this game, please. It is excellent, and getting Fallout 1/2 for the same price is a great deal. According to the WineX people, Fallout 1 and 2 are both rated at "4", which means some glitches, but still very playable, possible installation weirdness.

Fresh and tasty Debian packages of WineX 2.0 (which supports Max Payne FLAWLESSLY) are available for the price of a $5 (1 month subscription). If I were you, I'd sign up for the 6 month plan. I did (it just ran out), and I have not been disapointed. If you do sign up, hook me up with the 'refer-a-friend' thing and reference 'ramses0' if you think about it.

--Robert

You could just switch your gaming machine to Linux and play (almost) all your faviourate games in winex

Also, for people running Windows (gotta play warcraft3!)

Dude, Warcraft 3 is going to be one of Transgaming's flagship games. Their library of compatible games just keeps growing, and with the recent release of a DirectX8.1 implementation it just keeps getting better and better.

Everyone please note: This is not the real CmdrTaco, notice the (editor) in his name? Its a fake account. Nice try.

Your post linked in your signature is so retarded.

I am a linux desktop user, and are many many many of my friends. They serve our purpose perfectly. We can play heaps of games, run a very pretty desktop and use a good word-processor.

Linux on the desktop IS a viable solution, why would I go back to an inferior OS such as windows?

You claim that I should try Mac? Why would I bother spending 3 times more on an equally fast PC that I can't upgrade or customize? Why would I want to goto a platform that has a limited amount of software? Why would I want to goto an inferior platform?

You sir, are retarded.

actually, as someone posted above me, they will never give anything to wine again. Wine used to have an X11 style liscence, now its LGPL. Transgaming can't use the new wine stuff while keeping some stuff, like cd-copy protection secret (which, according to them would violate the DMCA if it is released). you can check out the offical word here

And if you'd read http://www.transgaming.com/gavstates.php you'd understand exactly what is going on.

Lost in this release is a far more important announcement. Transgaming is throwing support behind a fork of Wine: ReWind!

Seems, they take issue with the recent change of licenses for Wine. They are actively encouraging developers to contribute to there X11 fork. Understanding that a vote of the developers leaves there branch in the minority, they are touting cash incentives and the some of there 2.0 source as bait.

The war of the branches begins...

Scrub the really experimental ones, scrub the really "gee-whiz" ones. Sorry, but they are rarely ready for prime time.

Then, when you're down to 2-3 that sound good, install them. I have a check-list that I use to see if I'm going to use an OS for awhile:

Does it have a good installation? Not just simple, but actually good?

Does it support multiple boot methods? Boot floppies, recovery floppies, multiple configs?

Is it easy for you to use your hardware on it?

Is the help easily available?

Do the games you want come for it?

Will they work anyway? (Yay WineX! http://www.transgaming.com )

Do you like the web browser?

Can you do your work easily, or are you always and looking for stuff?

Finally, does it network well?

These are what I use for all OSs. I've been using it since I chose between PC-DOS, MS-DOS, and DR-DOS. The web stuff was added later, of course :)

-WS

As someone who is "subscribed" to another "club"(www.transgaming.com) of the same sort - I can say that as long as positive
things are happening and progress is being made people will continue to pay.

Over at Transgaming over the past month there has been a lot of grumbling (read as people saying they are going to unsubscribe) because everyone wants release 2.0 - So the developers had to put a little more time into quieting the masses by giving regular reports about what is being worked on (I use the term "regular" loosely as TG still doesn't have this totally under control). And because of this almost all of the original subscribers are still there - because there is a feeling of progress.

If Mandrake ever ceases to progress - that is the point where people will begin jumping ship. Up until that point I am sure that the club members will feel as if their money is well spent.

Derek

> And since stock broker/analysts do not require Counterstrike to run on their machines,

Dude, CStrike runs just *fine* on WineX, see Transgaming
I even play w/ the server and a few bots all on the same box.

But don't tell those brokers, ok ? :)

Look, you can even buy a distro (Mandrake) where they bundle in The Sims. And the bonus is you can then play Warcraft III when it's released, becuase it includes a sub to transgaming.

