You should try making the popcorn in Coconut oil. It works very well and gives a slight flavor to the popcorn. Plus, I've heard that the tropical oils are the best for cooking as they handle heat better than the other oils.
So do nothing? The thing you fail to address is that pirated apps are one of the prime vectors for security hacks and viruses, espceially in the mobile sector.
So what is left to do. The people using the pirated apps have extra problems and danger that getting the legit apps avoids. If that doesn't stop them then what makes you think anything else will?
Every day I send takedown notices to multiple sites, which are a problem, because I have to disclose where I live in those notices. Not exactly something I enjoy doing, and I waste time doing this instead of developing more.
Yes, and? You're doing exactly what I told you not to do: you're wasting your time trying to prevent something that you simply CANNOT prevent. Either ignore piracy and just focus on developing your stuff or start developing for something else. Sending takedown notices and using your time on that is definitely not a productive way of using it. Do you believe that piracy of your game will somehow magically stop if you just send enough notices, or that it somehow discourages pirates? Or hell, do you believe that sending those notices is somehow positive marketing for the game? No? Well, gee!
I completely agree. I just started developing for Android a little over a year ago. Just my own project in my spare time, but it is fun and I like getting all the comments on how much people enjoy my game. I was actually thrilled to find my game (Einstein's Logic) on an Android pirate site. I have never had anything pirated before, so I felt like I finally hit the big time. I'm a real game developer now!!!
There is a famous argument by Judith Jarvis Thomson that suggests that even GRANTING that a fetus is a full-fledged person with the same rights as everyone else, that STILL they do not have the right to infringe on the rights of the mother:
You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to back in bed with an unconscious violinist. A famous unconscious violinist. He has been found to have a fatal kidney ailment, and the Society of Music Lovers has canvassed all the available medical records and found that you alone have the right blood type to help. They have therefore kidnapped you, and last night the violinist's circulatory system was plugged into yours, so that your kidneys can be used to extract poisons from his blood as well as your own. [If he is unplugged from you now, he will die; but] in nine months he will have recovered from his ailment, and can safely be unplugged from you.
Do you have a moral obligation to spend nine months hooked up to this person to keep them alive because you were selected to loan out your kidneys by a third party?
I like this idea! Let's start doing this to all the right wing politicians that push this idea in their campaigns.
The concept of a human, say vs. a lump of human cells (please read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, it's pretty interesting) usually includes the concept of consciousness, which for most babies doesn't occur at birth. Obviously a baby is alive, and has feelings and such, but consciousness as humans understand it doesn't appear to exist. A very interesting possibility is that consciousness is thinking, and you need language to think. There was a RadioLab Episode where they interviewed deaf people after they learned Sign Language, and they claimed an altered consciousness before they knew language, as if it was a void before.
That said, my wife has a very good friend who claims to have memories in utero, and of her own birth. I have no reason to doubt her. So there are at least a few counterarguments to the GP claim.
I'm not so sure it is just a void on non-existence before learning language. I listened to one of the Clever Apes shows from NPR a while back and they were talking about childhood development of memory. There is a period when most people have a mass amnesia and can no longer remember the very early parts of their childhood. The thought is that it is related to learning language. The brain was recording memories before, but the key to access them was lost. After language becomes a part of the new persons frame of reference, their brain uses that (perhaps not exclusively) as the key for the memories. Once your brain switches it's organization method the old storage is not accessible any more.
When you make it painful to stay legal and compliant, they just drive people to piracy anyway.
Or Linux.
In 2003, I built a PC and bought Windows XP to put on it. Within a year, the OS alerted me to call Microsoft and get a reactivation code or it would stop functioning. This was due to me installing a new motherboard (due to blown capacitors). I had to promise to them that the new motherboard was not an upgrade (which would require a new license) and that I wasn't using the old one anymore. I swore that I would never install an OS again that would require special permission to keep using from its maker. Interestingly, I had to call for a reactivation code a second time before I stopped using that PC in 2007.
The next PC I built (the one I still use) has been running Fedora Linux since day one.
I can't remember how many years I have been using Windows for my high powered custom built gaming computers. I never once had to call in for permission to install the OS. Perhaps that is because I chose to support the pirates and got myself a pre-authorized and fully user-friendly version of Windows to go on my PC. Now I am using Linux as my desktop OS. But when I build my next gaming computer, you can bet I am not paying money for a crappy version of Windows, I am going right to the Pirate Bay and getting the good version for my computer.
