Today was the «Ubuntu day»According to many users, but the truth is that for me it is not very relevant news, with nothing new to offer and that is repeated every six months, do not feel evaded or believe that I discredit Ubuntu, I simply say that a new version does not bring anything and that in fact, it is overshadowed next to the commotion that the news of Steam for Linux.
Well, some are very excited about this news, I include myself in that excited pack, but truth be told, the most important thing about the arrival of Steam a GNU / Linux It is not simply that we will be able to play really popular titles without the need for Wine or partitions, but what is behind it all, the progress that all this implies for our platform and the benefits it represents. Let's start breaking this all down piece by piece to make it as clear as possible.
Yes, we will finally play some popular games without Wine or a Windows partition.
It is the main thing, the soul of the matter is the games and finally that ordeal is going to end for many. At first we may not watch too many games (We are already sure that Left 4 dead 2 will arrive, and I must say that I am a fan / vicious of this game) large, but we can be sure that Valve will port most free games to your platform Steam for GNU / Linux (Linux to dry from here) because they well know that we do not like to pay for those things, for which we will surely see Counter Strike natively in Linux, Dota2 (AMEN) since it was said that it will be free from Steam, Team Fortress which has been free for a long time and maybe a good amount of indie games that we already have in Desura we will see them in Steam. Of course we will see paid games in Steam and I am one of those who supports that because as a developer I can understand very well that the work is not easy and we must eat and of course, stimulate those markets in Linux, nothing of "everything must be free»Because it hurts whoever hurts, we don't eat air or thank you.
This is obviously going to motivate many other houses and independent developers to release their games in Linux since now they will have a popular platform where to do it, and not just any, but the most popular of all. All this augurs a very bright gaming future for Linux, although it may take some time before we have a well-nourished catalog.
Desura will have competition on Linux.
This is great because I like it Desura and I don't see why not use both services, a free and high-quality one and a very high-quality private one as well.
It is no secret that Desura has certain «glitches»That make it uncomfortable sometimes, like that sometimes and with several games it doesn't run, not directly Desura but the game, it happened to me with several that I installed and they never ran from Desura. Maybe the competition will make them get to work on polishing themselves more and more so as not to be left behind and offer developers new and interesting possibilities, hopefully these guys grow because they are on the right track.
And so far we have only talked about games, but there is more than that behind what meets the eye; Steam will unleash many technical breakthroughs in various sectors of GNU / Linux, from proprietary drivers to the development of OpenGL and Linux kernel.
AMD and Nvidia are going to have good reasons to upgrade and greatly improve the quality of their graphics drivers.
By having such a company providing games in Linux, now these two giants have reasons to offer true quality drivers, they no longer have the excuse that in Linux we only need drivers for "weak" games dependent on OpenGL and for stationery. Now they will need to move more and better games, OpenGL it will begin to be used more intensively for more things and its development will surely skyrocket. The demand will grow and they will be forced to improve the product.
The need to port games to OpenGL will drive development.
En Phoronix demonstrated, OpenGL can run a game like Left 4 Dead 2 en Linux, no Wine, no DirectX, OpenGL outright proving that it is not only used for nonsense. This surely attracts more companies to get involved in the growth of the free standard for graphics since the need arises to improve it so that their products have better quality and cover more market, it is that simple gentlemen; money, dirty but in the long run beautiful money. And this will benefit many other sectors at the graphical level of GNU / Linux.
As OpenGL and proprietary drivers grow, free drivers will grow exponentially.
It is as simple as that the greater the advance in other technologies, the better the possibilities of the already proven fighters and seasoned free controllers, which although they are not of the quality of the owners, have shown that their existence is not a whim and that for those who do not play are worth it. Now with this attachment, they will grow, that's for sure.
Wayland may benefit!
The one who comes to replace X.org will benefit from the growth of OpenGL, Why? Because plain and simple OpenGL is the backbone of this project, and if he grows, Wayland as well. Pure simple logic.
Last but not least and obviously obvious… Linux will be able to attract more users.
What can I say? Many will like the idea that they will be able to play in Linux and they are going to prove it, that simple; the excuse of «my games»It will go down the drain little by little and it will only remain«I use Office«, Which is falling short with the constant growth of LibreOffice.