So reboot already. The time for Linux to be the gaming platform of the future is now. Windows is dead, and Bill G is starting to realize this. Good thing he cashed out a lot of money for his (actually good) Foundation.

Got me The Sims. Gonna get Warcraft III. Need Black and White for WINE next.
-

Have you heard of WineX? I'm sure that Warcraft III will be running in WineX very shortly after release...

Check it for yourself if you have it.

You still need WineX to announce that you have DX8 support. After that if you are NVidia user WC3 picks up OpenGL as a renderer.

The will be problems authenticating with BattleNet but hopefully next WineX release will be able to deal with them.

That's "Street Performer Protocol." A pretty neat idea, IMHO.

Transgaming is trying similar to that (except that their $X is a monthly figure instead of a to-date total).

Mandrake has a Gaming Edition for about 70$ + S&H that comes with the sims and a 90 day subscribtion to Transgaming I'd buy it but I'm waiting on 8.2. There is also a version of Counter Strike ported to linux.

Literally minutes ago I shook Eric Raymond's hand. He's at my university now, and he gave what was probably the most enlightening speech I have ever heard.

Something that might be found interesting -- he broke the news to us that he has been asked to join the TransGaming board of directors. He's seriously considering it, because he thinks that their "street performer" business model is very promising.

1. If the subscription numbers reach TG's goal (meaning they're earning a healthy return on their investment), TG will give its code to WineHQ. By supporting them, I'm doing my part to get this code released to the community.
2. TransGaming has accepted the risk involved in hiring top-notch developers. This is not a trivial amount of risk. The payoff comes on the back end, not the front. By this, I mean they make it off of products and subscriptions and in an ideal world other Wine-dependant companies would sponsor/pay them to release code bits under a free license early. This contrasts with a consulting contract that guarantees money for services and software. Already, their DCOM work has lost its value in a sponsorship scheme because someone else developed it separately and released it under the Wine license. TG took the risk and ate the cost and their programmer still got paid.
3. TG gets results. In just a couple of months, they've advanced WineX to support DirectX 8. Earlier today, they put out a press release announcing support for Max Payne. For $5, you can get a copy of WineX with copy-protection support or get it free from CVS without copy-protection under the AFPL.

1. If the subscription numbers reach TG's goal (meaning they're earning a healthy return on their investment), TG will give its code to WineHQ. By supporting them, I'm doing my part to get this code released to the community.
2. TransGaming has accepted the risk involved in hiring top-notch developers. This is not a trivial amount of risk. The payoff comes on the back end, not the front. By this, I mean they make it off of products and subscriptions and in an ideal world other Wine-dependant companies would sponsor/pay them to release code bits under a free license early. This contrasts with a consulting contract that guarantees money for services and software. Already, their DCOM work has lost its value in a sponsorship scheme because someone else developed it separately and released it under the Wine license. TG took the risk and ate the cost and their programmer still got paid.
3. TG gets results. In just a couple of months, they've advanced WineX to support DirectX 8. Earlier today, they put out a press release announcing support for Max Payne. For $5, you can get a copy of WineX with copy-protection support or get it free from CVS without copy-protection under the AFPL.

The screenshots look impressive. It would be cool if I could play that on my platform. And however I realize, that I belong to the minority of gamers (which is good, like Mark Twain has already said, "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect."), I still think that when they would wisely program this game for many different gaming platforms and few desktop ones, it'd be a piece of cake to release other version. But I'm affraid that they would prefer us to use other options, unfortunately...

Oh, well, I gues I'll just have to wait for Mason, or Warewolf, or Sands of Syllus, or Archipelago, or Catacombs, or Belchfire, or Acid Tempest, or Phoenix...

(If you want to mod me offtopic, I can't complain -- I am offtopic. But I really want to say this.)

It isn't open/free alternatives that should be keeping TransGaming up at nights. It is their own business model.

