The face of PC gaming may change DRASTICALLY in the near future

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=ar...3d11&num=1

Discuss.

I hope The Open Source Community is going to do to Microsoft what they tried to do with java once. ;)

Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.

DRASTICALLY? How so?
In the near future, but does this work yet?

Do you mean that publishers might be interested in making linux versions of their games? I think it still involves a lot of porting work.
Or that more windows games will be playable in WINE? WINE still isn't the ideal solution for performance, AFAIK.
Or do you mean that devs used to D3D will perhaps want to make free (as in FLOSS) games for Linux as new projects? That would be cool.

I hope that this won't be a reason to bring more DRM and questionable commercial shenanigans (DLC and all) to the free world of Linux :x

What the article is talking about is NATIVE IMPLEMENTATION of Direct X 10 and 11 (no emulation, no translate this DX call to that OpenGL call...) under Linux with the possibility of it being hooked into Wine. If this actually does get hooked into Wine, then Linux will become a more Windows gaming capable platform than actual Windows itself, removing almost all incentive to the end user to even run that family of operating systems. Obviously, it won't happen until the necessary WINE DLLs are made, but if and when that happens, you can expect Linux to spread like Firefox did. At least, that's my prediction. DX took quite some time to develop, so it would be REALLY hard for M$ to even start to make an API that's incompatible since anything based on what they already have will just get reversed engineered really quickly. Not to mention if they did ditch all their current DX work to start a new API, they would not only have to take quite awhile to get it working, but wait for new cards to come out, wait for developers to actually want to use it, and wait for the end user to actually have a desire to run something that uses it. This may be the beginning of the end for Windows gaming dominance if this gets hooked into Wine.

Do you mean that publishers might be interested in making linux versions of their games? I think it still involves a lot of porting work.
Or that more windows games will be playable in WINE? WINE still isn't the ideal solution for performance, AFAIK.
Or do you mean that devs used to D3D will perhaps want to make free (as in FLOSS) games for Linux as new projects? That would be cool.

That's a good question. Most likely Linux would have to spread more for them to make "Linux versions" but at the same time we wouldn't need them too since WINE would be able to handle almost all of them without a problem. Making Linux versions would be made easier, because these guys didn't get DX10/11 working under Wine, they got it working UNDER LINUX, however getting these made into Wine DLLs would bring (more) Windows gaming capability to every platform Wine can be compiled on. It should also be noted that many games already support (as in the publishers officially maintain their games to run under it and Windows) Wine as a platform as well, EVE officially supports Wine, Guild Wars officially supports, WoW has had patches made by Blizzard to support it, there are more out there that support it as well. The real problem with Wine is it's Direct X implementation, sure it has other things that need work as well, but DX is what is keeping them busy. Native implementation of it under Linux would remove a shit load of work needed to get full Windows compatibility.

Most if not all windows users I know are not gamers and still don't want to use Linux... And DX is not the only problem WINE runs into when running games, is it?

It's a cool thing, but I don't see how it's that much revolutionary. Welp.

Most if not all windows users I know are not gamers and still don't want to use Linux... And DX is not the only problem WINE runs into when running games, is it?

It's a cool thing, but I don't see how it's that much revolutionary. Welp.

Most end users I know of are familiar with the way Windows is laid out simply because it's what came with their PC. They barely even know we exist and MS resorts to FUD when they can. If word gets out that you can run all your stuff under Linux and every other person starts running it on their PCs, it will start a chain reaction or domino effect among M$ user base.

A user who is content with what Windows can do, who didn't have to pay for windows (as it was preinstalled), who is having all his (custom) hardware working (due to drivers available for windows) would ... for what possible reason ??? .... switch to Linux where the user:
- has to relearn the UI and common tools (even though they might not be too different, there's still a re-learning process involved)
- try to install drivers (average joe will fail with this of course, I am not talking about NVIDIA drivers etc. which are a piece of cake to install, but let's say devices such as certain flat-bed paper scanners or other peripheral hardware ....)

The DirectX thing makes Linux better, for sure, but I think it just makes it better for people who are interested in Linux anyway (and of course those who already use it).

If this actually does get hooked into Wine...

I read somewhere that they already had done this in a GIT branch somewhere. [citation needed]

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- try to install drivers (average joe will fail with this of course, I am not talking about NVIDIA drivers etc. which are a piece of cake to install, but let's say devices such as certain flat-bed paper scanners or other peripheral hardware ....)

I often find that printers/hotkeys/whatever other peripherals work out of the box in Ubuntu where they do not in Windows 7.

I often find that printers/hotkeys/whatever other peripherals work out of the box in Ubuntu where they do not in Windows 7.

True that. Everything on my system functioned to an extent out of the box. Some stuff did require a little bit of tooling around with to get full functionality though, none of was particularily difficult. No more difficult than setting up a new Windows install. Also under Linux there's a way (some harder than others) to get pretty much every device to work, under Windows if it has no driver and it doesn't work out of the box then your pretty much screwed.

And DX is not the only problem WINE runs into when running games, is it?

DX is, d3d isn't.

I often find that printers/hotkeys/whatever other peripherals work out of the box in Ubuntu where they do not in Windows 7.

I agree that there are problems of the sort "Windows XP drivers" vs. "Windows Vista/7 drivers". However, what I rather meant that users are most commonly using the windows that has been installed on their machine already, where all drivers are already in place, and where re-installing windows actually means to revert the hard disk state to "factory state" (at least for laptops), where all drivers are, again, installed.

It's kind of Microsoft's fault for having a new driver model that doesn't allow XP drivers to be used. Many users were upset. But well, they also did this when changing from 98 to XP, rendering many peripheral devices useless =)

IMHO, just as comment: I hope you guys know I'm not a windows fanboy. I am able to get Linux working on my machines, I just chose to have it merely on a USB thumb drive and use it when I need it (e.g. read smart values from harddisk, partition hard drive, check for viruses in case of emergencies, etc. ... kind of a backup/fallback system). Linux is not for me as a daily-use system, as it lacks applications that are only available under windows. Many apps have appropriate replacements in the repository though, but well, not everything is there :o

Yeah, with all the bugs, lacking apps and drivers it would be keen to call Linux the worlds best system.

Back on topic:
The face of PC gaming may change DRASTICALLY in the near future
http://news.cnet.com/1606-2_3-50085281.html

Discus.

I forget where I read it, but I remember somebody making a comment about how OpenOffice won't survive long if the only major feature it has is M$ Office compatibility. The same goes for Linux and other open UNIXes. It's Linux (or GNU/Linux, depending on who you ask), not "Windows® on Linux"™. It will be handy for some people to be able to play SOME Direct3D 10/11 titles on their Free Software computers slightly more seamlessly, but firstly it's not emulation of all of DirectX, and secondly I don't think it will change gaming. When people put pressure on companies to release binaries for alternate OSes, they're more likely to just go "Oh, well it got a bronze rating on WineHQ, and improved support might come with patches".

Yeah, with all the bugs, lacking apps and drivers it would be keen to call Linux the worlds best system.

I think the correct term (not grammatically, but yeah) for Linux would be the world's better system. No system has been, is, or will be bug and issue free but, on balance, Linux seems to be the best (or at least most widely used and supported) offering at the moment.

Hear, hear!