Why Devs and users should abandon Windows

[ROCO*AFZ*]

i realize the way you fell Roco. You make a living working for a certified OEM. But Vista is three years late because they couldn't get WinFS to work among other things. that's ding one against Bill. The WinFS was the single most noted feature that was hyped and alot of discussion went into how WinFS was going to revolutionize the whole windows experience. That was supposed to speed up the use of the searches and music libraries etc.gone

Aero Glass. Now to my knowledge, Windows Vista full version will be in the ball park of $400 and something close to $299 for the upgrade. I remember in the early stages of longhorn that, there was going to be a 3D desktop and it was going to change the whole experience for the user. gone.

the list goes on but i have to ask the question, is the final product worthy of not only the hype but the high price tag?

The Piracy aspect of Vista is because MS is considered an evil empire. But it's an enclosed locked up OS. The open software community allows for one to even buy a boxed OS with the manual and you can copy the CD's and give it to as many people as you want. open source allows for access to the kernel whereas MS locks it up. open source is available to all as is the OS system code. if there's a bug in the software, the ability for someone to fix the code immediately and post it freely for everyone.

I guess one can use the titanic as MS's Windows and hackers want to sink it. it's a closed system. Alot of people may say that MS is just making money. true. but why should folks pay top dollar for an OS that takes what seems forever to fix? The pricing doesn't seem to suggest MS wants to bring computing to the masses.

Every thing that is on top falls. no matter who or what it is. Vista I predict will be "THE" downfall or the hard start of MS's downfall. I don't think people will be willing as MS is predicting to rush out and buy the Vista OS. Gamers will because they will need to move up to the DX10 for future gaming.

This will be a great show.

Yes but with no funding developers don't stay around on projects. I work with open source all the time. Our website is Postnuke. Modules for it sometimes only last a day before abandoned and the developer moves on.

Support is very tough, and can take weeks to get an answer. Open source is great for development but not for the long term as who will work at it for free just because it will please the people.

That is a hurdle it will never get over.

That is why the true business platforms even in linux charge support and licensing.

As for a rush... there doesn't need to be

all new pc's will come with it

eventually your computer won't run the games you want and you'll move up.

You run xp don't you? these same arguments were from the 98 users when XP released. (2000 to xp wasn't as big of a step so not as much said there) Do you run 98 now? and why? Because XP even though it had it's growing pains proved to be more stable. DX10 is promising this. All Video cards Must support ALL features of DX10 to run DX10 games. What does this mean? No more advantages except speed from one card to the next. better driver stability. Although it's pricey, i predict in the long run Vista will be worth it. (and as usual i don't fully recommend it until after the 1st few patches as there are always unpredictable bugs... kinda like earlier revisions of mandrake)

Just to add to this...

i realize the way you fell Roco. You make a living working for a certified OEM.

Actually i would love users to switch to linux. You know how much i would make off labor at 65.00 and hour. Most smaller businesses have no IT staff and would have no idea where to start with linux. The training alone would make me a rich man. Most aren't comforatble with command lines and rather then explaining every letter you have to type i would have to visit onsite.

For support MS is way cheaper. I do it over the phone for free to our customers.

[CrowmanUK]

The Piracy aspect of Vista is because MS is considered an evil empire.

I disagree with that mate, people pirate stuff because they can, not because one manufacturer is considered more evil than the other, I think the biggest gripe is that if you've built a pc there should be an OS with it, if you buy a mobile phone you dont have to buy the software to get it to run, if you buy a dvd player you dont need to purchase firmware before you can get it going, without the OS there is no PC, and rather than spending a big wedge of cash purchasing an OS they download/buy it cheap off a friend.

You can imagine the thoughts going through their head, "now I've just built myself this pc, should I go and buy XP/Vista for it or shall I just install the streamlined copy I got off the net with all the security patches built in?" "oooh, forgot to take into account Microsofts rating on the evil scale, tum tum tum, very evil, I'll go with the copy"

[Papa6]

Yes papa, but no hardly anyone develops linux games (wine isn't very good at it)

And most PC users (note users not gamers) are not capable of loading it or have the understanding. There are also bad things to opensource as a project might be busy and supported well and gone the next due to FREE no funding.