First of all, they are trying to succeed where Loki failed by doing this in emulation (wine fork). What they failed to notice was... this is an old, old mistake that's been made before (ten years before) by MUCH bigger fish (IBM). Anyone remember Win-OS2? (Embedded bank systems aside,) OS/2 is dead, and (marketing failures notwithstanding) windows emulation is the smoking gun. Whatever else Loki might've done wrong, native porting was one thing they did right -- plus, we now have wonderful things like SDL and SMPEG and so on, to show for it. What TransGaming is likely to achieve is to fracture game developer mindshare the same way IBM fractured application developer mindshare, and thus damage linux. All while trying to turn a fast buck on the proposition. Gee, thanks.

If that were all, that'd be bad enough. But let's explore further. Their pricing model is subscription-based. How much wailing and gnashing of teeth have you seen right here on this very site, as regards Microsoft's subscription initiatives? As much as I have, I'm sure, and the anti-MS theme inherent in slashdot aside, I don't think they're wrong. Subscription model software exists to screw the consumer right in the backside (read: wallet) and until someone comes up with a better idea (usage-based pricing?), then I for one hope subscription dies a swift, silent, and highly painful death.

I can see the counterpoints already (filled with links to TransGaming's Own business model page. Call me cynical but you know what I read there? A group that is holding hostage the innovation of others -- "no contribution back until we get our 20,000 subscribers' worth of cash!" While I completely understand the need to make money, something about their method is odious to me, especially when in the next paragraph they tell the rest of us that we, too, are more than welcome to improve wine, too... so long as we release our code under the wine license. What's good enough for the goose, guys...

Anyway, to wrap up a rapidly lengthening post... the above is why I intend to do exactly what I as a consumer should do -- vote with my dollars. None of which will wind up in TransGaming's coffers.

Actually, Transgaming had to create a custom version of The Sims to get it to work. Unfortunately, it's not straight emulation.

http://www.transgaming.com/gamefaq.php?gameid=9 (see the question about running the Windows version of The Sims and the one about expansion packs)

The link is TransGaming.com.

However, they only support DirectX 7, while this new project supports DirectX 8. TransGaming supports very few games because most new ones require DirectX 8 support.

I'm sure we'll see a merge somewhere, and it will simply Rock! And I'll be glad to invite them at MandrakeSoft again so we can have a Mandrake Gaming 9.0 ;-)

The Transgaming folks already have a pretty good DirectX 7 implementation. I would love to see this project merged with theirs!

I went to find how to contribute to WINE

You can help contribute to the development of WINE's media layer by buying a TransGaming subscription for $60 per year.

Halflife you've got me on too.

Half-Life works very well on TransGaming's WineX, aside from some glitches with the starting menus (this problem has been fixed in TransGaming's internal builds, though, and will be incorporated into the upcoming WineX release). It's not perfect yet, but it rocks on my system. :)

THE absolute advantage for game developers are the WINElets which they are working on here. It will make rewriting game code unnessecary and, remember, WINE Is Not an Emulator, so i don't really expect speed issues in the future !

THE absolute advantage for game developers are the WINElets which they are working on here. It will make rewriting game code unnessecary and, remember, WINE Is Not an Emulator, so i don't really expect speed issues in the future !

...we should start helping out the guys at Transgaming - they're doing great work, and for me it was worth the $5 subscription :)

To a degree, I have to agree with you. Aside from Tribes 2, I honestly could have lived without most of the games Loki ported. Did I enjoy them? Yes. Were they essential to my existence (again, with the exception of Tribes 2)? Nope.

Ironically, I have all this beefed-up hardware and what do I do with it? I play NetHack, SNES games, MacOS System 6/7 games, and low-frills (but high-quality) games like PySol and Uplink. Hell, I've played LBreakout 2.0 more than I ever played some of the Loki ports I bought. :)

For me, Loki's two biggest faults were: 1) Too slow to get games ported (a year for Deus-Ex, wtf) and 2) Most of the games weren't to-die-for. Sure, I love Railroad Tycoon 2, HOMM3, and Kohan. But Loki couldn't bring me, for example, Half-Life and Diablo II. They can't bring me older games, and they can't bring me games that the developers simply refuse to allow to be ported. I and others have had to turn to TransGaming's WineX for this, albeit grudgingly because of the license issues.

