Overview page: https://www.gog.com/en/anniversary
Direct sign up for Galaxy Linux beta: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/t/YEF5EV/
Overview page: https://www.gog.com/en/anniversary
Direct sign up for Galaxy Linux beta: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/t/YEF5EV/
This is good news.
I’m really hoping that Valve will end up being a better stewart of the PC ecosystem than Microsoft in the long run.
Sometimes, It does really feel like the PC ecosystem can wither and die without them. I know we’re all enthusiasts here but I need to remind myself that we really do benefit from the larger ecosystem of PC owners. Without that demand being present, personal computers would really be for a few choice people and not all of us.
If the larger ecosystem collapses under the weight of one company (like Microsoft or valve) then there are bigger problems to solve like supply chain, trust, and support that no free and open source project will be able to handle. Not because it’s free and open source, but because the problems are just really really big and they take a lot of money to fix.
More people working on these problems is a good thing. I’m happy to see so much more happening on Linux regardless of my preferences.
People might have to learn how to double click an icon on their desktop instead of on steam, the horror
The good news is that Valve is not the steward of the PC ecosystem, even (or especially) on Linux. Everything they’ve contributed to Linux is open source, and they don’t control it. Even if Valve disappears tomorrow, or enshitifies, there are tons of Linux distros and the packages are all public.
I think the greatest strength valve has is being privately owned, rather than having to answer to investors. Combined with them genuinely appearing to care about the state of gaming, it’s a big thing. Especially with their contributions to open source and Linux gaming.
Microsoft and such are all about the money, quality assurance has quietly been abandoned over the years.
Here’s hoping we aren’t disappointed years from now.
This is true, but also kind of depressing that Capitalism is now so insidious that people treat gaben like some kind of benevolent philanthropist for choosing to sit on a huge ongoing cash cow that makes more money directly to his bank account than he’s physically able to spend, rather than IPO it.
On a scale of rich guys, he’s currently one that hasn’t done stuff to upset me. But of course, he’s no God. And the moment he or his company turn into soulless money whores, the trust will evaporate. But for now I’ll be happy that they’re contributing to things that don’t directly generate cash for them.
The bar is so low it’s through the floor.
Dude loved his yachts (plural) so much that he literally bought the company that makes them.
He’s a billionaire; he’s not a good guy.
The fact that they are privately owned is the reason why they are even capable of caring about things besides profit above all else. Large groups of people like boards of directors and shareholders are only capable of caring about things in their lowest common denominator that virtually every person cares about, such as having more money.
Note how all VC-owned and publicly traded companies behave like perfectly predictable clones of one another. They are all just apparatuses for money production, with the actual product they sell, their literal means of making the money, an afterthought.
Only capable…? You are aware that they are legally binded to maximize profit, right? Not doing so is a literal crime for the board.
Yep. If Valve ever announces an IPO, they should be considered dead and we should all start to migrate away.
To where? Leaving behind your library? I doubt it. They would have to do a lot worse than that, but it would be a cataclysmic event for PC gaming and their days would be numbered…
Moving away could just mean not buying more stuff there rather than not playing what you have already bought.
Outside companies can’t really contribute to Windows development and have no say, so it’s 100% up to Microsoft to look after the Windows ecosystem.
On Linux however, Steam can contribute to the kernel and both audio and graphics systems. All this apart from delivering their Steam service. The same will be the case for GOG, although they probably can’t afford much, and the same will be true for Epic if they want.
Linux has mainly been held up by server development on the professional side, and desktops have been mostly been an afterthought among the ones with the money. Even Linus Torvalds does not use Linux as his personal computer. So most of the Linux desktop was developed by personal private interests with help from Red Hat.
But despite that Linux desktop is pretty damned awesome today with strong alternatives to Gnome. 😀
It can never be the responsibility of Valve alone to keep the Linux desktop alive and thriving, they are merely part of it, and they have been a great boon for Linux, like Red Hat used to be who developed most of the GTK graphics back end, Gnome desktop, Pulse Audio and systemd.
Linux desktop is a very very different ecosystem than Windows, in the way it works, kind of like how Eric Raymond tried to describe in his book The Cathedral and the Bazaar. Unfortunately he failed, and the book and ended out as mostly nonsense, but the book is famous anyway, because it does try to describe the gist of it.
The traditional PC is dying, no doubt about it. PC used to be a universal tool for everybody, it isn’t anymore, many people have scrapped their PC, and now just use their phones and sometimes also tablets. The PC is a special interest tool today, and as such it will survive, but at a smaller scale than it used to be on. But as a special tool, it will also keep developing for those special “needs” like gaming, and the PC remains way ahead of any other form of game system in almost every way.
Edit:
Linus Torvalds does indeed use Linux desktop today, he Apparently uses Fedora.
But for many years he didn’t.
Could you please correct the misinformation regarding Linus Torvalds in the body properly and not just in an appended edit notice? Thank you.
No
Yes he does. I would imagine the same one he built on camera in 2025 for his desktop. He has been seen with mac laptops, but they had ashahi linux on them.
Edit: I should add around 2011-2015 he did daily drive a mac, so a long time ago.
That’s what I knew, I never heard he changed to actually using Linux, last I heard he said the Linux desktop isn’t good enough for daily use.
I’m glad if he actually uses Linux desktop now. 😀
Wow, i have been using desktop Linux longer than Torvalds!
Me too and it is honestly hilarious.
Same here.
I thought Linus used Fedora and that systemd was made by Poettering as a personal project unrelated to his work at Red Hat.
I’m pretty sure Red Hat financed it, although it was a pet project of his.
Last I heard Linus was using a MAC.
Edit:
Apparently Linus does use Fedora now.
His most recently stated preference is definitely Fedora: Linus Torvalds on Linus Tech Tips
He specifically likes it (over say Ubuntu) because it’s easy for him to build/replace the kernel whilst at the same time, it’s a “just installs - just works” distro with no tweaking required.
Edit: I see no evidence that Linus has EVER used MacOS as his daily driver, despite using Mac hardware several times.
This is all way off topic, but “Even Linus I INVENTED LINUX Torvalds doesn’t even use it” is wrong.
Yes I was not aware he had done that, I have LTT blocked on Youtube because he’s an asshole, so didn’t see it.
When I started using Linux in 2005 Linus was definitely using MAC, and I heard that a few times within the first decade. Linus also expressed that Linux desktop is not suitable as a daily driver.
https://linux.slashdot.org/story/05/03/09/1314250/torvalds-switches-to-a-mac
I’m surprised it was a bit hard to find, and I had thought I’d find better sources on it, but apparently it’s hidden behind things that have happened since.
It’s literally right there.
Edit: The article needs to be dug out of the waybackmachine: https://web.archive.org/web/20050309174306/http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/0,39023165,39183867,00.htm
OK then I’ve been mistaken for 20 years. 🙁
But the context that he was running Mac and he criticized the Linux desktop for not being suitable for a daily driver, lead me to this obvious conclusion.
For some reason I have never seen an article before that he uses Mac but with Linux on it??
Preach, brother/sister! <3