All this is what the arrival of Steam a Linux, maybe many do not like that this happens since Steam It is proprietary, closed and although they have the right not to feel happy with the arrival of this platform to the Tuxito system, then good for them. But they cannot deny that the aforementioned will bring benefits to the system and will help it grow exponentially in different aspects, many of them may not have been mentioned, but neither can everything be covered in a single article.
I hope everything I say comes true, I would love to see the growth of GNU / Linux in these areas.
I think you are absolutely right and see if the graphics card companies put the batteries together, and take out drivers as they should be, for that we have paid for the product, hopefully all this does not take long to be reality
+1, I'm not a gamer but I like this point a lot
I am concerned about this .. why?
good because linux can also become another target for malware (viruses)
when they realize that linux is growing in user rate "because of games" and some other things .. They will NOT take long to bombard our Linux ecosystem with Trojans ..
Remember that window and mac are vulnerable and get viruses for the simple fact that it is used by everyone .. Otherwise with Linux.
It is a personal opinion that is subject to any correction and advice ... (they will be well relived).
https://blog.desdelinux.net/virus-en-gnulinux-realidad-o-mito/
There may be a malware that steals your data if you give it execution permissions, just like in osx (which is also unix architecture)
You can never be 100% sure. (Maybe turning off the computer if). xD
To steal data they need Internet access, so just switch off the modem / »router».
Or not connecting to the internet 😉 but responding to jamin-samuel, I will tell you that in GNU / Linux the vast majority of vulnerabilities are corrected on the same day they are discovered, tell more people who will collaborate in correcting bugs and discovering them, ¿ Don't you think it would be even more secure than Windows or OSX?
@Origami, in that case there is an access door (supposed to be closed). A PC without Internet access (that has no contact with malicious software or malicious people) is insurmountable (there is no "hacker" who breaks that firewall from home).
wao very interesting .. thanks rogertux
If you use Linux as if it were Windows, you are going to have those same old problems.
How is that? Using the administrator account to enter the book and more.
Although personally I prefer the ps3 or the xbox360 to play, the steam input is good for the simple fact that the video and opengl drivers improved (as it says in the article).
Since you are going to RECEIVE (not "relive") corrections and advice well, I suggest you pay attention to the spelling. WHY? BECAUSE if not, whoever reads your comments will have difficulty understanding the ideas you want to express.
Read this 😉:
https://blog.desdelinux.net/virus-en-gnulinux-realidad-o-mito/
This is excellent news, and it is true that the subject of games (although for some it is unimportant) is only the beginning, what is really going to be interesting is how this can accelerate the development of GNU / Linux in many others areas, for example if the drivers improve and Open GL support can also further boost the development of Gimp and who knows, maybe in the near future we will also see a native version of Photoshop, which would attract graphic designers to Linux, among many other possibilities, but for now they are speculations, it only remains to wait ...
I prefer Gimp and Inkscape to grow, I'm not interested in Adobe.
Neither do I, I am one of those who prefers free tools as much as possible, but we must not forget that there are people who for "x" reasons need this type of software, either for work reasons or because they only know how to use those programs, but diversity is never bad, and if it helps more and more people get to know Linux, eventually that prejudice regarding the quality of Free Software with respect to proprietary software will be lost. It's just a personal opinion, don't take it the wrong way. Regards.
Amen! 😀
I will respond to that comment with a modified saying "not all that is free is gold." There cannot be a world with only free or proprietary software ... and although it hurts to accept the payment, it is better for the simple fact that their provider is not interested in losing market, so their products must work as well as possible .. support to the free software but it is not to exaggerate everything ... and steam is definitely not free ... 😉
I have a question about Steam:
Apart from improving the Nvidia drivers and others, can you put the World of Warcraft, AVA, etc? (without using clear wine)
It's just that it's a bummer having to be calm with Arch and having a friend skip me… Do you join the AVA? and having to change operating systems for that bullshit.
