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Thanks to PC Gamer we have been pointed to an interview that Tim Sweeney the founder of Epic Games did, and he's blasting Microsoft yet again.

What I do have issues with here, is that yet again a major developer is basically saying a PC is Windows (bold emphasis mine):
QuoteThe risk here is that, if Microsoft convinces everybody to use UWP, then they phase out Win32 apps. If they can succeed in doing that then it’s a small leap to forcing all apps and games to be distributed through the Windows Store. Once we reach that point, the PC has become a closed platform.

No, there is far more to the PC than Windows. I really wish developers would stop this ridiculous merging of the PC platform with Windows the operating system.

I don't honestly think Microsoft could ever stop Steam working, without Valve doing some kind of major lawsuit, but Mr Sweeney stated it has happened before:
QuoteSlowly, over the next five years, they will force-patch Windows 10 to make Steam progressively worse and more broken. They’ll never completely break it, but will continue to break it until, in five years, people are so fed up that Steam is buggy that the Windows Store seems like an ideal alternative. That’s exactly what they did to their previous competitors in other areas. Now they’re doing it to Steam. It’s only just starting to become visible. Microsoft might not be competent enough to succeed with their plan, but they’re certainly trying.


Also, for the amount of complaints Mr Sweeney has, maybe it's time for him to be productive about it and start moving his company towards an open platform. Anyone know an open platform? Lin-something? Oh yes, Linux, that's it. Linux gives you SteamOS too remember now.

Only Unreal Tournament (the new one) looks like it will have Epic's support and possibly not even officially. The Linux version has been seriously lagging behind the Windows version, repeatedly breaking with major graphical issues and it still has no launcher on Linux. It may still be early, but they don't seem like they're really putting any effort into it. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial
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lucifertdark Jul 27, 2016
UEFI was the first step to making Windows the only operating system that works on a PC, killing steam & replacing it with Windows store would be a further step down that route, it may take a few years but it is going to happen.
dvd Jul 27, 2016
well, support motherboard manufacturers that are not M$ made. There are more players to the whole computer scene than M$, i seriously doubt they will be able to force all motherboard manufacturers to do their bidding. Simply boycott those that do, and support the ones that don't, even if the hardware might be not as good in other respects
metro2033fanboy Jul 27, 2016
If that ever happens, Ill go full PS4,PS5 and STEAM indies

goVEGAN
tuubi Jul 27, 2016
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Quoting: lucifertdarkUEFI was the first step to making Windows the only operating system that works on a PC, killing steam & replacing it with Windows store would be a further step down that route, it may take a few years but it is going to happen.
UEFI has some technical merit as well, and if it was meant to stop competition, all it achieved was a slight speed bump and a lot of noise.
Nanobang Jul 27, 2016
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Quoting: metro2033fanboyIf that ever happens, Ill go full PS4,PS5 and STEAM indies

goVEGAN

That's pretty much what I was thinking. If the day comes that I can't play any games on Linux but only on Windows, that's the day I cease playing games on PC and switch to PSx. If that's not an option, then I'll go back to board games, RPGs using real dice, and choose-your-own adventure books. MS will not force me to play with them. I will take my ball and go the fuck home.
tuubi Jul 27, 2016
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Quoting: Picoboom
Quoting: metro2033fanboyIf that ever happens, Ill go full PS4,PS5 and STEAM indies

goVEGAN

That's pretty much what I was thinking. If the day comes that I can't play any games on Linux but only on Windows, that's the day I cease playing games on PC and switch to PSx.
Hey, fellow penguin-fanciers, relax. I can appreciate a good Sci-Fi dystopia, but Microsoft will never rule the world. This is not in the realm of possibility. Unless absolutely everyone in power goes crazy and everyone else turns to sheep overnight, there's simply no conceivable way of stopping anyone from releasing their game for an open operating system like Linux. Just like there's no way of preventing hardware that enables this from being produced and sold.
Purple Library Guy Jul 27, 2016
Quoting: lucifertdarkUEFI was the first step to making Windows the only operating system that works on a PC, killing steam & replacing it with Windows store would be a further step down that route, it may take a few years but it is going to happen.
I'm sure MS would love to make that happen, but the problem for them is that hardware is commoditized and economies of scale very much operative for computers, and MS only "owns" the desktop segment of that hardware (which is shrinking as a percentage of the whole enchilada). The more of the same widgets Intel or whoever can make, the better for their bottom line, and everywhere except the desktop, those widgets gotta run Linux. Doing the desktop different enough from everything else as to make it not run Linux even though the servers and TV-managing boxes and embedded thingies and supercomputer clusters and yadda and yadda and yadda all have to run Linux, would hurt profits. So they ain't gonna do it, and MS does not have enough muscle in this age to make them.

Also, UEFI is a different category of thing from locking down what runs on Windows. The former was in part a, mostly unsuccessful, move to stop things other than Windows from running on PC hardware. The latter would be an attempt to get more control of, and extract more money from, Windows itself--but if anything it would tend to push more people into running things other than Windows on PC hardware.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 27 July 2016 at 5:55 pm UTC
tuubi Jul 27, 2016
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Quoting: Guest
Quoting: dmantioneIn this case the use of "PC" can be seen as correct: If Microsoft succeeds to close the software part of PC's, why keep the hardware open so people can escape to Linux? Microsoft ARM based hardware is already closed.
there's ARM hardware made by MS?
Lumia phones and Surface tablets? Something like that. They did acquire Nokia back in the day for their hardware expertise after all. Well, they did get the expertise, but lost or got rid of everything else. Including Nokia's market share.
ElectricPrism Jul 27, 2016
OP Tim is correct - Apple sabotages Windows by making iTunes a bloated piece of shit that makes windows crawl on its knees - it's not hard to look good and act superior when you sabotage the competition.

Microsoft wants to crown itself king and will do everything possible to force XBONE and their ideology and way of doing things - this is the same as apple though.

No surprise I can't support either, and while every system has its flaws or cave-outs, at least on Linux if Developer-X makes a bad choice the project is forked to save the users from the bad choice,

eg - OpenOffice -> LibreOffice,

Or for some but not me, they prefer Mate over Gnome 3.

In Windows or Mac world they make a bad decision you're screwed, your files are in their cloud, you can't turn off updates, your PC bricked because of mandatory Windows 10 update? Too bad.
Mountain Man Jul 28, 2016
Quoting: neowiz73
Quoting: Mountain Man
Quoting: neowiz73I blame the Mac vs PC commercials for starting the paradigm of calling all windows based systems "PCs".
It started long before that. "PC" has always been synonymous with Microsoft in one way or another for decades.

not as much, because before the commercials mainly I remember Windows PCs being thing, because Macs were being sold in stores and were referred to Mac PCs vs Windows PCs. But Steve Jobs wanted to make a distinct difference between the two with the commercials by simply stating Macs were *Macs* and Windows PCs were just PCs.
I don't think I've ever heard a Mac referred to as a "Mac PC". What I do remember back in the day is that "PC compatible" was a big selling point for IBM clones, which basically meant they were compatible with IBM PCs meaning they could run MS-DOS. And for whatever reason when Microsoft and IBM parted ways, the term "PC" stuck with Microsoft, probably not by accident.
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