Valve's Lessons Learned: Porting Source Engine to Linux

[Draven35]

Valve moves away from its Microsoft roots to OpenGL.

Valve's Lessons Learned: Porting Source Engine to Linux : Read more

 

[atavax]

what is the camera man doing?

 

[edogawa]

I think people hype Linux to much, it's great, but it's terrible for normal consumer use and fragmented. I still see no benefit to using Linux over windows except for commercial uses.

Gotta give Valve credit for their work though, it's a step in the right direction.

 

[kentlowt]

LOL why not just turn off the video and make it just audio...

This story really isn't about linux as it is making a product that is easier to port to different platforms and that is something the openGL gives them.

 

[slomo4sho]

Maybe this is the beginning of cross-platform gaming? Steam cloud saves and multi-platform support are the steps in the right direction.

 

[utroz]

The hell is the camera mans issue.. It's worse than the blair witch project.... My 5 year old can hold a camera steadier than that..... Would have been nice to actually see the data slides and not have to pause the video so i could see what the said.. Looks like it gets better after a few minutes but it really ruined the first part of it..

 

[dark_knight33]

The real issue is there needs to be a de-facto "gaming" dedicated O/S for PCs. Likely linux based due to Windows licensing fees. I use linux & I use Windows (XP, Vista & 7) on different PCs during the week. By far, I like 7 the best, but it's not perfect. Linux is very complicated in comparison to accomplish basic tasks. It can be intentionally unintuitive to a windows user, and questions are often met with "RTFM!". That's why Linux is so far from becoming a daily driver for PC users, nobody likes that attitude. There is definitely a tone of "Do it MSFTs way, or don't do it at all" with Windows based O/Ss that also doesn't work in an environment of choice. Their attitude towards customers with W8, just proves the point. You aren't Apple, we aren't sheeple. Stop telling us what we (the consumer) want, we already know better.

 

[anfunny]

The thing is you have to see open source program for what they will be not what they are. The fact that Linux and Windows 7 are even close is astounding. The potential will only increase and the ease of use is easily adjusted with a GUI. Unbuntu is even being funded by China now. People need to stop being so short sighted or there won't be any growth anywhere.

 

[dark_knight33]

[citation][nom]anfunny[/nom]The thing is you have to see open source program for what they will be not what they are. The fact that Linux and Windows 7 are even close is astounding. The potential will only increase and the ease of use is easily adjusted with a GUI. Unbuntu is even being funded by China now. People need to stop being so short sighted or there won't be any growth anywhere.[/citation]

It's not a matter of being short sighted. It's a matter of, I've used different flavors of linux both personally and professionally since 2000, and while MSFT has moved on from dos over a decade ago, Linux still ties itself to an antiquated command line. MSFT is working on 3D holo interfaces using technologies like kinect. Meanwhile you have these elitest douchbags who will always mutter "I can do it faster in a shell". So the f**k what? All that matters is "What can I do with it today?" When you invest in projects for things you want to do now, for stuff they promise will happen later, all you get is disappointment. Adopt linux for the things it's good at today; e.g. webserving.

The fact that China is investing in Ubuntu is *not* a positive deciding factor for me. I'm not an Anti-China nut, but I understand the 'behind closed doors' competition China is in with US on technology. Believe me, if China is investing in Ubuntu, it's not for the greater global good of OSS. It's so China can stop relying on pirating software from US companies. If you think China won't just take what they want and give little in return, you are short sighted.

 

[ryu750]

The only thing that keeps me using windows is my games.

 

[kanoobie]

So... when is the next Half-Life coming out?

 

[IndignantSkeptic]

I can't wait until I can play all my Steam games on Android.

 

[ddpruitt]

With Ouya (ouch), Steam, and Android Linux has finally reached critical mass. I've used a combination of various OSes over the last 15 years or so. Linux has grown from an immature set of tools to something that tends to be easier and more robust to use than the current version of Windows. The vast majority of gold plating available in Windows has been available in Linux for a number of years. Overall software management tends to be easier because from most distributions there is a single management point. Contrast this with Windows were MS update only works with MS products. Software support is still lacking but has improved considerably. And I'm not going to go into security models.

I've found that most of the people who complain that Linux is harder than Windows, hard to learn, clinging to an antiquated CLI, or had no support are usually MC* types who are unwilling to learn a different system and expect to be spoon-fed answers all the time (although there are a few legitimate dissenters).