I would think they were more concerned that he might walk into a DMV or similar low-security government office and start hacking up the people as a signal to "start the revolution". Some of the stuff he posted to his Facebook page appears seriously disturbed. Not only does he claim that the government perpetrated 9/11 and that Obama is a communist (pretty standard crazy conspiracy stuff), he accuses "world leaders" of preforming ritual sacrifices of children and claims that the Bushes "have a secret Castle in Colorado where they have been raping and sacrificing children for many years". That's pretty specific and insane.
From a casual inspection of his Facebook scroll, he looks seriously crazy. Combining the crazy, the delusions of grandeur, and the threats, I can certainly see why he needed a psychiatric evaluation. He seems to be spiralling into madness.
This guy might be pretty crazy, I'm not saying he isn't. But the thing about the government perpetrating 9/11 sounds reasonable to me. The more I look at the facts around that day the more I find it too suspicious. How many people even remember that a third building fell -- from two airplanes? That does not make sense! Is there a wookie there! You also have to keep in mind that the USA has used a false flag operation to enter every war it has been in. One of them involved loading a passenger cruise ship full of explosives and sailing it straight into German waters. The German's that sunk it could not understand why the ship was forcing them to torpedo it. What's another 3000 casualties in the great war against the Enemy.
What you want amounts to censorship . Just because people may use information to further their agenda does not make the release of such information unethical.
All of the pro-GMO arguments basically boil down to the fact they don't want the information out there, the arguments about that information to occur, and the ability for anyone to make a purchasing decision based on that information.
Ummm, that's not to anyone's benefit. Restricting the information because you may feel you "know what is best for the rest of us" is abhorrent logic.
Let them label it, and let people make their own decisions.
Unless we have lost all pretense about living in a country where we have freedom and it is really isn't just about corporations and 1%'s fucking us over like slaves.
It's the same tactics used by others in the same or similar industries. Just look at milk. It is illegal to label your milk as being free of rBGH. Giving information to the public is seen as bad. It might make them think your milk is better than the other milk that has the rBGH. I guess the rights of the consumer don't matter, only the rights of the corporation that wants to shove the crap down our throats.
No, it is singling out something because of political reasons.
No... it is not. It is simply telling the truth. The *ONLY* reason to conceal it from people is because of a predisposition they might have to avoid the products because of their ALREADY EXISTING prejudices, which have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the truth. Wanting it to stay unlabeled just to get a few more sales only fuels the perception that the organizations that make such products *DO* have something to hide (even if they do not), and give even more people cause to want to avoid it.
See, it comes down to the free market. In the model of the free market the actors are believed to have sufficient information to make good choices. In the real world, people like these that want to limit the information given to the consumers don't believe their product will survive in the free market. They want everyone to have no information on what to buy so they continue to buy things they may not want. It's amazing to me how many people claim to desire the free market to work, but strive to pass laws against having a free market.
Because people unjustly believe that GMOs are harmful at all, which is complete BS. Brainwashed people (especially Americans, due to their culture) can't be healed very easily.
Right! Not harmful at all! Tell that to all the livestock that have higher than normal miscarriages and shorter lifespans when fed GMO feed. Don't believe the propaganda. Remember, they used to tell you that smoking cigarettes was safe also.
and may hold promise for helping address humanity's food crisis
I imagine the ultimate solution would be to literally transform part of the human population into vegetables... able to absorb CO2, feed themselves in the Sun light and be happy no matter what the govts do to exploit them (+ be actually grateful for being pissed on).
Maybe, in the first stage, FauxNews can help?
It sounds like a new version of Soylent Green. And they probably would be green too.
This not only the wrong message to children, it's also impossible to outsmart a teen who wants to get on facebook.
That's what I thought. You might be able to filter the porn and keep them from going there. But once you filter Facebook, a lot more kids are going to figure out how to get around the filters.
I know someone who has done the persistence hunting. I never gave it much thought for use on larger game, but it works on rabbits pretty easily. It only takes a half hour or so of chasing a rabbit around before it will fall over and die probably of a heart attack.
