Name one other company that’s doing more for open source and open platforms than Valve.
They’ve helped push gaming on Linux from a very niche process to basically having Windows native games work better on Linux than on Windows. They do this via Proton which they upstream into WINE (all open source and free to use by anyone).
They’ve silently funded an x86 to ARM emulator for years and it’s entirely open source (anyone can use it).
The Steam client is a 1st class citizen on Linux. It doesn’t matter that their client is closed source, because all the tools they employ is open source. The client is mostly just the store portion of their stuff. The actual tools that run the games are open source.
They’re also the only major games store that supports Linux natively (itch.io exists, and they’re great, but Steam is so much bigger).
Name a company that does even half of that. Just one company.
brachiosaurus@mander.xyz 1 week ago
Any non profit company who’s products isn’t a proprietary third party software launcher.
They have built a semi-monopoly on videogames relying for two decades on closed source products and windows, they are now looking at the linux share because microsoft in the past years made bullish acquisitions in the videogames industry.
If the client doesn’t matter that much that’s even more reasons to release the source code.
companies usually make money, non profit organizations help people
CeeBee_Eh@lemmy.world 1 week ago
You’re being disingenuous. You know full well the context of the argument precludes non-profits.
You might want to check your math on that. Steam on Windows was originally released in 2003, and released on Linux in 2013.
And the reason for their interest has nothing to do with Microsoft’s game studio acquisitions, and everything to do with Microsoft’s attempts to lock down the Windows ecosystem back in the Windows 8/RT days.
No one said it doesn’t matter. It’s their software/platform/service. They can do whatever they want, and it’s their right to do so. If you don’t want to use their platform, you don’t have to.
Usually. But the fact that Valve’s interests align with the benefits of its userbase isn’t a bad thing. Making money isn’t a crime, and making money while building a system people like also isn’t a bad thing.
You seem to have a strange hatred towards Valve for simply existing. Are you friends with Tim Sweeney or something?
brachiosaurus@mander.xyz 1 week ago
Both of them.
Exactly, don’t use it
My interests are in free, open source and decentralized platforms. What about yours?
Making billions is a crime because there is no good way to do it, you have to be greedy and use shady methods to gain so much money. Valve promotes gambling to kids and makes a billion a year on microtransactions.
Billionares and corporations do not simply exist, they are built on the exploitation of others
CeeBee_Eh@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Between 2003 (the launch of Steam on Windows) and 2013 (the launch of Steam on Linux) Microsoft acquired two game studios. Whereas in 2018 alone (the start of their acquisition spree) they acquired six.
Well, I want to use it. There is no better game store with as many good deals, and that supports Linux.
Show me a game store that supports Linux with a good selection of games of modern and major game titles.
Also, Steam directly supports and funds a plethora of open source tools that benefit everyone.
Agreed, which is why I use Linux and support companies that also support Linux.
You’re right about 99.99+% of cases. And I’m not defending Valve as some altruistic company. But lumping in Valve with the likes of Amazon, Oracle, Nvidia, Monsanto, Elon Musk, etc, simply on the amount of money they make is desingenous at best, but frankly is insane.
You’re one of those people that have a militant mindset when it comes to FOSS that gives open source a weird and bad reputation.
Open source literally cannot exist without companies using it to make money. The majority of funding for things like development of Linux itself comes directly from donations from for-profit companies.
Say “hi” to Tim Sweeney. Tell him Canada is just fine without him moving here.
Hell, the historically two largest distributions by install count (Ubuntu and Fedora) are developed and maintained by for-profit companies.