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Latest Comments by Purple Library Guy
Unity 5.6 to release March 31st with 'out of the box support for Vulkan'
1 March 2017 at 7:40 pm UTC

Quoting: pablokl
Quoting: Purple Library GuyI went to 35:25 and I didn't hear anything about Vulkan.

Jump to 21:30
Ah, thanks!

Total War: WARHAMMER has two free new content packs available (UPDATED)
1 March 2017 at 6:45 pm UTC

Well, the trailer was very cool and I really like the whole Arthurian Mythic Chivalry vibe. But I gotta say, it seems very un-Warhamster-ish. Warhammer has always had this distinctive British cynical somewhat-punkish sensibility.

Editorial: Steam Machines are not dead, plus a video from The Linux Gamer
1 March 2017 at 6:33 pm UTC

Quoting: wvstolzingI'd love to think that Linux can then step in, and save the multi-purpose desktop PC; but then again, changing mainstream user habits are turning that into an old relic as well. I just wish to keep having access to multi-purpose devices where I can be ROOT, have complete control over what bits go in and out, and write/change/compile software as I please.

Perhaps the 'future' of multi-purpose PC enthusiasts will be multi-purpose development boards. So hopefully that 'market' keeps developing.

I've never really understood why current developments in the tech field seem as often as not to be about making things less useful and versatile, and this is apparently popular. Being able to do whatever you want with your computer instead of being locked into a few stock functions--so last generation! Wha?

Unity 5.6 to release March 31st with 'out of the box support for Vulkan'
1 March 2017 at 5:54 am UTC Likes: 1

I went to 35:25 and I didn't hear anything about Vulkan.

LiquidSky, the 'PC in the Cloud' gaming service will support Linux
1 March 2017 at 5:46 am UTC Likes: 1

Overall, I might be interested if I lived in South Korea and had a blazing fast connection.

As to who it's good for . . . well, I suspect in the medium term the trend towards software disappearing into the cloud, with stuff like this or things being browser-based, probably is good for Linux the OS (although perhaps not for Free Software more generally). Basically, it's a trend towards making the local OS unimportant. If any OS will in effect run everything, then what do you base your choice of operating system on? User friendliness at this point is mainly a matter of style; all the OSes can do it. So what's left?
Well, Linux won't phone home and tell Microsoft, Apple or the NSA all your pr0n watching habits. That's the only firm differentiator I can think of if everyone can run all the software: Lack of a Big Brother.

Editorial: Steam Machines are not dead, plus a video from The Linux Gamer
1 March 2017 at 5:33 am UTC

Quoting: elmapul"(As a side note, the barriers to jumping to Mac remain about the same--expensive hardware--but may be starting to grow a bit IMO. Apple don't seem to care as much about MacOS as they used to, Metal and non-gaming-oriented hardware seem likely to make Macs lag on the game side, and Apple just isn't run by a driven genius any more)"
apple dont care so much about macOS because iOS is making them tons of money.
That is absolutely true, but for our purposes it doesn't matter. Apple can make tons of profits and do very well as a company, but if they do so by emphasizing iOS and phones, it could still represent an opening for Linux in the desktop-and-laptop space. I'm fine with that--they win on their terms($$$), we win on ours(Linux increased market share leading to better drivers, more games etc), everyone's happy.

Editorial: Steam Machines are not dead, plus a video from The Linux Gamer
1 March 2017 at 1:55 am UTC

Quoting: DuckeenieThe link you provided was interesting but requires a little context - That feature is disabled by default so nothing more than an option for anyone who needs it. No fire here!
Some seem to be hypothesizing that this is in the nature of a trial balloon or thin end of the wedge--that in the longer term they will shift the status of the "feature". Given Microsoft's past behaviour this does not seem far-fetched. Is it guaranteed? No. Is it something to take note of? I would think so, yes.