I guess there could be issues with space while making the rar files, but they can break the archive up into chunks of any size you desire. You will need all of them accessible to unpack them again though. Perhaps it isn't the greatest solution, but it may do what the poster wants.
So my only recourse for buying some cancer medicine that turns out to be sugar pills would be calling the manufacturer a liar? After I'm dead, that is?
Tell that to the guy who's medicine for his condition stopped working when the news came out that it wasn't any more effective than a placebo. It had kept his symptoms it check for years until he knew it didn't work, then it stopped working. Studies have shown that 30% of the people given the placebo in a chemotherapy trial lost their hair. The mind is quite powerful.
The 30% is no problem for me. I have a game on the Google Play market. It's the $100 / year that I refuse to pay. A one time $25 is much better. Plus, after the work of porting the game over to have the Apple Dick-tators tell me that they won't let it in iTunes because there are other games like it (or whatever reason they might come up with) is something I am not willing to risk. Sorry Apple, one less dev for you.
That does sound logical. My only concern with giving all the credit to the people running the company is they don't take the blame when things go bad. When the economy crashes and they have to lay off people, do they then become job destroyers? If you can say the created jobs when expanding, then they must destroy jobs when laying off. It's only fair.
I was going to add this, but I see you already did it. Instead I will second it. It's a great read, very fascinating. But it's a depressing view of the future of humanity. It makes me want to go get some chicken nubbins.
I was going to add this one, but I see you already have done that. I second this then. Great read, but very depressing view of the future of humanity. It makes me want to go out and get some chicken nubbins!
I think the point some people are making is that it isn't the business owner that created the job. It is the Growth of the market that created the job. It's more of an economy thing rather than one person deciding to create a job out of thin air.
If that business does not hire a new person to handle the extra growth, then one of their competitors will, because the market is there. It's a supply and demand thing.
If the FPS is better, the Windows-gamers will come...
Especially if the OS is free.
Marginal improvements in frame rate visible only on very high end systems is no big deal.
But comparing DX 9 level graphics with mainstream DX 11 gamer-graphics card performance just might be considered a tad misleading.
No one but the geek gives a damn about "free."
By the time product reaches retail shelves the OEM price of the OS is irrelevant.
Haaaa!!! I can tell you are not a gamer if you think buying an OEM PC is acceptable. You also claim that marginal improvements in frame rate don't matter. Perhaps you are just trolling, and I fell for it. All the gamers I know build their systems from parts. You get the video cards you want rather than what the OEM has options for. You pick and choose each part to individually pack in as much power as your budget allows. In the end you save money over buying something like an Alienware system where you get jacked in the wallet. Saving that extra money on the OS is that much more to spend on games. Of course, Windows never came into my budget even what I was playing games on it as a pirated copy is just as free, without the annoying call home activation hassles.
I'm an MBA (hold off on the throwing of the rotten vegetables! I'm a IT person too!)
I will hold off on throwing things at you for now!:-) You do make a lot of good points. These are very convincing and are probably why no large companies have made a push for Linux in the past.
Everyone's talking about it being a chicken and egg situation where devs aren't making games for Linux because there's no market, and there's no market because there aren't any games. This isn't really the situation. The execs at big companies often deal with situations where they have to take a leap of faith. Every time there's a new console, for example, the execs at companies like EA decide whether or not to make games for it well before the console is released, so they're making games for a market with 0 users! They make the decisions based on a few key factors, including looking at the risks, the chances of success, and the possible rewards given the market. Here are just some aspects that are probably discouraging to an exec at a big gaming company:
1. History. Linux is old. Really old. And it hasn't taken off in the consumer market yet. So it's a pretty big leap for an EA exec to think it's going to get popular now. There hasn't really been any change in the market that would point to a massive upswing in Linux gaming.
There are plenty of people who use Linux as their main system and dual boot into Windows for gaming. If my system wasn't too old to run any modern games I would be one of these. I have come to view Windows as a toy. It is just too big of a pain to deal with on a daily basis. But when all the good games are only on Windows I have to deal with it. Consoles are great for parties and such, but they don't compare to mouse / keyboard control and the graphics on the PC beat consoles any day!
2. High potential risks. Xbox isn't that big a risk to support, since it uses similar tech to Windows. Linux? It's a bit different. Sure, it uses OpenGL, like a mac, but it's a whole different platform. This wouldn't be a deal killer by itself, but it's another nail in the coffin since it increases the risks.
