Is There Freedom From The OS Tyrant?

[Punkus]

I have a bit of a problem with Microsoft. I run Windows because, and *only* because, I play games. I'm a slave to my games, and thus a slave to "the man."

With the advent of Vista I am a bit concerned. As I am not a fan of having to rely on automation, especially over the internet, I do not like the prospect of being coupled to Microsoft(or any company) constantly over my internet connection like a baby suckling for food. Already I have seen and/or read about the pitfalls of automation with games like Half-Life 2(Steam) and Galactic Civilizations II(Stardock...or something). Granted the technology is supposed to improve, I still don't like the idea. Call me whatever names you like...

I like to have control over my computer. I have a degree in the computer field precisely because I have always desired to know a lot more than the average person. So, when I see this veritable revolution in online automation I am naturally cautious.

What I am getting at is a question I would appreciate some help in answering. Is there any foreseeable possibility that game developers and distributors will begin to focus on another OS? I realize the PC game market may die out altogether, but barring that I would hope it stays alive AND is able to partially overcome the great Microshaft.

The deluded musings of a crazy man, I know. Any insight would still be appreciated.




P.S.: No, I have not researched this yet. Yes, I will be doing a lot of research on my own. That doesn't change the fact that I don't mind asking for help. :original:

[PyrrhusIV]

I'm using Ubuntu as my main operating systems, and thanks to some help in the Official Linux thread, soon I should be able to play games specified for Windows on it. Also in that thread, a "gamer's Linux" operating system was posted, I may try that out.

Basically, if you put the time and effort into making Linux compatible with games, it will blow away everything else.

[fatsheep]

I'm using Ubuntu as my main operating systems, and thanks to some help in the Official Linux thread, soon I should be able to play games specified for Windows on it. Also in that thread, a "gamer's Linux" operating system was posted, I may try that out.

Basically, if you put the time and effort into making Linux compatible with games, it will blow away everything else.

I thought using windows emulators like wine brought a considerable performance decrease?

[Cadmium77]

I'm using Ubuntu as my main operating systems, and thanks to some help in the Official Linux thread, soon I should be able to play games specified for Windows on it. Also in that thread, a "gamer's Linux" operating system was posted, I may try that out.

Basically, if you put the time and effort into making Linux compatible with games, it will blow away everything else.

Wow, really? That's incredible...I had no idea that was possible..thanks for that information..

[John Wayne]

I have a bit of a problem with Microsoft. I run Windows because, and *only* because, I play games. I'm a slave to my games, and thus a slave to "the man."

With the advent of Vista I am a bit concerned. As I am not a fan of having to rely on automation, especially over the internet, I do not like the prospect of being coupled to Microsoft(or any company) constantly over my internet connection like a baby suckling for food. Already I have seen and/or read about the pitfalls of automation with games like Half-Life 2(Steam) and Galactic Civilizations II(Stardock...or something). Granted the technology is supposed to improve, I still don't like the idea. Call me whatever names you like...

I like to have control over my computer. I have a degree in the computer field precisely because I have always desired to know a lot more than the average person. So, when I see this veritable revolution in online automation I am naturally cautious.

What I am getting at is a question I would appreciate some help in answering. Is there any foreseeable possibility that game developers and distributors will begin to focus on another OS? I realize the PC game market may die out altogether, but barring that I would hope it stays alive AND is able to partially overcome the great Microshaft.

The deluded musings of a crazy man, I know. Any insight would still be appreciated.




P.S.: No, I have not researched this yet. Yes, I will be doing a lot of research on my own. That doesn't change the fact that I don't mind asking for help. :original:

Get a mac that has intel in it (they do make those theese days) and install bootcamp software on it, which will let you play all your games.

[Punkus]

You all have helped a lot, thank you.

I will look into Ubuntu and the Mac+Intel option very soon.

[fatsheep]

Just out of curiosity: Is there any difference between a MAC and a PC on a hardware level? Is it possible to build your own MAC the same way you would build a PC?

[John Wayne]

Just out of curiosity: Is there any difference between a MAC and a PC on a hardware level? Is it possible to build your own MAC the same way you would build a PC?

Right now, Macs are better than Windows PC. Main reason for this is because Microsoft has not released an upgrade since Windows XP came out in 2000-ish. They are, however, going to be coming out with Viesta (I think thats what it is called) sometime latter this year or next year and this could cause Windows to become better than the MacOS.

