[BozemanLUG] Interesting times for Linux gaming

[James Eder]

On Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 10:44 AM, Scott Dowdle <dowdle at montanalinux.org> wrote:
> Good luck Valve.  Maybe you've found new territory you can dominate.  That's just not for me.
>

If they're the only one venturing into the territory, they can't do
much of anything but dominate.  At least you can use Valve's app store
without being restricted to only that app store.  You can also use one
from their competitors too... should there be any for Linux.

If you look at most of the mobile space, you have to jailbreak to use
another source for applications.  Consoles have a long history of
exclusive titles bent on making you buy Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo boxes
if you want to play a particular game.  In comparison, Steam on Linux
doesn't seem all that locked-in.  Having Steam doesn't restrict me
from running things that are not Steam.

I'm not sure what else Valve could do anyway.  If everyone (Microsoft)
is leaving PCs and going Mobile then it finally becomes the "Year of
the Linux Desktop?" If you're a desktop software company that doesn't
want to go mobile... Linux or bust I guess.  :D

I don't see Valve coming to Linux as a bad thing (Survival technique
maybe... if you catch my gest. *chuckles*) even if it's not a direct
"favor" beyond the possible increase in Linux adoption.  Altruism
doesn't exist if money is to be made.  At the root of many good kernel
patches is the needs of the companies that use Linux for profit.
They're being selfish by committing patches and expecting the
starving, basement dwelling, freedom loving, kernel community to
maintain it... right? :D

I guess the thing is that Valve doesn't have much of a have a lock-in
so they don't have any teeth in that regard.  I don't see coming to
Linux as a way for them to get a set of teeth.  It does make it
interesting that they would move in this direction.

Since it came up, I don't really buy the whole "desktop is dieing"
thing.  It seems to me that it's based off the observation that more
mobile devices are being sold.  That may be true but it doesn't
indicate weather people are buying mobile devices "instead of" or "in
addition to."   It would seem to be the case that the former has to be
more the case than the latter for the hype to add up.   If you look at
mobile apps vs desktop apps there's overlap but each have their big
areas that don't overlap much.  The desktop niches aren't competing
with the mobile niches.  So for a great many uses, if Desktop was your
thing before, it still is.  I don't see Adobe Photoshop coming to
iPhone anymore than I see any killer GPS sensitive applications for
the PC.

Also desktop browser market share is around 90%ish while mobile
browsers are still dinking around at around 10%ish. The majority of
the "desktop is dying" blogs and articles seem to be read on desktops
rather than tablets or phones.  I don't see one thing killing the
other or anything really dieing for that matter.

-- 
Jim