At this point, I think Valve sees staying on Windows to be somewhat of a risk. If Microsoft tries to move to a MS controlled app store, then Steam is killed. Don't think MS wouldn't do that, they have quite a history of stabbing their partners in the back. The other possible risk with staying on Windows only is that Windows 8 may turn out to be crap. Plenty of people are already complaining of the Metro (Windows 8 UI) interface is stupid for a desktop. It looks like MS wants to push the tablet user model for everybody no matter if they are using a tablet, laptop, or a desktop. If it does turn out to be a flop, the gaming on Windows may take a big hit.
3. Lack of proof of a market. As people have pointed out, the Humble Bundles sold well, but they had people giving to them because a. They wanted to support small indie developers and b. they wanted to support the charities that the Humble Bundles give to. When companies look to predict what's going to happen they look for comparability, that is, they try to find similar situations where there was a success, and there is very little evidence for this. Should they take a chance anyway, and do something new? That leads us to the last and perhaps biggest point:
If Valve has the stats of how many people play their games in Wine, then they have some idea of what the market is. I'm sure they have a better idea of what the market might be than either of us do. And if you figure in the other people that dual boot, you have even more people who would buy the games for Linux. Since they currently buy the games for Windows, it may not be extra sales. It looks to me that it would be the same sales you would have had for the dual-booters, but now they can buy Linux. There is a bit of a hassle in rebooting the computer, so havi
You can subsitute meat with a variety of vegetable, which will cover your protein needs. The trick is that you have to be careful to make your choice complement each other or indeed you can go into some amino acid carrency.
Maybe you can cover protein needs, but where do you get the vitamin B12 without eating meat, eggs or dairy? You don't. You have to take supplements or eat fortified foods to get the vitamin B12. Pure veganism is not possible for a human.
Slashdot Mirror
You should try making the popcorn in Coconut oil. It works very well and gives a slight flavor to the popcorn. Plus, I've heard that the tropical oils are the best for cooking as they handle heat better than the other oils.
So do nothing? The thing you fail to address is that pirated apps are one of the prime vectors for security hacks and viruses, espceially in the mobile sector.
So what is left to do. The people using the pirated apps have extra problems and danger that getting the legit apps avoids. If that doesn't stop them then what makes you think anything else will?
Every day I send takedown notices to multiple sites, which are a problem, because I have to disclose where I live in those notices. Not exactly something I enjoy doing, and I waste time doing this instead of developing more.
Yes, and? You're doing exactly what I told you not to do: you're wasting your time trying to prevent something that you simply CANNOT prevent. Either ignore piracy and just focus on developing your stuff or start developing for something else. Sending takedown notices and using your time on that is definitely not a productive way of using it. Do you believe that piracy of your game will somehow magically stop if you just send enough notices, or that it somehow discourages pirates? Or hell, do you believe that sending those notices is somehow positive marketing for the game? No? Well, gee!
I completely agree. I just started developing for Android a little over a year ago. Just my own project in my spare time, but it is fun and I like getting all the comments on how much people enjoy my game. I was actually thrilled to find my game (Einstein's Logic) on an Android pirate site. I have never had anything pirated before, so I felt like I finally hit the big time. I'm a real game developer now!!!
There is a famous argument by Judith Jarvis Thomson that suggests that even GRANTING that a fetus is a full-fledged person with the same rights as everyone else, that STILL they do not have the right to infringe on the rights of the mother:
You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to back in bed with an unconscious violinist. A famous unconscious violinist. He has been found to have a fatal kidney ailment, and the Society of Music Lovers has canvassed all the available medical records and found that you alone have the right blood type to help. They have therefore kidnapped you, and last night the violinist's circulatory system was plugged into yours, so that your kidneys can be used to extract poisons from his blood as well as your own. [If he is unplugged from you now, he will die; but] in nine months he will have recovered from his ailment, and can safely be unplugged from you.
Do you have a moral obligation to spend nine months hooked up to this person to keep them alive because you were selected to loan out your kidneys by a third party?
I like this idea! Let's start doing this to all the right wing politicians that push this idea in their campaigns.