 

[LemonMeringueTy]

Count the "Uhh"'s

 

[deck]

[citation][nom]dark_knight33[/nom]It's not a matter of being short sighted. It's a matter of, I've used different flavors of linux both personally and professionally since 2000, and while MSFT has moved on from dos over a decade ago, Linux still ties itself to an antiquated command line. MSFT is working on 3D holo interfaces using technologies like kinect. Meanwhile you have these elitest douchbags who will always mutter "I can do it faster in a shell". So the f**k what? All that matters is "What can I do with it today?" When you invest in projects for things you want to do now, for stuff they promise will happen later, all you get is disappointment. Adopt linux for the things it's good at today; e.g. webserving. The fact that China is investing in Ubuntu is *not* a positive deciding factor for me. I'm not an Anti-China nut, but I understand the 'behind closed doors' competition China is in with US on technology. Believe me, if China is investing in Ubuntu, it's not for the greater global good of OSS. It's so China can stop relying on pirating software from US companies. If you think China won't just take what they want and give little in return, you are short sighted.[/citation]

At risk of sounding like an elitest douche bag, for me, linux does everything better; with the exception of gaming. Any modern distro does not tie you to the command line; it provides the command line as an alternative means of doing things. Rather than than the parochial Microsoft and their "I know what's best for you" attitude, I much prefer an OS which lets me do what ever I damn well please.

I also don't see the "complicated" nature of linux that you refer to. KDE does everything as easily as windows.

 

[kartu]

The gaming world has a problem of the most popular API, DirectX, being Microsoft's exclusive.
If Valve succeeds, it will shatter DX domination and is a good thing.

 

[chefwear]

Never get this guy to film anything ever again.

 

[bit_user]

[citation][nom]chefwear[/nom]Never get this guy to film anything ever again.[/citation]
Did you actually watch more than the first two minutes?

I haven't seen the whole thing yet, but it looks like the camera person is sitting down and setting up a tripod that is used for the remaining 53 minutes of the talk. I skipped around and the rest of the talk look perfectly stable.

 

[bit_user]

[citation][nom]dark_knight33[/nom]Linux still ties itself to an antiquated command line. MSFT is working on 3D holo interfaces using technologies like kinect.[/citation]
You're speaking like an end-user who uses computers only to browse the web and write word docs. The reason people like the commandline so much is that a commandline-centric model makes everything easy to script and automate. On GUI-centric systems, automation is usually an afterthought.

I like that Linux doesn't force a specific GUI on me. I am free to use whatever frontend (be it X-windows based or not). And if I do use X-windows, then I can use whichever window manager I choose. Things like touch screen and 3D gestural interfaces are a property of the interface and shouldn't be tied to the kernel.

But that's all beside the point. The fact is that Android is built on Linux, which makes it probably the most popular OS on cell phones and first or second most popular on tablets. That's why this matters.

 

[Dreadteir]

I rather thought the interesting point here was that OpenGL has most of the features of modern versions of DirectX. If programming engines in OpenGL were to go mainstream, users would rarely, if ever, be held hostage by Microsoft's "You'll have to upgrade to the latest version of Windows if you want the newest version of DirectX" attitude.

All the new shiny graphics, now available on Windows XP!! (For those of you who prefer it)

 

[bryonhowley]

For me I see no benefit in porting Steam to Linux given that out of 224 games I have a total of 6 that are playable in Linux and NONE of them are even close to AAA titles. At least on OS X I have 66 that are playable and most are AAA titles.

 

[10hellfire01]

[citation][nom]kartu[/nom]The gaming world has a problem of the most popular API, DirectX, being Microsoft's exclusive.If Valve succeeds, it will shatter DX domination and is a good thing.[/citation]
That's what I would hope + the fact I love mostly anything open source, marvelous things usually result because of that. My only concern though is will Nvidia/AMD/Intel step up their game and prioritize OpenGL as they have DirectX--of which they have severely lacked to do. Because they will play a big part in this too, whether they want to assist the move by optimizing, or hurting it by doing what they currently do (almost nothing).

 

[bit_user]

[citation][nom]bryonhowley[/nom]For me I see no benefit in porting Steam to Linux given that out of 224 games I have a total of 6 that are playable in Linux and NONE of them are even close to AAA titles.[/citation]You're just thinking of desktop PCs running Linux, but this is really about Android phones, tablets, and set top boxes.

 

[fleeb]

[citation][nom]ddpruitt[/nom]I've found that most of the people who complain that Linux is harder than Windows, hard to learn, clinging to an antiquated CLI, or had no support are usually MC* types who are unwilling to learn a different system and expect to be spoon-fed answers all the time (although there are a few legitimate dissenters).[/citation]

May be the same reason why Windows 8 is so hated by so many.

 

[bit_user]

LOL. Looks like some linux hater(s) just gave us all a bunch of down votes.

That's really constructive, kids. Bravo. Time well spent.