Valve's Steam Survey Data Shows Linux Usage Pulling Back During June

[josh_walrath]

you get an upvote! seriously... i am beginning to question my love for linux. These idiots are starting to make me look bad. When my friends come up to me and ask why should i even try linux if they will just kill working features... i dont have an answer for them.

Does anyone else cringe at a 12-year-old with room-temperature IQ calling out multiple generations of brilliant developers because they fell for a slightly smarter idiot's hysteric Wayland memes and so they think they have to use something that's not ready to replace another thing even if they don't and that that's why Linux is dying?

[oiaohm]

Until we have Linux as a platform which offers a rich set of stable APIs/ABIs supported for at the very least 10 years, we won't have any gains in Linux gaming market share.

This is in fact horribly false while being close. Linux as a platform has a rich set of stable API/ABIs that are supported for at least 10 years.

https://abi-laboratory.pro/index.php?view=timeline&l=glibc

Yes looking around abi-laboratory.pro can allow you to find a stacks of these that are almost totally ABI stable. The features removed have all had 10 years notice since Linus yelled back in 2004.

Problem is not lacking a rich set of stable API/ABI. Its the fact distributions nicely mix highly unstable ABI libraries with the highly stable ones so developers can simply dig themselves into hole. There is such thing as providing way too much choice.

https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/LinkerNamespaces

LinkerNamespaces is the other problem. You really do need to be able to use these effectively when making third party applications. So that when you decide to use X version of a library and some host library is using Y version you don't end up with race condition on what one your application gets.

So we fairly much have all the stable API/ABIs we should need right now. A loader and compiler improvements to make using LinkerNamespaces simpler will help. LLVM is adding means to make declare only .so files including ones missing version information.

What would be nice is a SDK for Linux existed with only the stable API/ABI in it for third party developers so they don't keep on kicking themselves where it hurts with the candy shop temptation of the Linux distributions unstable libraries mixed in stable API/ABI.

And then maybe we shouldn't deprecate and throw away the things which still work great vs.

This notice by Redhat is a 10 year notice that ABI support is going to be reducing. This is what you need todo when you are supporting API/ABI for 10 years at least. So this is you yell at Redhat for doing exactly the right thing.

[Almindor]

Wait no "I never got a survey" posts? I've got my popcorn out but now I'm disappointed.

[bridgman]

Wait no "I never got a survey" posts? I've got my popcorn out but now I'm disappointed.

I never got a survey.

[Kemosabe]

Until we have Linux as a platform which offers a rich set of stable APIs/ABIs supported for at the very least 10 years, we won't have any gains in Linux gaming market share.

And then maybe we shouldn't deprecate and throw away the things which still work great vs. something which is lacking huge desktop oriented features like global keyboard shortcuts. I mean seriously? An X.org replacement which has been in development for over a decade doesn't offer an API for global keyboard shortcuts. Then what about remote screen sharing? Only recently some work has been done towards it. And again no APIs for sending keyboard/mouse events remotely.

WTF is wrong with Linux developers?

No offense bridie, but why don't get your posts at least slightly better after all those years?
The development speed has increased over the years and old shit needs to die - however it is more complicated than this. I don't even know where to start.
There is screen sharing with known protocols. Are you calling for a wayland only solution or what?! And why?

Regardless if it makes sense what you are asking for - you can still do it yourself and see if the broad audience adopts it

[Vistaus]

Reason: Summer in Northern hemisphere, gaming overall takes a hit. Each year. Especially so during warm weather.

Northern Hemisphere is not the only location where it's Summer...

[starshipeleven]

the southern hemisphere also exists, there's loads of Linux users in South America, and I bet that in Australia, NZ, oceania, africa as well. Why there always some friction between south and north?? I feel ignored sometimes, but I wonder how ppl that live in caribean or the equator feel... jeez those ppl don't have winter do you realize??

I somehow doubt that the amount of people with access to a gaming system in the southern hemisphere is anywhere near 1/4 of the gamers in the northern.

[Vistaus]

I never got a survey.

I once got it, but that was years ago...

[starshipeleven]

Northern Hemisphere is not the only location where it's Summer...

There is also Mars I guess.

[doctorx69]

Does anyone else cringe at a 12-year-old with room-temperature IQ calling out multiple generations of brilliant developers because they fell for a slightly smarter idiot's hysteric Wayland memes and so they think they have to use something that's not ready to replace another thing even if they don't and that that's why Linux is dying?

Really wtf? I cannot comprehend wtf you are rambling about. Punctuation is helpful. If this is a slam against me, I was using unix before linux was even born.. With an iq over 160... since you are pointing fingers. You can take your high and might bs and go choke on it. Nowhere else in business do you replace something without a proper replacement. You are the kind of crackpot that thinks systemd is the cats meow. But it isnt. Wayland is not even close to a proper replacement for xorg.... at least not yet. Progress for progress sake is not progress. However when it makes sense, it is worth it.

No... the whole 32bit fiasco that recently happened. RH deprecating xorg in not distant future are examples of putting cart in front of the horse.