The concept of a human, say vs. a lump of human cells (please read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, it's pretty interesting) usually includes the concept of consciousness, which for most babies doesn't occur at birth. Obviously a baby is alive, and has feelings and such, but consciousness as humans understand it doesn't appear to exist. A very interesting possibility is that consciousness is thinking, and you need language to think. There was a RadioLab Episode where they interviewed deaf people after they learned Sign Language, and they claimed an altered consciousness before they knew language, as if it was a void before.
That said, my wife has a very good friend who claims to have memories in utero, and of her own birth. I have no reason to doubt her. So there are at least a few counterarguments to the GP claim.
I'm not so sure it is just a void on non-existence before learning language. I listened to one of the Clever Apes shows from NPR a while back and they were talking about childhood development of memory. There is a period when most people have a mass amnesia and can no longer remember the very early parts of their childhood. The thought is that it is related to learning language. The brain was recording memories before, but the key to access them was lost. After language becomes a part of the new persons frame of reference, their brain uses that (perhaps not exclusively) as the key for the memories. Once your brain switches it's organization method the old storage is not accessible any more.
Or Linux.
In 2003, I built a PC and bought Windows XP to put on it. Within a year, the OS alerted me to call Microsoft and get a reactivation code or it would stop functioning. This was due to me installing a new motherboard (due to blown capacitors). I had to promise to them that the new motherboard was not an upgrade (which would require a new license) and that I wasn't using the old one anymore. I swore that I would never install an OS again that would require special permission to keep using from its maker. Interestingly, I had to call for a reactivation code a second time before I stopped using that PC in 2007.
The next PC I built (the one I still use) has been running Fedora Linux since day one.
I can't remember how many years I have been using Windows for my high powered custom built gaming computers. I never once had to call in for permission to install the OS. Perhaps that is because I chose to support the pirates and got myself a pre-authorized and fully user-friendly version of Windows to go on my PC. Now I am using Linux as my desktop OS. But when I build my next gaming computer, you can bet I am not paying money for a crappy version of Windows, I am going right to the Pirate Bay and getting the good version for my computer.
I would think they were more concerned that he might walk into a DMV or similar low-security government office and start hacking up the people as a signal to "start the revolution". Some of the stuff he posted to his Facebook page appears seriously disturbed. Not only does he claim that the government perpetrated 9/11 and that Obama is a communist (pretty standard crazy conspiracy stuff), he accuses "world leaders" of preforming ritual sacrifices of children and claims that the Bushes "have a secret Castle in Colorado where they have been raping and sacrificing children for many years". That's pretty specific and insane.
From a casual inspection of his Facebook scroll, he looks seriously crazy. Combining the crazy, the delusions of grandeur, and the threats, I can certainly see why he needed a psychiatric evaluation. He seems to be spiralling into madness.
This guy might be pretty crazy, I'm not saying he isn't. But the thing about the government perpetrating 9/11 sounds reasonable to me. The more I look at the facts around that day the more I find it too suspicious. How many people even remember that a third building fell -- from two airplanes? That does not make sense! Is there a wookie there! You also have to keep in mind that the USA has used a false flag operation to enter every war it has been in. One of them involved loading a passenger cruise ship full of explosives and sailing it straight into German waters. The German's that sunk it could not understand why the ship was forcing them to torpedo it. What's another 3000 casualties in the great war against the Enemy.
So this isn't about their rights.
Bullshit.
We can drop all of the arguments about GMO here.
What you want amounts to censorship . Just because people may use information to further their agenda does not make the release of such information unethical.
All of the pro-GMO arguments basically boil down to the fact they don't want the information out there, the arguments about that information to occur, and the ability for anyone to make a purchasing decision based on that information.
Ummm, that's not to anyone's benefit. Restricting the information because you may feel you "know what is best for the rest of us" is abhorrent logic.
Let them label it, and let people make their own decisions.
Unless we have lost all pretense about living in a country where we have freedom and it is really isn't just about corporations and 1%'s fucking us over like slaves.
It's the same tactics used by others in the same or similar industries. Just look at milk. It is illegal to label your milk as being free of rBGH. Giving information to the public is seen as bad. It might make them think your milk is better than the other milk that has the rBGH. I guess the rights of the consumer don't matter, only the rights of the corporation that wants to shove the crap down our throats.
