Apply To Be Part Of The Valve Linux Beta

[GreatEmerald]

In brief, Valve seems to be more interested in customer service and support than does GOG.

On the contrary. GOG.com just want to make sure that when it commits to Linux support, it would be able to support all of the major distributions. And they are looking for ways to do that. Here's an interview where they expanded upon it a little:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/10/24/cd...ws-8-and-more/
It's a bit unfair towards Valve, as they did say they would also support other distros, but otherwise it makes sense. After all, for all of the DOSBox games, you can already play them on Linux without issues. Just extract their installer and that's all. It's only the native Linux games that are not available yet.

[Larian]

On the contrary. GOG.com just want to make sure that when it commits to Linux support, it would be able to support all of the major distributions. And they are looking for ways to do that. Here's an interview where they expanded upon it a little:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/10/24/cd...ws-8-and-more/
It's a bit unfair towards Valve, as they did say they would also support other distros, but otherwise it makes sense. After all, for all of the DOSBox games, you can already play them on Linux without issues. Just extract their installer and that's all. It's only the native Linux games that are not available yet.

Valve said they're giving us something by year's end and there's a catalog published online of what games are coming. GOG says they don't know how to get it done, but Valve's way is stinky. "We're looking at it" is not even vaporware.

Further, why they're not releasing/distributing native Linux clients for games that HAVE LINUX CLIENTS ALREADY isn't even relevant. The fact is that they're not doing it, even when the work is already done for them. If they commit to Linux support, and that's a big if, I'll be among the first to acknowledge it. Until then, a Steam client with games trumps GOG with their big, fat nothing with no plans to show.

[Licaon]

On the contrary. GOG.com just want to make sure that when it commits to Linux support, it would be able to support all of the major distributions. And they are looking for ways to do that.

really? you believe that's the reason? really? they'll support Arch and Slack, they'll put Gentoo ebuilds for download too? that sound nice, but in the mean time ( 'cause yeah it will take them some time, like 5 years or so ) Steam and Desura will be far, far, away, having all the Linux games in their library.
But it won't be like that, if they want to have a Linux market that is, they'll just support some Ubuntu ( and the other Debian derived ), a RPM distro like Fedora and TAR.XZ ( I hope lol ) for the rest. They need a Linux subforum and scripts will flow to get everything in place for other distros. It's not perfect but it gets the job done for them and for us.

[Larian]

really? you believe that's the reason? really? they'll support Arch and Slack, they'll put Gentoo ebuilds for download too? that sound nice, but in the mean time ( 'cause yeah it will take them some time, like 5 years or so ) Steam and Desura will be far, far, away, having all the Linux games in their library.
But it won't be like that, if they want to have a Linux market that is, they'll just support some Ubuntu ( and the other Debian derived ), a RPM distro like Fedora and TAR.XZ ( I hope lol ) for the rest. They need a Linux subforum and scripts will flow to get everything in place for other distros. It's not perfect but it gets the job done for them and for us.

The Humble Indie Bundle guys seem to have solved this problem with *.run packages (among others). What am I not understanding here?

[Dewitt501]

tried to fill out the form using chromium, but there was no info in the dropdown boxes. Using Konquerior it seems to work

[AJenbo]

The Humble Indie Bundle guys seem to have solved this problem with *.run packages (among others). What am I not understanding here?

.run ofthen makes a mess of things, it's unclear what they do and some users don't know how to run them...

[Larian]

.run ofthen makes a mess of things, it's unclear what they do and some users don't know how to run them...

So you're telling me that I'm insanely lucky that I've never had a problem installing any of the 60 some-odd games from the HIB guys over the spectrum of installers they use on three different systems (along with id Software's and Icculus' installer scripts for their games)?

[Spectre]

It's Monday, start of Canonical's developer summit. I wonder if they'll announce today who's on the beta? When I did the survey I think it said they'd contact via steam. Does steam have private messages?

[entropy]

It's Monday, start of Canonical's developer summit. I wonder if they'll announce today who's on the beta? When I did the survey I think it said they'd contact via steam. Does steam have private messages?

AFAIK there are no 'private messages' but several types of notifications.
OTOH, every Steam account is connected with a valid email address.
So maybe they'll inform the lucky ones via email...

[Licaon]

The Humble Indie Bundle guys seem to have solved this problem with *.run packages (among others). What am I not understanding here?

yes and no, they have, RUN, DEB, RPM and TAR.GZ, it all depends on the game devs and NOT on the Humble team. There is nothing to understand, I just said it either takes them *a lot* of time to support *all* or little time and provide just TARs and 2 other options. The rest is marketing BS, trying to steal the Steam on Linux thunder. meh.