The only way Linux could "dominate" the game world would probably be if somebody started creating to-die-for games that were only available for it (or available for everything but Windows... say, Linux, BSD, and MacOS X :). And ideally, such games would be open source to make us penguiny fellows happy. Taking 6-18 months to port games that are merely great (with a couple of exceptions) and not excellent (Star Craft anyone?) is, as we see now, not the best business model in the world. Don't get me wrong, I love the Loki games I bought. But they didn't quench my thirst for certain gotta-have titles out there. Until Linux has its own gotta-haves, our best hope is something along the lines of Wine or Lindows (dunno about the latter, never really looked into it, but who knows...).

Just my 2 cents. Back to slaying ASCII characters I go. :)

"Maybe we need "Open Source Money Pools" where you can vote what kind of game you want. I'm sure that'll happen."

We have these now. check out Transgaming's way of doing it. I disagree with the philosiphy of encouraging game developers to keep writing for Windows and DirectX, but the business model (pay a $5 subscription fee, and vote for what game you want wineX to support next) is IMO most excellent for opensource development.

Closed-source software is rapidly going the way of the dodo, but people still need to get paid for their efforts...
.
.

VMware [vmware.com] is a good solution for those windows apps you can't let go

So instead of letting go of your Windows apps, you let go of your money. VMware Workstation costs $300, and Windows 2000 Pro for VMware costs $200 plus the connect time to download the service packs. How again do you prevent people from cracking or infecting your box while you download from Windows Update? On the other hand, a year of TransGaming costs only $60.

I haven't tried to run WinMX with WINE yet. Has anyone?

According to CodeWeavers' app database, most features of WinMX work, but you need a copy of Windows to run the installer.

I shall miss them as well. I Happily own Quake 3, Soldier of Fortune, Descent 3, Heroes of Might and Magic, and Unreal Tournement.

Unfortunatly their business model just didn't make a whole lot of sense. Whay pay more for a port of (what was often an older) game that runs fast and cheaper in windows. I understand, not all Linux users dual boot, so not all have the oppertunity to run games in windows...

In the meantime, I'd suggest sending some money to the good folks at Transgaming. It's essentialy Wine with special consideration for direct x, and runs many games spledidly. I've had a good deal of success wih it.

Now all these people who refused to sign up to transgaming have no excuse and now its official,.

The only way we will get games working in Linux right now, is to support transgaming.

Loki tried but their idea just wasnt profitable.

Everyone who wants games in linux will sign up to transgaming, everyone who doesnt sign up to transgaming doesnt want games in Linux. Its really that simple.

For all who want to sign up TransGaming

As of right now you officially have no choice. Its transgaming, or no games in linux. Make your time.
Transgaming

That's very true. One reason I signed up for TransGaming some months ago was that very reason. Namely, while Loki ported some awesome games (Tribes 2, yeah baby), they couldn't bring me some things I wanted. Diablo II, Half-Life, and others.

They're "too old" or the developers wouldn't allow them to port the games. But with WineX, I can run them. I have my issues with their licensing policy, but honestly I can get past those for now. Yes, it'd be great if the code was fully open, but it allows me to play my games, and I'm happy with the product. That's all that matters to me at the moment. Anyway, off I go to slay some more demons in the depths of Hell. ;)

There may still be a Linux market for Lindows' extensions to WINE or whatever they're building on, though. There are certainly worse ways to burn VC.

Certainly TransGaming will see this as a very important game to support. With TransGamings current patch Wine can run some of the very latest games and development appears to be moving foward rapidly.

Support Wine by developing, testing or bug reporting.

Both work perfectly under winex

I mostly play native ports. I buy just about every game Loki releases. I'm a sucker. I even bought SiN even thoiugh it won't work with NVidia cards. I also use Transgaming's WineX. It supports quite a few Win32-only games (like Age of Empires). It won't work with DirectX8 games, however, but support is coming.

I used my PC for games about 60% of the time I was in front of it when it had Windows and Linux on it. Now that Windows is gone, I find myself reading Perlmonks or looking at freshmeat stuff more often than I used to. I'm happy I switched.

-B

I took the bait!