I like linux to a degree don't get me wrong, but it's place still is not on the desktop.

And good versions such as Suse are no longer free unless you use an old version as now Novell owns them and makes you pay royalty

In a business sense also ... Red hat costs money. it has to be licensed for businesses to use.

The time involved retraining users and dealing with incompatibilities with software makes it cost more in the short term then most businesses are willing to spend.

Here is red hats legal pricing

https://www.redhat.com/apps/commerce/

For commercial.

Not to sound like an ass Roco, but, If you develop for linux(only), no need to worry about wine. but if you develop for windows from linux then, you develop your game, use the correct API calls for DirectX and you should be good to go. So actually game development for Windows is a arena pushed by microsoft. Buy Visual Studio or C# at huge corporate licensing. So as an example, MS studio costs we'll say $500 per user x 250 users =$125,000.

Linux..C++ compiler $0 x 250 users=$0. You can develop games for any OS as long as you have the right protocol for that OS. I've learned alot of users develop windows games in linux, then compile it for windows. ID Software develops games for linux and I'd say they they use linux for making games.

All I'm saying is, it sounds kinda stupid for developers to say costs for developing games is expensive sounds absurd when linux has what they need for free. you can use any notepad text editor and compile your work with the C++ compiler and save thousands of dollars and take that stupid "COST" excuse out of the picture.

Linux is always being rumored as a command line OS. it WAS years ago that way. but linux has changed to be more like and alot better than Windows in alot of ways. linux uses memory better, hardware better and runs cooler because windows makes your hardware work that much harder.

Added: you can buy ANY linux OS for like $50 from a box and you can copy that OS CD/DVD and give it to as many as you want. try THAT with windows!

Edited December 16, 2006 by Papa6

[ROCO*AFZ*]

Yes papa, but no hardly anyone develops linux games (wine isn't very good at it)

And most PC users (note users not gamers) are not capable of loading it or have the understanding. There are also bad things to opensource as a project might be busy and supported well and gone the next due to FREE no funding.

I like linux to a degree don't get me wrong, but it's place still is not on the desktop.

And good versions such as Suse are no longer free unless you use an old version as now Novell owns them and makes you pay royalty

In a business sense also ... Red hat costs money. it has to be licensed for businesses to use.

The time involved retraining users and dealing with incompatibilities with software makes it cost more in the short term then most businesses are willing to spend.

Here is red hats legal pricing

https://www.redhat.com/apps/commerce/

For commercial.

Not to sound like an ass Roco, but, If you develop for linux(only), no need to worry about wine. but if you develop for windows from linux then, you develop your game, use the correct API calls for DirectX and you should be good to go. So actually game development for Windows is a arena pushed by microsoft. Buy Visual Studio or C# at huge corporate licensing. So as an example, MS studio costs we'll say $500 per user x 250 users =$125,000.

Linux..C++ compiler $0 x 250 users=$0. You can develop games for any OS as long as you have the right protocol for that OS. I've learned alot of users develop windows games in linux, then compile it for windows. ID Software develops games for linux and I'd say they they use linux for making games.

All I'm saying is, it sounds kinda stupid for developers to say costs for developing games is expensive sounds absurd when linux has what they need for free. you can use any notepad text editor and compile your work with the C++ compiler and save thousands of dollars and take that stupid "COST" excuse out of the picture.

Linux is always being rumored as a command line OS. it WAS years ago that way. but linux has changed to be more like and alot better than Windows in alot of ways. linux uses memory better, hardware better and runs cooler because windows makes your hardware work that much harder.

Added: you can buy ANY linux OS for like $50 from a box and you can copy that OS CD/DVD and give it to as many as you want. try THAT with windows!