Well before it was longed for now we just have to wait, hopefully they take out magicka I'm still waiting with all its expansions, in case trine2 is on steam and the people who buy the most or rather pay better are those of linux total irony hahaha
Do you know what I think? that Steam will launch a video game platform (hardware) and possibly its core or OS could be linux. I think there could be a branch and more now that android is incorporated into the kernel. Greetings 😛
Hi, Nano. As always, your articles are very complete and with a well-argued criticism. However, please! Try to put some context at the beginning. Sometimes your topics are very technical or specific and many readers (like me) who don't know all of them, we remain gringos because we don't know what you're talking about.
I think I have made this suggestion before. I don't remember what topic ... that would be super specific. But look, here's an example suggestion for this Steam theme (I didn't know what it was):
"Valve Corporation, the company behind the popular multiplayer platform Steam, has announced that it will soon implement its services natively on GNU / Linux."
With a sentence like this at the beginning, the reader will already have an idea of what you are going to speak and in what context it is. You could supplement with a hyperlink on the word "Steam" that leads to the Wikipedia article (which by the way is very complete).
Well, it was a suggestion. Thank you for your articles and I hope you continue to share more.
You are absolutely right Carlos, is that sometimes I get excited writing and the times go by, I apologize haha xD
You don't have to apologize, you haven't done anything wrong. On the contrary, how good that you write with passion. It shows that you like the subject, you analyze it, criticize, argue, conclude, all good.
Next time, consider that there are various types of readers who will read your text. Imagine that you are going to write for a user who uses Windows because he only knows that option. So, this will help you to write an introductory paragraph that serves to locate the reader and contextualize your text: what, who, where, when, how, why.
I hope to read you again soon!
I imagine it is only for Ubuntu right
Of that one is not sure and I doubt it. Sure they get RPM's Deb and the tar.gz or probably directly a .bin
I love how you write, you write excellent and it is also very entertaining as you adapt all the topics in one line in zic - zac 😉: pacman:
Thanks, really = D
ahaha the boy is good 🙂 if my memory does not fail me I think he is from here in Venezuela too
Mmm the truth is that I do not know, I am pessimistic by nature. We will have to wait. It is very possible that everything will come to nothing as well, or that your idea is to have a platform based on linux but not really linux (in the android style), etc.
What Nano predicts is desired by many. Another thing is that that comes true. Steam has more than 40 million accounts, less than 4% are MacOS users. There are 332 games for MacOS (Steam was released 2 years ago). Similar numbers are to be expected on Linux.
It remains to be seen if the client officially comes out in the end, but if it comes out it will be very difficult for what Nano predicts to happen. More than anything because I do not think that more titles are released than on Mac and I do not see possible that we will exceed that 4% of users. So it seems rash to think of driver-level improvements, OpenGL, Wayland? and users.
In the best of scenarios, we can dream of a Valve angry with the Windows Store, blatantly favoring the Linux minority to touch Microsoft's nose. But I don't think he leaves out 90% of his customers.
There are differences with Mac. Remember that Linux is much simpler to obtain and at no cost and that Valve has confirmed that it does want to build the "Steam Box" its own console and this has sparked debates in various forums where some say they will use windows for their platforms and others say that this is not viable because it would raise prices too much and that all this of the Steam Linux port is to make room for a Linux-based Steam Box.
The truth is that I am not predicting anything as such, I know that there are possibilities that nothing happens but there are also those that do, and much more with everything that Linux begins to live at this time.
For my part, I understand that you have written an entry with what you want / hope to happen.
Now the title (Las implications behind the imminent arrival from Steam to Linux) and sentences by way of sentence, may imply that they are your predictions for the future. The arrival of Steam (which I do not see imminent) does not imply everything brilliantly exposed on your part.
About the fact that Linux is simpler to get (and without cost) will not appeal to Windows users. One will come and ask me, so there is "esteam" for Linux? I will say "Yes." He will then say the same games? I'll say "Not yet." He will make a disgusted face and end with a "let me know when they have the same or better games."
A "Steam Box" could be the key (but that's a lot of speculation).
Speculation is the bread and butter in this world of technology.
What I expose above is something possible, it is totally plausible that it will happen, what I did not make clear is that this would be in the long term.