Torment: Tides of Numenera released for Linux with day-1 support
28 February 2017 at 6:13 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: Aryvandaar
Quoting: Stupendous Man
Quoting: Aryvandaar"ONE BILLION YEARS INTO THE FUTURE...", come on, really? ...
How is that any different from "A long time ago in a galaxy far far away"? I agree, it's ludicrous, but come on, it's fantasy! ;-)

Fantasy/=/ridiculous. Just because something is fantasy it doesn't mean that you should throw everything that makese sense out the window.

Really, ridiculous is hardly ever about the setting. It's about what you do with the setting. I don't actually see how any particular temporal setting can be more ridiculous than any other. A lot of the most ridiculous things I've seen take place in that silliest of settings, the present day. And some of the most serious and important stories I've read take place in completely imaginary settings which never existed and never will.

A billion years are, eventually, going to pass. At that time, things will be happening. Probably not the things depicted in the game, but that would have been true whether it was set a billion years from now or fifty years from now after a hypothetical apocalypse. What's the difference? All I'm getting is a sort of parochial refusal to deal with things too far outside one's frame of reference.

Editorial: Steam Machines are not dead, plus a video from The Linux Gamer
28 February 2017 at 12:27 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Alm888
Quoting: liamdaweI...don't think you understand how percentages work my friend. A very basic example: 0.8% of 100 million and 0.8% of 115 million is a different number, you know that right? A basic example, but it should make my point very clear.

No thank you, I've got my university education and I am well aware that 0.2% from 1 million is better than 10% from 10000. But it does not change the fact that Linux share is shrinking relative to other OS-es. By the time Linux gained additional 10000 users Windows secured another million, if

I think the two of you are ignoring the elephant, admittedly perhaps just outside the room: The Steam Survey is as far as I know the only measure of Linux usage that has been showing a (percentage) decline. Every other major source purporting to measure Linux usage shows an increase--some a gradual increase, some a quite large increase, but none a decline that I know of. Liam is perhaps forgetting his own article on this subject, which I found quite an eye-opener!

If it weren't for that, I'd pretty much agree with Alm888: An increase in raw numbers which is also a percentage decrease because the other raw numbers are growing faster, is not going to make Linux look more attractive as a platform, and would not represent anything one could really tout as "growth" in Linux.

It just so happens that Linux as an overall platform for personal computing is probably in fact growing, with the Steam survey an outlier. This is a different scenario. And I think chances are good of continued growth. The story of (Desktop) Linux IMO is of an OS which has always had good bare bones, and a main competitor (Windows) which has always given its users reasons to switch, but with lots of little barriers to entry (some artificially created by Microsoft). Over the years, the open source community and certain other actors (such as Valve) have chipped away at the barriers to entry, whether it's user-unfriendly features, lack of polished software available, lack of games, obscurity, difficulty installing or whatever. Some have completely disappeared, some have been shrunk but are still there a bit. Windows for its part has reduced some of its problems (such as instability) but added others (such as spying on you like crazy, reduced compatibility with older Windows software, and, by many accounts, user-unfriendliness). So there is still stuff pushing people away from Windows, and the barriers in the way of jumping ship to Linux are far lower than they used to be, although there are still some (obscurity is still significant, for instance). It's to be expected, then, that a somewhat higher proportion of disgruntled Windows users will be able to jump ship. And this is the real question: Will Linux continue to seep into the desktop space over the next while? If it does, game developers should continue to find it worth developing for even if no more Steam Machines are ever sold, especially as the barriers to cross-platform development seem to be set to continue falling.

(As a side note, the barriers to jumping to Mac remain about the same--expensive hardware--but may be starting to grow a bit IMO. Apple don't seem to care as much about MacOS as they used to, Metal and non-gaming-oriented hardware seem likely to make Macs lag on the game side, and Apple just isn't run by a driven genius any more)

Khronos announce 'OpenXR', their new standard for virtual reality and augmented reality
27 February 2017 at 10:04 pm UTC

I just hope it doesn't end up with