1st of all note this... there are tons of FREE windows compilers for C++

And with Vista we get a new one. Welcome Microsoft Game studio Express XNA that will make cross platform games for both WINDOWS AND XBOX

Read up here and welcome to the MS free world of creating games

http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/xna/gamestudio/

Now you can make windows and console games in one shot... Woot!

In linux you could just use opengl instead of wine. I only mentioned it as most games aren't developed with wine as even an afterthought as they are designed for windows.

and btw if you buy a linux distro like Red hat enterprise... copying it is ILLEGAL without purchasinge another license for the new install as it is licensed for commercial use.

Here is the licensing... hmm looks like the price for windows xp pro.

https://www.redhat.com/apps/commerce/rhel/client/

As for ID Software, please list your source. I haven't seen anything on this but i do know they make both Windows and Linux versions of some games. I am curious on which compiler they use, and how they would port it to windows. (as i'm not a game developer)

Things aren't as bad as you think. MS has done a lot to appease users. Just most people are in the old mindset and haven't read up on what there up to.

[Papa6]

ok, ok, better yet. I'll take GRIN as an example. They said you can download free XML editors. But you can even use a simple text editor for making GRAW2 XML's.

XML editor...$0

next the development environment. two ways to go here. 1) use a text editor and then use the Linux Free( God i must sound cheap) C++ compiler to compile the code

C++ editor...$0

12 cases of coke for the programmers and artists...$100/day

salaries for the crew making the game $100/$200 per day

so costs would be a minimum. most costs would actually go to salaries of employees. and then when the game ships, all that will be made back and profits will accrue faster

and btw if you buy a linux distro like Red hat enterprise... copying it is ILLEGAL without purchasinge another license for the new install as it is licensed for commercial use.

Well yeah, it's an enterprise, but opensource versions like opensuse, open solaris ARE free.

As for ID Software, please list your source. I haven't seen anything on this but i do know they make both Windows and Linux versions of some games. I am curious on which compiler they use, and how they would port it to windows. (as i'm not a game developer)

then you know what I mean that ID software DOES do linux games.

@ Roco

[url=http://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/]

Id Software has generously released the source for Doom, which has been ported to Linux.

Edited December 16, 2006 by Papa6

[ROCO*AFZ*]

ok, ok, better yet. I'll take GRIN as an example. They said you can download free XML editors. But you can even use a simple text editor for making GRAW2 XML's.

XML editor...$0

next the development environment. two ways to go here. 1) use a text editor and then use the Linux Free( God i must sound cheap) C++ compiler to compile the code

C++ editor...$0

12 cases of coke for the programmers and artists...$100/day

salaries for the crew making the game $100/$200 per day

so costs would be a minimum. most costs would actually go to salaries of employees. and then when the game ships, all that will be made back and profits will accrue faster

Free C++

this one works in windows and linux

http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html

a few on this site

http://www.mingw.org/links.shtml

There are hundreds...

And Visual studio express is free

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/

and if you google free xml editors..

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=...dows+xml+editor

look at the list.

Anything that you can find free on linux, there is a free windows counterpart.

But if you get a paid version on either O/S you get support.

Who can you call if your linux crashes, you can't compile a driver, or get a program to install? (think of the end user on this one, not a linux guru) If you buy retail MS XP or vista you can call microsoft. If you buy OEM you can call your manufacturer.

[Dannik]

So what about mocap? What about orchestras for the scores? What about licensing real-world technology to ensure the cars in racing games are based on actual cars, and the guns in tac-sims are based on actual guns?

What about marketing? Publishing? Shipping? ArmA may never see store shelves in North America because the developer couldn't afford to secure a deal to distribute/publish that satisfied them. Great game, and sure it's purchasable online (thanks, Valve, for getting the ball rolling on a large scale), but it just won't sell many copies because they also don't advertise it compared to other titles it may otherwise compete with.

Even Popcap spent $700,000USD on their latest game, and they specialize in cheap, inexpensive titles. It takes money to get shelf space, whether real or virtual. No amount of free tools will ever be good enough to become an "AA" title, unless the vast amount of money is spent on things outside of the software used in development.

