Steam Client For Linux Confirmed

[Svartalf]

I for one believe that wine is one of the greatest achievements in open source code that we have today.

In some ways, you'd be right. In others, it's part of the cause of why we don't have anywhere near the number of native Linux titles. ("It works in WINE, why bother with a port..." (Never mind that it only sort-of works in WINE, etc...))

[L33F3R]

In some ways, you'd be right. In others, it's part of the cause of why we don't have anywhere near the number of native Linux titles. ("It works in WINE, why bother with a port..." (Never mind that it only sort-of works in WINE, etc...))

True. But we must remember that without wine we also wouldnt have nearly as many people even using linux so the prospect of linux versions for program-X just coming out of the walls just isnt plausible.

[Svartalf]

True. But we must remember that without wine we also wouldnt have nearly as many people even using linux so the prospect of linux versions for program-X just coming out of the walls just isnt plausible.

Actually, I know of a handful of things that didn't come out because of "adequate" WINE support that would have otherwise had a Linux version. The Sims (I know, not a worthwhile title, but still...), Kohan: Immortal Soverigns (When Loki imploded, Timegate opted to take the "safe" route and "re-release" under Transgaming's mess...because it "worked"..for moderate values thereof), Kohan: Ahriman's Gift, and several more like that. There's tons of examples, and if you must know, it's a gem and a liability at the same time.

Using WINE as a crutch for things that're new is sending a wrong message.

Each and every time you buy a Windows title, you're telling the people that're making the games and publishing them that you use Windows and you want MORE Windows titles. Like an oroboros, we're forever devouring ourselves with this stuff.

[KhaaL]

Actually, I know of a handful of things that didn't come out because of "adequate" WINE support that would have otherwise had a Linux version. The Sims (I know, not a worthwhile title, but still...), Kohan: Immortal Soverigns (When Loki imploded, Timegate opted to take the "safe" route and "re-release" under Transgaming's mess...because it "worked"..for moderate values thereof), Kohan: Ahriman's Gift, and several more like that. There's tons of examples, and if you must know, it's a gem and a liability at the same time.

If they truly left out a native linux client for sims 1, where is the native client for sims 2 who always had a garbage status in wine? And why don't developers show "works in wine" icon or something similiar?

[Dragonlord]

Because if you put it on your box you say it works "for sure" ( unless there are unforeseen consequences... which is another problem to begin with ). Wine though never has a "works for sure" since it's constantly changing and all the time alpha-ware. They would face legal troubles putting such a statement on their box so they don't. Wine has been, is and always will be "at your own risk" so no sane developer is going to advertise it works using Wine.

[L33F3R]

Actions speak louder then words. For example look at prey, it ran just fine under Linux with wine but they pushed a client anyways. ID knows that opengl apps prolly work very well under linux with wine but have traditionally released clients anyways. World of goo windows works great on linux but we see a world of goo client now don't we?

[Dragonlord]

You are wrong. it DOES send a message. What counts is NOT that you play it under Linux using Wine what counts is that you BOUGHT a Windows copy. The numbers the distributors see is the number of sold copies for a given system. In that case it's only Windows. So if you buy it and run it under Wine it counts in there book as a sold Windows unit and not as a sold Linux unit. Therefore the marketing concludes: "Windows rocks, Linux sucks!". You really want to tell them THAT?

[L33F3R]

You are wrong. it DOES send a message. What counts is NOT that you play it under Linux using Wine what counts is that you BOUGHT a Windows copy. The numbers the distributors see is the number of sold copies for a given system. In that case it's only Windows. So if you buy it and run it under Wine it counts in there book as a sold Windows unit and not as a sold Linux unit. Therefore the marketing concludes: "Windows rocks, Linux sucks!". You really want to tell them THAT?

ahhh you are right. People dont see the apple for the tree they see the apple for the ochered. This is in fact a severe error in market research that I don't even think ID is picking up too quickly. As it stands, the poll on their ETQW site:

Which version of ETQW for you?
Windows PC
65%
Mac OSX
4%
Linux
21%
Xbox 360
5%
PlayStation 3
4%
Total votes: 17470

if we look at this we can see that for this particular game linux holds a higher share then xbox, ps3 and mac combined. Somone alert the pinheads.

[Svartalf]

Actions speak louder then words. For example look at prey, it ran just fine under Linux with wine but they pushed a client anyways. ID knows that opengl apps prolly work very well under linux with wine but have traditionally released clients anyways. World of goo windows works great on linux but we see a world of goo client now don't we?

Heh... You use Prey as an example. Here's a hint: Prey's been held up for a loooong time. It's existed as a closed off beta for quite some time before it's release (Ryan did their server code...think about that for a bit...) and had the "Works under WINE" had no impact on it either way. iD does what it does because they like Linux- they just can't do official things for us because the Q3:A sales debacle showed them "there's no money in Linux" for the medium-term future of things. World of Goo was going to have a client anyhow.

In each of your examples, WINE being present had no impact either way. Plans were plans and you are not privy to what those would be as a consumer in most cases. Caster's coming to Linux. It works perfectly fine in WINE, but Mike Smith was more interested in an official version of it along with a Pandora version of the same- as much because WINE only works on X86 stuff. How do I know that one? I'm the guy he tapped to make that port happen.

However, when I tell you there've been ports that've been killed because WINE was "good enough", I am not kidding. I've insider knowledge of those sorts of things. It HAS hurt things as much as it's helped things- and in a manner I've indicated.

[L33F3R]

Heh... You use Prey as an example. Here's a hint: Prey's been held up for a loooong time. It's existed as a closed off beta for quite some time before it's release (Ryan did their server code...think about that for a bit...) and had the "Works under WINE" had no impact on it either way. iD does what it does because they like Linux- they just can't do official things for us because the Q3:A sales debacle showed them "there's no money in Linux" for the medium-term future of things. World of Goo was going to have a client anyhow.

In each of your examples, WINE being present had no impact either way. Plans were plans and you are not privy to what those would be as a consumer in most cases. Caster's coming to Linux. It works perfectly fine in WINE, but Mike Smith was more interested in an official version of it along with a Pandora version of the same- as much because WINE only works on X86 stuff. How do I know that one? I'm the guy he tapped to make that port happen.

However, when I tell you there've been ports that've been killed because WINE was "good enough", I am not kidding. I've insider knowledge of those sorts of things. It HAS hurt things as much as it's helped things- and in a manner I've indicated.

well i do hope u have insider knowledge. ur part of LGP XD