*NIX: Interesting article on why gamers may become so important for Linux

[40hz]

From the folks over at FOSS Force:

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... Let’s deviate briefly into the world of super-computers. You take a bunch of discrete systems, with their state-of-the-art hardware, and you create a super-entity that exceeds the individual components by several orders of mangitude. And you use a super kind of glue to bind all of them together. Apparently, that glue is called Linux, or at least, in some 480 odd cases out of 500, it will be called that.

The simple reason why Linux is used in this crazy world of clusters and grids is in the sheer extensibility, flexibility and inherent openness of the operating system that allows subverting the finest hardware to your will, well beyond the original intentions and capabilities of the their vendors, y’know, the market leaders really.

Now, try to project this reality onto the gaming industry. What can possibly happen if you gain the ability to super-glue the graphics hardware with Linux? Not just any one single server or any one overclocked and SLI-ed desktop gaming rig. What happens when you achieve control, connectivity and usability on the scale of thousands and millions?

What could your games of the future be like, if you can bunch the best hardware with the best operating system, or let’s say, the most potential-worthy operating system? What happens if you enhance the closed-source architecture of your best graphics card with a kind of supervisor technology based on Linux?

The gaming industry seems like the best candidate for this kind of experiment. It sure might happen and the first attempts by the Valve Corporation at creating SteamOS is a good indication of a possible future trend. Linux itself may or may not be the right answer for this pseudo-philosophical challenge, but it surely is your easiest bet. It’s not about what the future gaming console might look like. It’s not about how good the drivers will be. It’s about creating the next level of technology that will spearhead future innovation. All for the sake of entertainment...

Read the full article here.

[Edvard]

I've not only said it for years, but I've seen it almost everywhere I go (to paraphrase): "If only I could play [my favorite game] on Linux, I'd ditch Windows tomorrow".  I've seen it since the mid-2000's (remember all those "The Year of the Linux Desktop?" articles all over the tech blogs before Android showed up?  Yeah, maybe next year...), and now it's cold, hard reality.  So where are all my switchers? 
Still on Windows.
Why?  Because when you can play with your phone every 10 minutes and Windows 8 came pre-installed on your new laptop and SteamOS is going to be on the next console you buy, who has time to mess around with switching to a Linux desktop?

[TaoPhoenix]

I've not only said it for years, but I've seen it almost everywhere I go (to paraphrase): "If only I could play [my favorite game] on Linux, I'd ditch Windows tomorrow".  I've seen it since the mid-2000's (remember all those "The Year of the Linux Desktop?" articles all over the tech blogs before Android showed up?  Yeah, maybe next year...), and now it's cold, hard reality.  So where are all my switchers?  
Still on Windows.
Why?  Because when you can play with your phone every 10 minutes and Windows 8 came pre-installed on your new laptop and SteamOS is going to be on the next console you buy, who has time to mess around with switching to a Linux desktop?

Put another way,

When all the cool/cute utilities on DC are done on Windows, when you can no longer believe anything Canonical via uBuntu says, when you don't even know what to do with the Windows 8/8.1 mess, who has time to repeat almost 50 programs in their Linux equivalents?!

I respect the daylights out of Linux as a philosophy. But the Distro Explosion crushed me. "XP works for 9 years" - that's me. Not upgrades every 6 months -2 years that require sturdy data backups I just can't get my handle around. My comp does what I want it to, darnit! But I haven't really seen 12 year support of any of the distros *and* linux copies of the neat tricks that come up in places like here. It really does look like MS's dirty tricks of the 90's really have ruled a few roosts.