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It wouldn't be unrealistic to expect distro support if these were free software packages that distros could patch and package up for their own needs. But they a

It wouldn't be unrealistic to expect distro support if these were free software packages that distros could patch and package up for their own needs. But they aren't, they are proprietary blobs distributed through a proprietary app store that is only supported on Ubuntu. And that's the thing with proprietary software: you DON'T get what you pay for. Personally, I refuse to play proprietary games, they offer nothing to me and the experience is always negative. I think it is a farce to say that the technical benefits of GNU/Linux are not owed to the fact that it is an entire ecosystem of free software. If you believe this is a question of ideology, and you willingly disregard it, then what is the problem with Windows?

jiggy2011 14y ago
You probably aren't the target market for Steam in that case. If there was a compelling collection of open source games I would certainly play them but that has never really been the case. There are tangible advantages in having open source tools and components such as compilers,kernels and desktop environments even without every program on the system being open source.
- spacelizard 14y ago
  I would not consider GNU/Linux users the target market either. I would consider the target market to be Windows users that don't want to use Windows for whatever reason. These people don't care what they use as long as it isn't Windows, they aren't loyal to any one system for any particular reason. Personally I do not derive pleasure from just playing games, I need to be able to study their source code and modify them. So I see no advantages in having proprietary games on my system. I hope that other GNU/Linux users acknowledge this as well. The one true value of the system is that it is GPL-ed.
  - jiggy2011 14y ago
    I'm not sure what the difference is between a GNU/Linux user and a person who is using GNU/Linux because they don't want to use Windows. If you look at places like /r/linux on reddit the Linux fanboys there are practically wetting themselves over steam. I agree that more open source games would be a good thing, but I don't see it as necessarily more important than having access to the unedited recordings of a piece of music.
    - spacelizard 14y ago
      Is someone really a GNU/Linux user if they have no respect for the core values of the system? I personally don't understand the exuberance on reddit. It's just another package manager in the already large sea of them, and a proprietary DRMed one at that; it doesn't really seem to provide any practical advantages to anybody. I believe it did on Windows, where even developers didn't have any reasonable package management system until a few years ago. But I see no real business strategy here. Also funny that you mention that because as a hobbyist musician I think it would be pretty cool to have CC-SA'ed masters of some of my favorite songs.

jiggy2011 14y ago

You probably aren't the target market for Steam in that case. If there was a compelling collection of open source games I would certainly play them but that has never really been the case. There are tangible advantages in having open source tools and components such as compilers,kernels and desktop environments even without every program on the system being open source.

spacelizard 14y ago
I would not consider GNU/Linux users the target market either. I would consider the target market to be Windows users that don't want to use Windows for whatever reason. These people don't care what they use as long as it isn't Windows, they aren't loyal to any one system for any particular reason. Personally I do not derive pleasure from just playing games, I need to be able to study their source code and modify them. So I see no advantages in having proprietary games on my system. I hope that other GNU/Linux users acknowledge this as well. The one true value of the system is that it is GPL-ed.
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  I'm not sure what the difference is between a GNU/Linux user and a person who is using GNU/Linux because they don't want to use Windows. If you look at places like /r/linux on reddit the Linux fanboys there are practically wetting themselves over steam. I agree that more open source games would be a good thing, but I don't see it as necessarily more important than having access to the unedited recordings of a piece of music.
  - spacelizard 14y ago
    Is someone really a GNU/Linux user if they have no respect for the core values of the system? I personally don't understand the exuberance on reddit. It's just another package manager in the already large sea of them, and a proprietary DRMed one at that; it doesn't really seem to provide any practical advantages to anybody. I believe it did on Windows, where even developers didn't have any reasonable package management system until a few years ago. But I see no real business strategy here. Also funny that you mention that because as a hobbyist musician I think it would be pretty cool to have CC-SA'ed masters of some of my favorite songs.