On 12/14/2013 04:50 PM, Kevin Fishburne wrote: > SteamOS is Valve's attempt to circumvent the walled > gardens that are Microsoft Windows and Apple iOS/OSX and allow the > digital distribution of their games though
...their own walled garden. I think SteamOS is a great development, but let's not kid ourselves: Valve is using Linux to push their own DRM-based app store. It's about pushing Steam, not pushing Linux. I appreciate that they're growing the market for Linux games, because now there's more than just Icculus porting Humble Bundle games to Linux. But I think it's telling that they call SteamOS a "fork" of Debian, and I certainly have no interest in assisting people who want to create DRM-encumbered Gambas apps. I think it's more likely that someone who wants to use a high-level language is going to use C# or VB with Monogame, since it works on not just Linux but everything from the iPhone to the Ouya, and the form design advantage that Gambas provides is erased if you're using the SDL/OpenGL components for your game. That said, here at home, our next desktop PC will most likely be a Steambox hooked up to our television. As for the Gambas packaging question, since it is essentially a console OS, if Gambas development is supported at all, in all likelihood you'll just have whatever version of Gambas available that the version of Debian they're based on does, and you'll need to make your code work on that. Breaking APIs between minor releases is not going to work, so they'll probably just pick one and freeze it. Their beta page says "Most of all, it is an open Linux platform that leaves you in full control. You can take charge of your system and install new software or content as you want," and says they use apt for their own package management. I take that to mean that you'll be able to add your own software sources and install whatever you like, being cautious not to stomp on Valve's own ABIs. Whether it'll be easy for your app's non-technical audience to add your repo and install your stuff -- as easy as it is on Win8 or OSX or Android, at least -- is another question, but one that should become clear within the next few months. Rob ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rapidly troubleshoot problems before they affect your business. Most IT organizations don't have a clear picture of how application performance affects their revenue. With AppDynamics, you get 100% visibility into your Java,.NET, & PHP application. Start your 15-day FREE TRIAL of AppDynamics Pro! http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=84349831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ Gambas-user mailing list Gambas-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gambas-user
