7 ms·

I find this announcement kind of bitter-sweet. It's awesome, amazing and inspiring that a company like Valve has put this much effort in to supporting Linux, no

I find this announcement kind of bitter-sweet. It's awesome, amazing and inspiring that a company like Valve has put this much effort in to supporting Linux, no matter what their underlying motives are. At the same time, it's really sad that this is the biggest thing to happen to mainstream Linux gaming since Loki and id/Epic since the early '00s. As somebody who was briefly caught up in the "convert-all-the-things-to-Linux" evangelism of the early 00's to the "fsck it, I don't care who uses it. I like it." attitude, I sincerely hope this makes an impact. Forget the FLOSS ideals and morals; if this means more 'power users' realize there's a viable Windows alternative for gaming (and more), everybody wins. I know a lot of 'purists' will inevitably complain about the influx of 'noobs', but, fsck it. No matter what beliefs/philosophies you follow, it's always a good thing to be able to show people that there are other options. As a long-time follower & sometimes contributer to the free/open Unix scene, this makes me proud.

white_devil 14y ago
It's alright to say "fuck". We're all adults here.
- winter_blue 14y ago
  Expletives just aren't fun to hear every now and then. It's probably not because there's anything intrinsically bad about them (it's just a sound), but we've been trained since we are young that they are "bad" words. And to some extent this is true, many expletives do ave "bad" dictionary definitions, but in the context they're used the meaning is never (or rarely ) implied. I can see here that many people want to change this, and make expletives a common part of daily usage; but I don't see being a good thing overall. A lot of people hold to former way of thinking (that they're bad), and if you get into the habit of using such words it might affect you ability of form relationships with the majority of people who think they're bad. In addition I think, even internally, it's hard to get that idea from years-of-training (and one that's held by the majority of society) out of your head. I know I'm probably going to be criticized for this, but using myself expletives gives me a "dirty" or "uncivilized" feeling. Finally, I also don't think they really add to a conversation in any significant way. There are much better words ou there (and more eloquent sounding ones, too) to imply emphasis (I presume this is the primary use-case of expletives), and a conversation does sound more "intelligent" and "cultured" like so.
  - trentlott 14y ago
    using "fsck" is worse.
    - semanticist 14y ago
      Using 'f_ck' is worse. Using 'fsck' is a *nix nerd joke. (Edit: couldn't type an asterisk without it wanting to italicise the rest of the line!)
  - teach 14y ago
    I've always like this quote: "Profanity is the effort of a feeble brain to express itself forcibly." - Spencer W. Kimball Cursing is like salt: judicious use can improve a well-made dish, but overuse doesn't make bad food into good.
    - mitchty 14y ago
      While the quotes are nice, at the same time ignoring curse words entirely is basically cutting off a significant portion of expression. While I'm not saying you should litter all of your sentences with them, they do get the point across much better than not. A (long) view on the subject by Stephen Fry that basically points out we shouldn't lament language change and other ways of expressing ourselves. http://www.stephenfry.com/2008/11/04/dont-mind-your-language%E2%80%A6/ http://www.stephenfry.com/2008/11/04/dont-mind-your-language...
    - jff 14y ago
      I have a related quote: "People who try to say profanity indicates stupidity can go fuck themselves" -- me.
      - teach 14y ago
        Not stupidity, necessarily. Just laziness.
    - evanmoran 14y ago
      In my opinion swearing is less an indication of stupidity and more an indication of being cliche. You can swear all you want but you won't say anything inventive. Take for example the best f-bomb ever: YIPPIE KI-YI-YA MOTHER FUCKER. I'm pretty sure that only meant `fuck you` with some country-style rebelliousness thrown in. Awesome yes, deep it was not.
- malkia 14y ago
  > It's alright to say "fuck". We're all adults here How do you know? There might be kids reading here...
- theunixbeard 14y ago
  It's a *nix joke, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fsck#Use_as_profanity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fsck#Use_as_profanity
  - piffey 14y ago
    Of course theunixbeard would be the only one to get it.

white_devil 14y ago

It's alright to say "fuck". We're all adults here.

winter_blue 14y ago
Expletives just aren't fun to hear every now and then. It's probably not because there's anything intrinsically bad about them (it's just a sound), but we've been trained since we are young that they are "bad" words. And to some extent this is true, many expletives do ave "bad" dictionary definitions, but in the context they're used the meaning is never (or rarely ) implied. I can see here that many people want to change this, and make expletives a common part of daily usage; but I don't see being a good thing overall. A lot of people hold to former way of thinking (that they're bad), and if you get into the habit of using such words it might affect you ability of form relationships with the majority of people who think they're bad. In addition I think, even internally, it's hard to get that idea from years-of-training (and one that's held by the majority of society) out of your head. I know I'm probably going to be criticized for this, but using myself expletives gives me a "dirty" or "uncivilized" feeling. Finally, I also don't think they really add to a conversation in any significant way. There are much better words ou there (and more eloquent sounding ones, too) to imply emphasis (I presume this is the primary use-case of expletives), and a conversation does sound more "intelligent" and "cultured" like so.
- trentlott 14y ago
  using "fsck" is worse.
  - semanticist 14y ago
    Using 'f_ck' is worse. Using 'fsck' is a *nix nerd joke. (Edit: couldn't type an asterisk without it wanting to italicise the rest of the line!)
- teach 14y ago
  I've always like this quote: "Profanity is the effort of a feeble brain to express itself forcibly." - Spencer W. Kimball Cursing is like salt: judicious use can improve a well-made dish, but overuse doesn't make bad food into good.
  - mitchty 14y ago
    While the quotes are nice, at the same time ignoring curse words entirely is basically cutting off a significant portion of expression. While I'm not saying you should litter all of your sentences with them, they do get the point across much better than not. A (long) view on the subject by Stephen Fry that basically points out we shouldn't lament language change and other ways of expressing ourselves. http://www.stephenfry.com/2008/11/04/dont-mind-your-language%E2%80%A6/ http://www.stephenfry.com/2008/11/04/dont-mind-your-language...
  - jff 14y ago
    I have a related quote: "People who try to say profanity indicates stupidity can go fuck themselves" -- me.
    - teach 14y ago
      Not stupidity, necessarily. Just laziness.
  - evanmoran 14y ago
    In my opinion swearing is less an indication of stupidity and more an indication of being cliche. You can swear all you want but you won't say anything inventive. Take for example the best f-bomb ever: YIPPIE KI-YI-YA MOTHER FUCKER. I'm pretty sure that only meant `fuck you` with some country-style rebelliousness thrown in. Awesome yes, deep it was not.
malkia 14y ago
> It's alright to say "fuck". We're all adults here How do you know? There might be kids reading here...
theunixbeard 14y ago
It's a *nix joke, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fsck#Use_as_profanity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fsck#Use_as_profanity
- piffey 14y ago
  Of course theunixbeard would be the only one to get it.