To bust out the car analogy: If your car was free, and used 1/10 the fuel of your neighbour's car, you'd still need the highways and byways to get around, and those don't come cheap.

[Papa6]

MS website, and i know the tool you mean Roco, i dl'd it before an dit uses a C++ standard version for hobbyists. C++ developer edition probably is the version of choice for your more serious devs.

But this seems like ass backwards thinking that a dev has to spend as dannik says 700,00USD to make a game and sell maybe 1.2 million dollars worth of the game, so it's good business to say you made roughly 300,000 over what you spent to make it?

Also

the pricing for the full version MD development software that gamers would use. Here

and XNA express Note that Only supported on Microsoft® Windows® XP SP2 (all editions) at this time. Windows Vista will be available only in a future beta release of XNA Game Studio Express.

also This release requires Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition to be installed before proceeding. You can install Visual C# Express from the Visual C# Express Download Page..or a light edition not full version for free. MS wants your moolah!

Here

[ROCO*AFZ*]

MS website, and i know the tool you mean Roco, i dl'd it before an dit uses a C++ standard version for hobbyists. C++ developer edition probably is the version of choice for your more serious devs.

But this seems like ass backwards thinking that a dev has to spend as dannik says 700,00USD to make a game and sell maybe 1.2 million dollars worth of the game, so it's good business to say you made roughly 300,000 over what you spent to make it?

Also

the pricing for the full version MD development software that gamers would use. Here

and XNA express Note that Only supported on Microsoft® Windows® XP SP2 (all editions) at this time. Windows Vista will be available only in a future beta release of XNA Game Studio Express.

also This release requires Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition to be installed before proceeding. You can install Visual C# Express from the Visual C# Express Download Page..or a light edition not full version for free. MS wants your moolah!

Here

http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/XNA/gse/...me/default.aspx

Although the setup program for XNA Game Studio Express will complete on the Microsoft® Windows Vista™ operating system, XNA Game Studio Express will not be officially supported on Windows Vista until after Visual Studio C# Express is officially supported on the consumer release of Windows Vista in 2007.

Windows XP requires Service Pack 2 or later.

Although XNA Game Studio Express itself is available only in English, it is supported under any of the language settings available on these operating systems.

It does work but with some minor issues that have workarounds listed.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa964140.aspx

The service pack will be released shortly after vista

as a question... what c## is currently used by game developers in linux? and if anyone knows ... why? i have a feeling it's support.

Game developers aren't forced to use windows... so why do they if it costs more? ease of use? support? just a standard?

[Dannik]

also This release requires Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition to be installed before proceeding. You can install Visual C# Express from the Visual C# Express Download Page..or a light edition not full version for free. MS wants your moolah!

Here

Actually, you will see that paying Microsoft will actually prevent you from using XNA, as the free Express version is required to use XNA. You can't use XNA's tools with the paid-for version of Visual C# Studio. You can have both free and commercial installed, just not develop with the commercial for XNA release.

As for Popcap's $700k, they are an industry leader in this:

Research group DFC Intelligence estimates that revenues from casual games worldwide will grow to $953 million this year, from $713 million last year. They were $228 million in 2002. Those numbers do not include casual games played on handheld devices.

Link

Popcap is a major player in a niche that will make almost a billion dollars USD this year alone. While I can't find current sales figures, it's clear that 1.2 million in sales is a low guess on the totem pole.

[ROCO*AFZ*]

Actually, you will see that paying Microsoft will actually prevent you from using XNA, as the free Express version is required to use XNA. You can't use XNA's tools with the paid-for version of Visual C# Studio. You can have both free and commercial installed, just not develop with the commercial for XNA release.

Good point. I'm not fully up to date on XNA as it's not my field (programming) but i hadn't read that until after you pointed it out.

As for popcat i have no idea, but i know it's expensive to develop a game. Visual studio and the pc's are just a drop in the bucket compared to the overall.