[carl-the-conqueror]

Right now, Macs are better than Windows PC. Main reason for this is because Microsoft has not released an upgrade since Windows XP came out in 2000-ish. They are, however, going to be coming out with Viesta (I think thats what it is called) sometime latter this year or next year and this could cause Windows to become better than the MacOS.

ive been told that the os uses a gig of RAM, and isnt really worth it, it is still slow, still crashes, and still nowhere near the preformance of a mac.

microsoft need to be more effecient.

[General Sun]

Get a mac that has intel in it (they do make those theese days) and install bootcamp software on it, which will let you play all your games.

Then you would still end up running windows, it runs windows on a Mac, and in the end you're still tetered to Mr. Gates.

The only thing option IMHO is what I do, put on some nice black hats and get your hands dirty if you know what I mean. (Or you can get a friend to do it for you, which I also do. .

[Lee1026]

Well, the MAC OS X is only designed to work on apple machines. There is nothing in theory that would stop you from running it on the average PC, but in practice, hardware support gets really spotty.

[PyrrhusIV]

I thought using windows emulators like wine brought a considerable performance decrease?

Wine will bring considerable decrease's, but things like Cedega are actually the same as windows, sometimes faster.

[Lee1026]

They try to reproduce the windows API, not try to emulate the windows API. But sometimes they don't do as clean as a job as Microsoft do, and sometimes they do a cleaner job.

[Lee1026]

Well, any modern OS would do the job in most PCs, and there is no real reason why the OSX is enough to justify the high price tag. The main difference is speed, and they are mostly fairly similar, the Windows kernel is slightly faster then that of the Linux kernel, but then again, the linux kernel is more efficient at a large number of tasks. The Unix model of installing drivers and software made them impossible for me, however.

Well, unless if you are talking about stupidly bloated OSes, such as anything that uses KDE.......

[Lee1026]

Basically, if you put the time and effort into making Linux compatible with games, it will blow away everything else.

Doubt it. Windows takes up a bit more ram then is healthy, and it does not switch bewteen thrends as well, but the Windows Kernel rocks. So it is unlikely that anything will be faster other then load times.

[Zuwxiv]

Posting on a Mac.

I really like macs, now that I have had this for almost a year. iBook G4. The new intel Macbooks can run Windows XP, and some windows programs can run natively.

As of now, you can't use OSX on a PC - they have pretty much locked it. Technically, you could, but realistically, there are security checks that make it impossible or very impractical.

As for the actually OS, I really like OSX. Their new 10.5 should come out around/before Vista. There is a lot of style and still new things to figure out - easy access to zoom functions, negative view, etc. The fact that it comes with so much software right off the bat helps as well - you can export to PowerPoint from their presentation system (Keynote, which I prefer).

Most of the desired programs are available for Mac as well, but some of the really cool programs (GarageBand, iWeb) are just for Mac. The software that comes with it lets you do pretty much whatever you want.

[Lee1026]

Well, as for the third party software, not much beats windows, so save your breath.

[Richard the Lionheart]

To answer the original question of the thread: No.

Microsoft makes most of its profit from OEM deals. It makes deals with major computer manufacturers (DELL, HP, etc.) so that Windows gets pre-loaded onto every single manufactured PC.

[matereo]

This http://www.blagblagblag.org/ is the best gnu-linux distro i know it has all kindsa filesharing, ripping and communication tools and its highly stable + i love the manifesto and the fact that Richard Stallman is involved. Its one of the most userfriendly os out there.

If you are looking for an almost complete windowslike enviroment then id recommend the Pclinux distro http://www.pclinuxos.com/news.php or perhaps the "Pclinux supergamer dvd" http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/6136

I game all the time and mostly TW games especially MTW VI and do that by using cedega which can be fond on some filesharing networks or subscribed to for a mere 5 dollars a month. Older dos and win 9x games run fine in wine a emu that comes w almost any linux distro.

[Stuie]

Already I have seen and/or read about the pitfalls of automation with games like Half-Life 2(Steam) and Galactic Civilizations II(Stardock...or something).

Not sure what you've heard, but GalCiv2 has no copy protection. Just wanted to clear that up.