On Fri, 14 Mar 2003, joe wrote: >>5 years from now, in 2008, there is likely to be a viable gaming >>market on the Linux OS platform. Likely before that. But it is >>not here right now, no matter how much people fantasize about it. >>It will happen eventually if and when it happens, and it will be >>driven by the proper forces. That means the people who stand to >>make the most money from lighting the torch and holding it to the >>firepit are the ones who will be the catalysts to start the fire. >>That fire will spread until eventually it hits all necessary >>players that are required in order to make it happen. >> >(sigh) I think maybe we're just in violent agreement. > >I've never said RH should focus on gaming - I'm just saying >that linux _is_ technically a viable gaming platform, as anyone >who has played Q3A or RtCW on linux can attest.
We differ greatly in our usage of the word "viable". You are using the word to describe what Linux is technically capable of. I am using the word to describe market forces and a profitable business model. Linux is not viable for sustaining a business model to make video games right now. So perhaps we are in agreement. >With the coming 2.6 kernel it gets even sweeter - and there's >no technical reason that linux can't become a more popular >platform for all kinds of multimedia activities. There never really has been many technical reasons why not, other than the lack of full fledged video drivers and video hardware vendor support equal to what Windows gets. >I also think think that, as more people make linux their primary >or only computing platform, the linux multimedia scene in >general will gain support and momentum. Indeed. I only state that that time is not right now. >>/me goes to play RTCW on Linux, just because. > >Cool, so you know about idsoftware - their linux ports are >not done for profit, but because there are techies inside >who dig linux enough to make it happen. Indeed. I've been using id games since Wolfenstein 3D (the original one). In fact... I ported most of it to Linux ages ago, but never actually completed the port. I should poke at it again some day if I still have the sources around somewhere. -- Mike A. Harris ftp://people.redhat.com/mharris OS Systems Engineer - XFree86 maintainer - Red Hat -- Phoebe-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/phoebe-list