1) Drop the CD in and type 'setup' and Windows installs itself, whereas you need a manual to tell you what should be installed for Linux.
So I've got this PC sitting here with no operating system or I just installed a new hard drive and I just drop in a cd and hit install? Like windows' comes on a CD that is bootable? Oh they finally got around to that with XP and 2000... gotcha

2) Hmm, all the best games and software are written for Windows, whereas Linux scrapes all of the leftovers and second class software from the people who don't get paid very well for their work.
*All* the best games are written for Windows? You are right. Linux doesn't have many big selling games available for it like Quake [I, II or III] The Sims, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Unreal Tournament, or anything else. Maybe this isn't anyone's fault except the game writers?

3) If you have a problem with your computer, you can always call the company who put it together for you, whereas with Linux you have to work your problem around the schedule of some pasty unshaven lout who is wired to explode after drinking one too many Red Bull energy drinks.
Always? After a year and a day most will tell you to go fuck yourself. You can't call M$ - most of the time they say call your builder. Have you ever dealt with anyone's tech support? Most companies either replace the part[s] or nothing. No one holds your hand - they sell you a book, yes there is books for Windoze. OH! If your hardware isn't supported yet it maybe supported one day under linux. Under windows, it either is or isn't. People at M$ don't just sit around writing drivers for fun, but the linux community does.

4) So what if Linux is cheaper? You get what you pay for, people. Why buy a used car and worry about getting the thing running (a problem with Linux) when you can buy a new car and not have to worry?
Unfortunatly you don't get anything with your cash when you buy windoze. Solitare, and other apps that you need to rush back to the store to upgrade... worth 99 bucks? And if your shit ain't supported in winbloze M$ will tell you to suck it and call the maker - which will tell you to suck it because they don't support windows X9000 or whatever.
Oh yeah, how many thousand of apps come with windows? How many CDs in the box? By far more software *comes* with Linux. I've always wondered... how much does the Norton [Symantec] stock price jump when a new version of windows is announced.

5) Does your computer crash when you install Windows on it? Maybe that's because you built the thing from the guts of obsolete machines. Also, if you want to buy your parts off of pricewatch.com, expect to get parts that don't work properly. Does this mean that Linux is better because it has a higher compatibility with different components? NO. It means that Windows has higher standards.
Windows is SUPPOSED to be the umbrella that all computer parts, and standards sit under! Higher standards - like memory leaks, daily 'defrags', no security, control over hardware makers? I once tried to install 98 on a machine of a friend that had recently lost all of his data because of 'registry' errors and the like. Pre-built system 2 months over warrantee. No recovery CD was supplied from the PC maker and his machine sat for months because 98 would not finish the installation. Now he bought XP, can't wait for that! PS: Pricewatch doesn't sell a fucking thing.

6) Windows users, on average, copulate far more than Linux users. Windows users also don't smell like cheddar cheese.
Bill Gates is laid daily by women of all races from around the globe! You could be as well if you bought Windows XP Professional and not Home Edition! Gimme' a break.

7) My mother knows how to use Windows. Does your mother know how to use Linux?
Leave my mother out of this! Actually she is a dual booter! RedHat on one drive [doesn't use] and Mandrake on the other. She got rid of Windows when she bought ME and it froze every hour or so. She would wake up... go to the PC and see that nice pretty blue-screen saver.

8) Nobody has -EVER- been able to hack my machine or install any virus simply because I turn off Active Scripting. You take scripting away, and suddenly my Windows machine is more secure than your bodged up Linux b0xen.
Mind sharing your IP address with us? How much did you get raped for your Anti-Virus software?

9) Programs written for Windows work in Windows, whereas you have to know the program inside and out to get the thing to compile in *nix.
Compile? That's so 20th century. Desktop users these days are apt-getting and rpm'n this and that.

10) Don't like the way something is running in Windows? Change it with the click of a button. Don't like the way something is running in Linux? Recompile the god damned kernel and pray the thing doesn't hex dump over your Sarah Michelle Gellar .jpgs.
I don't like how things stop running in windows frankly. How do I change that? You seem to be someone that when shown a DOS prompt you say WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?