No... it is not. It is simply telling the truth. The *ONLY* reason to conceal it from people is because of a predisposition they might have to avoid the products because of their ALREADY EXISTING prejudices, which have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the truth. Wanting it to stay unlabeled just to get a few more sales only fuels the perception that the organizations that make such products *DO* have something to hide (even if they do not), and give even more people cause to want to avoid it.
See, it comes down to the free market. In the model of the free market the actors are believed to have sufficient information to make good choices. In the real world, people like these that want to limit the information given to the consumers don't believe their product will survive in the free market. They want everyone to have no information on what to buy so they continue to buy things they may not want. It's amazing to me how many people claim to desire the free market to work, but strive to pass laws against having a free market.
Because people unjustly believe that GMOs are harmful at all, which is complete BS. Brainwashed people (especially Americans, due to their culture) can't be healed very easily.
Right! Not harmful at all! Tell that to all the livestock that have higher than normal miscarriages and shorter lifespans when fed GMO feed. Don't believe the propaganda. Remember, they used to tell you that smoking cigarettes was safe also.
TFS
and may hold promise for helping address humanity's food crisis
I imagine the ultimate solution would be to literally transform part of the human population into vegetables... able to absorb CO2, feed themselves in the Sun light and be happy no matter what the govts do to exploit them (+ be actually grateful for being pissed on). Maybe, in the first stage, FauxNews can help?
It sounds like a new version of Soylent Green. And they probably would be green too.
This not only the wrong message to children, it's also impossible to outsmart a teen who wants to get on facebook.
That's what I thought. You might be able to filter the porn and keep them from going there. But once you filter Facebook, a lot more kids are going to figure out how to get around the filters.
It's a reference to a TV show from a few years ago where Ashton Kutcher would play pranks on-
Oh. I see.
Well played.
Did someone post both of these AC posts so they could get their joke setup?
I see what you did there! Nice!
I know someone who has done the persistence hunting. I never gave it much thought for use on larger game, but it works on rabbits pretty easily. It only takes a half hour or so of chasing a rabbit around before it will fall over and die probably of a heart attack.
I guess there could be issues with space while making the rar files, but they can break the archive up into chunks of any size you desire. You will need all of them accessible to unpack them again though. Perhaps it isn't the greatest solution, but it may do what the poster wants.
So my only recourse for buying some cancer medicine that turns out to be sugar pills would be calling the manufacturer a liar? After I'm dead, that is?
Tell that to the guy who's medicine for his condition stopped working when the news came out that it wasn't any more effective than a placebo. It had kept his symptoms it check for years until he knew it didn't work, then it stopped working. Studies have shown that 30% of the people given the placebo in a chemotherapy trial lost their hair. The mind is quite powerful.
The 30% is no problem for me. I have a game on the Google Play market. It's the $100 / year that I refuse to pay. A one time $25 is much better. Plus, after the work of porting the game over to have the Apple Dick-tators tell me that they won't let it in iTunes because there are other games like it (or whatever reason they might come up with) is something I am not willing to risk. Sorry Apple, one less dev for you.
That does sound logical. My only concern with giving all the credit to the people running the company is they don't take the blame when things go bad. When the economy crashes and they have to lay off people, do they then become job destroyers? If you can say the created jobs when expanding, then they must destroy jobs when laying off. It's only fair.
I was going to add this, but I see you already did it. Instead I will second it. It's a great read, very fascinating. But it's a depressing view of the future of humanity. It makes me want to go get some chicken nubbins.
I was going to add this one, but I see you already have done that. I second this then. Great read, but very depressing view of the future of humanity. It makes me want to go out and get some chicken nubbins!
I think the point some people are making is that it isn't the business owner that created the job. It is the Growth of the market that created the job. It's more of an economy thing rather than one person deciding to create a job out of thin air.
If that business does not hire a new person to handle the extra growth, then one of their competitors will, because the market is there. It's a supply and demand thing.
I'll get modded down but don't care. What we need is to be more brutal.
Have you ever heard of the concept of proportional justice? People like you are more dangerous than the drug users you seek to destroy.
Yeah!!! We need to be more brutal on dangerous people! I say we give the death penalty to those who want to give the death penalty to others!
If the FPS is better, the Windows-gamers will come...
Especially if the OS is free.
