I don't see how SteamOS makes it any better if they want to support many distros. It's just another +1. If they want to support just one reference distro, they can do it already now (using Debian Stable for example). They don't need SteamOS for that (which uses the same Debian stable by the way).

In the past, GOG folks at least said they considered supporting Debian, Mint and for some reason Chrome OS (which is pretty weird, since stock Chrome OS does not support native applications, you need to unlock it in developer mode to be able to install native stuff).

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SteamOS won't solve any fragmentation issues more than other distros already do (whether they are illusionary or not). But it has one catch - marketing push by Valve combined with a gaming console. Which is a good excuse for CDPR to start supporting Linux. Let's hope they'll get in shape and we'll see Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 on Linux.

CD Projekt Red folks really surprise me with being so clueless on this subject. Usually they do proper research. I think it's complete unfamiliarity with Linux of their top management that is the problem here.

About dropping Windows - you don't need any Windows to play Witcher 1 and 2, they perfectly work in Wine. Witcher 3 will be a problem however, because it will use DirectX 11 and will be 64 bit. So native version would be really great.

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QuotePapers, Please Joins The Long List Of Linux Games On Steam

As well as the growing list of DRM-free Linux games in the Humble Store: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/papersplease_storefront

I bought the DRM-free Windows version there before (playable in Wine), and now HB just automatically added a Linux version to my account.

Thanks to the author. Papers Please is an original game.

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Yes, some of them are whether they tell me or not. But whether to use the service or not I decide based in part on how they treat their users. And this enough for me to avoid Steam.

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I have a problem with Steam not letting you know before hand all that information, as well as not officially supporting it. So I don't consider it to be even partially DRM free (official service). It's a whole level worse than a mixture of DRM-free and DRMed offerings that HB has for example.

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GOG and HB provide self contained installers and packages which they guarantee will be usable without their services being present anywhere. I saw no such guarantee from Steam. Manual copying "works" as is (sometimes), but it's not what Steam supports or can vouch for.

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If you paid attention I was specifically excluding the case of copying the game directory as is. I was talking about official Steam backup (which I assume should include all the installation logic if such is present). Copying can indeed work for some games. Is it guaranteed to work for all Steam games? I have no clue. At best, such copying can be considered a workaround, but not a feature of Steam.

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So, you can unpack the backup created by Steam without the client? That's good. Is it just a simple zip, tarball etc.? Does it contain all the installation scripts (if they ever exist? I have no clue. On some systems installers have scripts).

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Kristian: Can you please focus on the installation step? I didn't say anything about distribution in the last few posts. If you are sure installation on Steam is DRM free, can you please explain how it works? You can start from after the step 3 in my list above, and explain where it was wrong.

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Quoting: Quote from KristianThere are two faulty premises underlying this post:

1) For a game to be DRM free the software you use to download it has to be open source .

No, that wasn't the point. For the game to be DRM free it needs to be installable DRM free. So, once you download it, you should have a package / archive which you should be able to install independently. Let's see how it works with Steam if you compare it to the browser. (I'm not talking about manual copying of directories which can work sometimes, I'm talking about official backup).

1. You buy a game and make a backup (offical Steam one).
2. Steam service closes down.
3. You lose access to the service, and let's say to the client as well (for example you have a new system). All you have is the actual backup.
4. You try installing your backed-up game and... It requires a client you have no way to get. Not only that, even if you get it, to restore the game it needs to connect to a service which doesn't exist anymore. That's it - no restore. Comparison to the browser is completely irrelevant, since once you download a package / archive, you store it and can unpack it at any time.

The rest of your post wasn't to the point of what I was saying.

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