Would you abandon Windows in favor of Linux for gaming?

SteveOBHave

SteveOBHave

SteveOBHave

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I've been involved in a discussion with another chap on a forum where the topic of discussion is 'should the gaming industry do more to support linux as a viable gaming platform?'.

My personal perspective is that I find Windows to be a pretty good OS that has only just gotten better with the arrival of Windows 7 and I have no real desire to stop using it as my gaming platform of preference.

He made the statement "It's no secret there is a deep sentiment among PC gamers to ditch Windows every chance they can get..."

What I'm wondering is - Does this actually bear any creedance? Am I out of touch with the general climate of feeling toward Microsoft and it as a gaming platform?
 
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orderoftheflame said:
No. I find Linux overcomplicated for simple tasks.
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This is my argument as well however I'd have to admit that I haven't made use of any of the linux distros recently so I couldn't make an educated observation. Have you recently used it or is this just a sentiment gained from an intial exposure to an earlier version and carried susequently over?
 
I think it is is more of Linux supporting PC gaming rather than PC gaming not supporting Linux.

Open GL just isn't as well developed as Direct X and further to this Windows doesn't just support games, it is a heterogeneous environment and supports a wealth of other software.

Would I abandon Windows instead of Linux...well if I got a free PC with it then yes, but otherwise why would I want to have two PCs that do separate things for twice the cost instead of one that does it all?
The argument spans more weight if you say why don't games support Mac's over PC's and keep Google Chrome out of this arguement too as its blatantly a basic web platform.


TBH this 'discussion' smells like some college student who thinks he knows a bit about computing trying show off by saying he knows lots about Linux etc
 
Linux has imrpoved 10 fold since I first started using it in 2004. The only "issue" I have is gaming. If games natively ran on linux and ran well then I would take a free OS over a paying one every day of the week.

You guys that haven't tried linux in a few years should really download the latest version of your preferred distro, ubuntu, opensuse etc etc have come on leaps and bounds.
 
PoD said:
TBH this 'discussion' smells like some college student who thinks he knows a bit about computing trying show off by saying he knows lots about Linux etc
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Perhaps - but it doesn't make the arguement any less interesting or relevant. His motivations may be flawed but the question is still there and I am curious as to the general sentiment.
 
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Oxy said:
Linux has imrpoved 10 fold since I first started using it in 2004. The only "issue" I have is gaming. If games natively ran on linux and ran well then I would take a free OS over a paying one every day of the week.

You guys that haven't tried linux in a few years should really download the latest version of your preferred distro, ubuntu, opensuse etc etc have come on leaps and bounds.
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See I'm kind of on the other side of the fense - I like Windows as an OS and have just recently pre-ordered Windows 7. Granted there were some teething problems especially with Vista and we were constantly getting ripped off with the pricing. This has been addressed with a more than resonable pricing structure and any previous doubts I had about buying another OS are gone.

But you're right I need to DL the latest Ubuntu and throw it on a virtual box to see what it's like.
 
To me, the last thing PC gaming needs is another operating system.
Its taken years for Windows to get directX to a 'Pop-in-and-play' state. The old arguments about windows being bloated, slow and crashy arent relavent to the likes of XP and 7.

However, if Linux became a viable gaming platform, would I switch? No. Windows used to be crap, it isnt now.

I would also would like to know how would Linux become a gaming platform. AFIAK DirectX is pretty much the defacto standard in gaming today. And I bet MS wouldnt like DX being on anyother OS than their own. So, how could Linux bridge the DX problem?
 
Nope, I like Windows. I've become fairly familiar with a few different versions of Linux lately, mostly Ubuntu, and while they're excellent considering they're free, they're still a bit of a pig to use in comparison. I find Windows easier to use, more convenient, and more accessible. In Ubuntu, most advanced features and settings are only accessible via the terminal, which means you have to find out how to get to them and how to make changes, which usually isn't easy because nobody ever bothers to explain exactly what to do. In Windows, you've got a user interface for everything you could ever want to do.
 
No probably not, I was dual booting with ubuntu a while back, and although I found it great fun to play around with, whenever I wanted to do anything I found it easier and quicker to do it with windows. Especially whenever setting up anything new, I think it's easy to take the excellent windows plug and play system for granted. I got rid of ubuntu in the end as I wasn't really using it.
 
As a user experience is Linux better than Windows? Even if all games worked on both and both were free, would you abandon Windows for Linux?
 
I wouldn't say it was better, just different. And because of the wide range of choice of distros you are more likely to find an experience that suits you.

So in the case where linux wasn't such a pain to get set up and working properly, and all the games worked fine, then I might swap, (especially if it was about time to shell out for a new version of windows)

But then again if all my mates were still playing games online on windows, then I would want to stick with it for that.
 
I'd happily use linux if I could guarantee all my games would work flawlessly. Cedega does an okay job of quite a few games, but why would I pay for a subscription when one of the major pro's of linux is freedom and free software?

Distrobutions such as Ubuntu are quite user freindly - for most users there's no need to ever run CLI. Windows is only more 'user freindly' as it's what people know. The UI is no better, the filesystem is definately no better - it's just it's Wintel familiarity that makes us think that linux is complicated.
 
If microsoft did a stripped down lightweight 'gaming' operating system i think it would do a lot better than expected. Older machines would fare better playing newer games, and for the average user, do they even use a 10th of all the features built into vista?
 
Teknobry said:
If microsoft did a stripped down lightweight 'gaming' operating system i think it would do a lot better than expected. Older machines would fare better playing newer games, and for the average user, do they even use a 10th of all the features built into vista?
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this..

Microsoft should really release a 'Gamer Edition' of windows
 
Teknobry said:
If microsoft did a stripped down lightweight 'gaming' operating system i think it would do a lot better than expected. Older machines would fare better playing newer games, and for the average user, do they even use a 10th of all the features built into vista?
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There's nLite, and vLite. Stripped down versions of XP/Vista are already do-able. Tbh, nlite/vlite don't have much efffect on gaming performance, as no matter how much bloatware you remove, your graphics card isn't going to get any faster. It may make your OS more responsive, but most of this is due to fewer IO calls as there are less services/processes running.
 
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