Marginal improvements in frame rate visible only on very high end systems is no big deal.
But comparing DX 9 level graphics with mainstream DX 11 gamer-graphics card performance just might be considered a tad misleading.
No one but the geek gives a damn about "free."
By the time product reaches retail shelves the OEM price of the OS is irrelevant.
Haaaa!!! I can tell you are not a gamer if you think buying an OEM PC is acceptable. You also claim that marginal improvements in frame rate don't matter. Perhaps you are just trolling, and I fell for it. All the gamers I know build their systems from parts. You get the video cards you want rather than what the OEM has options for. You pick and choose each part to individually pack in as much power as your budget allows. In the end you save money over buying something like an Alienware system where you get jacked in the wallet. Saving that extra money on the OS is that much more to spend on games. Of course, Windows never came into my budget even what I was playing games on it as a pirated copy is just as free, without the annoying call home activation hassles.
I'm an MBA (hold off on the throwing of the rotten vegetables! I'm a IT person too!)
I will hold off on throwing things at you for now! :-) You do make a lot of good points. These are very convincing and are probably why no large companies have made a push for Linux in the past.
Everyone's talking about it being a chicken and egg situation where devs aren't making games for Linux because there's no market, and there's no market because there aren't any games. This isn't really the situation. The execs at big companies often deal with situations where they have to take a leap of faith. Every time there's a new console, for example, the execs at companies like EA decide whether or not to make games for it well before the console is released, so they're making games for a market with 0 users! They make the decisions based on a few key factors, including looking at the risks, the chances of success, and the possible rewards given the market. Here are just some aspects that are probably discouraging to an exec at a big gaming company:
1. History. Linux is old. Really old. And it hasn't taken off in the consumer market yet. So it's a pretty big leap for an EA exec to think it's going to get popular now. There hasn't really been any change in the market that would point to a massive upswing in Linux gaming.
There are plenty of people who use Linux as their main system and dual boot into Windows for gaming. If my system wasn't too old to run any modern games I would be one of these. I have come to view Windows as a toy. It is just too big of a pain to deal with on a daily basis. But when all the good games are only on Windows I have to deal with it. Consoles are great for parties and such, but they don't compare to mouse / keyboard control and the graphics on the PC beat consoles any day!
2. High potential risks. Xbox isn't that big a risk to support, since it uses similar tech to Windows. Linux? It's a bit different. Sure, it uses OpenGL, like a mac, but it's a whole different platform. This wouldn't be a deal killer by itself, but it's another nail in the coffin since it increases the risks.
At this point, I think Valve sees staying on Windows to be somewhat of a risk. If Microsoft tries to move to a MS controlled app store, then Steam is killed. Don't think MS wouldn't do that, they have quite a history of stabbing their partners in the back. The other possible risk with staying on Windows only is that Windows 8 may turn out to be crap. Plenty of people are already complaining of the Metro (Windows 8 UI) interface is stupid for a desktop. It looks like MS wants to push the tablet user model for everybody no matter if they are using a tablet, laptop, or a desktop. If it does turn out to be a flop, the gaming on Windows may take a big hit.
3. Lack of proof of a market. As people have pointed out, the Humble Bundles sold well, but they had people giving to them because a. They wanted to support small indie developers and b. they wanted to support the charities that the Humble Bundles give to. When companies look to predict what's going to happen they look for comparability, that is, they try to find similar situations where there was a success, and there is very little evidence for this. Should they take a chance anyway, and do something new? That leads us to the last and perhaps biggest point:
If Valve has the stats of how many people play their games in Wine, then they have some idea of what the market is. I'm sure they have a better idea of what the market might be than either of us do. And if you figure in the other people that dual boot, you have even more people who would buy the games for Linux. Since they currently buy the games for Windows, it may not be extra sales. It looks to me that it would be the same sales you would have had for the dual-booters, but now they can buy Linux. There is a bit of a hassle in rebooting the computer, so havi
You can subsitute meat with a variety of vegetable, which will cover your protein needs. The trick is that you have to be careful to make your choice complement each other or indeed you can go into some amino acid carrency.
Maybe you can cover protein needs, but where do you get the vitamin B12 without eating meat, eggs or dairy? You don't. You have to take supplements or eat fortified foods to get the vitamin B12. Pure veganism is not possible for a human.