Sound about right to you? Well, I thought so.
By the way, 'No Money' sounds more appropriate than 'National Pride' as a reason for using Linux.
When you pay for basic software on thousands, maybe millions of PC's then you tend to be lighter in the wallet.

Sincerely,
Linuxisforlosers
Drugs are for losers! Remember that and stay off the crack.

Otherwise, thank you for the amusing post even if you are a fanboy.

I'm not a fanboy - your argument is just silly.

I've been using Linux for five years now, and I'm very comfortable with it. I love the OS, I love the software, and (for the most part) I love the community. Okay, so I can't play Black and White (well, maybe not yet), and I can't use Bryce, and so forth. This is the price I pay for getting the features I really want and getting the power I want.

I'll probably get flamed for going against the grain of Linux World Domination(tm) but honestly, I don't think it'll happen in the sense most people want and expect. Indeed, I don't want it to. Because for Linux to dominate, it'd have to end up like Windows. It'd have to be pointy-clicky to no end, and eventually bugs would creep in in the name of usability. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as Windows - but it wouldn't be the Linux I love.

Us Linux users, we want our l33t cake but we want to pig out on it too. We want all the apps, but we don't want to deal with the average user, which is what drives the development of many of those apps. We want to be elite, yet we want people to be like us to an extent, and enjoy the benefits we do. I really don't think that can happen.

Linux has great potential to win out in a lot of arenas - server side, graphics, clustering, and so forth. Those are its strong points, and those are very likely to be where Linux will dominate. But is my grandfather (despite being really good with computers) going to deal with logins, kernel patches, tar'ing, and rc files? I highly doubt it.

There are exceptions to the rule, and I've encountered more than one story of "my wife-who-can't-even-program-the-VCR told me, 'never go back to that Microsoft crap'." But it's not common, and it may never be.

Linux should stop trying to play copycat with Windows. It can be its own animal, successful in its own ways, as is the Mac. MacOS X isn't Windows XP, but its users love it. Pardon me for stealing the phrase, Apple, but people... It's a good idea to "think different." Let's keep Linux different and good at what it does, and stop catering to a market that may not (and if you agree with my sentiments above, should not) come to light.

I want Linux because it's Linux. I don't want Linux because it's Windows, and I don't want it to be.

[commence flaming]

Instead I use Linux. It's lightning-quick, has commerical and free apps, and even Windoze Gaming Support along with Native Linux Games and all the office tools I want. Why should I switch back? It's getting worse all the time. ;-)

For those of you who know the difference between QT and Quicktime, take heed! There is hope! I've successfully played some Quicktime movies using WINE. Everybody knows the Crossover plugin from CodeWeavers. I've also had some very good results with the CodeWeavers version of Wine.

Unfortunately some aspects of the UI don't work but the movies play nicely. I can't wait until TransGaming's WineX or stock Wine runs Quicktime movies as good as mplayer plays .avi files under my favourite OS!

Does anyone know exactly how crosspollination between these projects work? I would say that besides GNU and Linux, Wine has the potential to be the most useful piece of code ever created.

As reported in Slashdot this morning, Evolution 1.0 Released and ThinkFree Office an MS 2000/XP Office compatible suite that works in Linux. Combine these with the TransGaming's WineX software, there is no longer any reason to use MS on the desktop.

As reported in Slashdot this morning, Evolution 1.0 Released and ThinkFree Office an MS 2000/XP Office compatible suite that works in Linux. Combine these with the TransGaming's WineX software, there is no longer any reason to use MS on the desktop.

From TransGaming's Business Model page:

We need to encourage more user participation in the development process, and give users more responsibility, both financially and otherwise, for the ultimate result.
Does this sounds like a bad thing?
And they will put the fruit of their labours (the revisions to the Wine tree) once "we have a paying subscriber base of at least 20,000 users."
All they want is to get paid for the work they are doing up front. Work that you the end user can direct by subscribing and voting.

What's not to get about their business model? Like the street performer they are providing entertainment with the hopes that if they provide a quality product that people will be willing to pay for it once.
The upside over closed source projects is that you won't have to pay for the same code in the next version of the game!