just to be clear, disparaging has never been the intention. not even remotely. just different perspectives.
try looking at it this way: by using wine you are promoting windows exactly as much as i do by using windows. the fact that you didn't buy a windows license isn't even anecdotal for frontier or any 3rd party developer. as newt says, it's invisible, and as micha says, it's just about economics. in our example, the only way (for customers) to promote an ed linux port is refusing to buy an ed windows version. wine just promotes wine, and while it makes more 'linux users' possible, it also perpetuates more 'windows software' being thrown at the world. it doesn't address the question of openess or compatibility, it short circuit's it.
and i can't say that's a bad thing either. it's just ... choice.
Yeah.. See.. I like your perspective. But we disagree about there's no difference between my using WINE promotes windows, tho... I think even to Frontier Developments there is value in
recognizing the real, fundamental difference between our experience in Linux, with WINE, and those who play with Windows. Our experience is equally as legitimate and collectively, materially,
does cost them less money, in the long run,
partly because there is no Windows license involved.
Think about it, there's barely any out-of-band upkeep because Elite runs in a bottle, metaphorically, and technically speaking.
Windows will change, and change again, and frankly, so will Linux, but Frontier will spend 0 dollars keeping Elite running on Linux, for basically as long as there are computers. The whole library of Alexandria we've built out of the internet for ourselves is where that game resides now.. Ha, I'm willing to bet Elite, even if it's never ported, will probably be runnable on some form of Linux longer than Frontier will want to run the servers. (What we do when they decide they don't want to anymore is a problem for another thread, but...)
It's entirely likely it'll run as long as Microsoft is around too, i guess. At least as long as they aren't Linux themselves someday, anyway.
You could consider WINE a win for Microsoft, only it isn't. WINE actually makes Microsoft look bad because it's proof that being capitalistic oles doesn't stop the rest of the world from eating your lunch if you get to big for your own britches.. WINE is a
cleanroom reimplementation of their
own product, that literally:
- breaks no laws
- steals no code
- involves none of their own efforts.
- made by their detractors and those forced to support their legacy products
- made by their supporters and those profiting off of supporting legacy products
- lots of gamers actually love, and don't have to love any company not related to games
That we can use WINE for gaming is a slap in the face to the gaming industry, too though.. for putting up with only one predominant commercial plaform for
so long, another
homemade PC platform rose out of the
basements of
their own customer base to take over the functions that filthy console peasants
still pay for. (tongue firmly in cheek
)
I chafe every time people, especially game developers, complain because WINE is
working for gaming, and omg shortcuts.. Given the mounting evidence, the people making these games aren't all under the impression it makes it easier to stay on Windows because of it.
And the best part? Nowadays you can install
Windows Subsystem for Linux (which is.. so many weaselwords, I can hardly stomach it..) That is supposed to be Microsoft loving linux? by subsuming it? That's actual GPL'd code. Those packages, those environments, those weren't written by Microsoft.. That's not a
cleanroom reimplementation of Ubuntu. Those were written by normal regular people over the years, and sponsored by Canonical, a nice independent South African firm.. And
that is how Microsoft loves Linux?
That's not love. That's business.
WINE wasn't written for pure economic profit motive, and like so much of the code in WSL, it wasn't written by Microsoft either.
Frontier Developments is a business, too! A big business! Like Mojang, they could be snatched up, too, someday! What a phenomenal exit strategy that would be! Their motives aren't so opaque.. No Linux version of their games would go a long way in the good graces of the mighty M&A departments, ne? So it's no wonder to us, their customers, their audience, that they don't support us.
Funny how it isn't stopping us, huh? We enter our little commercial contract with Frontier when we buy the game.. just like everyone else. We're not (all) trolls and weirdos and n'ere-do-wells. Hell, this is one of the oldest living threads on this entire site. This thread has literally survived every iteration of their forums software. I'm pretty suprised about that actually.. Though.. It's not unheardof to have long running "linux version pls" threads on, basically every game's forum, huh? it's been that way for years, right?
WINE isn't invisible, i don't think. WINE doesn't promote Windows either, I don't think. Especially because it's such a testament to the pointlessness of Windows to gaming..
This conversation isn't sponsored by an alternative operating system company, only really passionate gamers who happen to be good at computers and know gaming could be so much more. (ok there's that one SuSE guy, but I'm sure he ain't getting paid to post =P), and because I'm not being paid to say it, because I'm not alone in my sentiment, Frontier would do well to foster relationships like that with people like me.. I'm held back by their attitude and lack of commitment..
Anyway, I sound like a vegan.
Notice that none of the typewritten diarrhea above this includes
technical reasons why a Linux version of Elite would be a good idea.. I avoided all the technical benefits of a Linux version precisely because nobody listens to them anyway. That Elite is playable under Linux, comparably to Windows, and it's nobody's fault but our own? That should tell anybody everything they need to know or consider.