[Papa6]

I remember Bill gates's ambition years ago was to converge computing to one unified platform. So it may seem that Vista is that ambition coming to some frution. But MS has proprietary tools for their OS at premium cost. MS is steering the market, Customers, devs and everyone concerned by forcing the market to buy their tools. I see why costs

are so high in game development. aside from dev salaries.

MS has a majority of the market duped. I've been a user of windows for god, what? since 1990's. I think my first OS was windows 3.1. But the issue is that MS windows runs so hot because it is tearing up the harddrive because it has to work so hard. I've read about memory leaks, inefficient hardrive utilization and generally a resource hog. I hear my fan running high speed at most times.

some might think...hey Papa6, you're a linux fan boy. quite contrary! I'm trying to open my eyes and see that there are other alternatives than MS since leaving MS is like an alcoholic in rehab. there are pains of withdrawal but I have hardware that works great with OPEN SUSE 10.2. I have used windows for so many years that I didn't know my options. but I'm expanding to learn those options. I just can't see buying into a new OS that's essentially the same as XP Pro for $400. that's outrageous! don't you think? But there are some who'll just go out and buy it just to say they got it. some buy the newest Video card just to say they got one.

But i think alot of folks believe that Linux is a commandline OS. IT WAS. but today when you install linux, X server is automatically configured and if you know how to point n' click in windows, then linux will be a snap. Windows enjoys heavy market share but with Vista and it's cost, this could supress MS and alot may just go to OSX which is based on UNIX or even linux. the installation is GUI just like windows. devs for the linux community have worked for the last several years to make Linux a user-friendly OS.

[ROCO*AFZ*]

I remember Bill gates's ambition years ago was to converge computing to one unified platform. So it may seem that Vista is that ambition coming to some frution. But MS has proprietary tools for their OS at premium cost. MS is steering the market, Customers, devs and everyone concerned by forcing the market to buy their tools. I see why costs

are so high in game development. aside from dev salaries.

MS has a majority of the market duped. I've been a user of windows for god, what? since 1990's. I think my first OS was windows 3.1. But the issue is that MS windows runs so hot because it is tearing up the harddrive because it has to work so hard. I've read about memory leaks, inefficient hardrive utilization and generally a resource hog. I hear my fan running high speed at most times.

some might think...hey Papa6, you're a linux fan boy. quite contrary! I'm trying to open my eyes and see that there are other alternatives than MS since leaving MS is like an alcoholic in rehab. there are pains of withdrawal but I have hardware that works great with OPEN SUSE 10.2. I have used windows for so many years that I didn't know my options. but I'm expanding to learn those options. I just can't see buying into a new OS that's essentially the same as XP Pro for $400. that's outrageous! don't you think? But there are some who'll just go out and buy it just to say they got it. some buy the newest Video card just to say they got one.

But i think alot of folks believe that Linux is a commandline OS. IT WAS. but today when you install linux, X server is automatically configured and if you know how to point n' click in windows, then linux will be a snap. Windows enjoys heavy market share but with Vista and it's cost, this could supress MS and alot may just go to OSX which is based on UNIX or even linux. the installation is GUI just like windows. devs for the linux community have worked for the last several years to make Linux a user-friendly OS.

The fan running at a higher rpm is due to insufficient cooling. Most processors will run idle one windows is up. Some games however like Graw max out the CPU and can cause the cpu to wind up a little to compensate for the load.

SUSE is owned by Novell. It was great before they were aquired but i wouldn't touch anything novell has aquired. (just a personal opinion of mine because of past history and dealings with Novell)

Ubuntu would be my choice in distro's.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Here is also an interesting one.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/news.php

Would be nice for flashdrives.

Here is the link for Opensuse

http://en.opensuse.org/Welcome_to_openSUSE.org

Currently Novell owns it, and for a bit there was a charge for it. Who knows where Novell will take it for now.

The problem isn't with the GUI that causes users not to install it. Most users don't understand how to install applications or hardware drivers, and with limited manufacturer support (usually if they have a linux driver it's listed as unsupported or you have to rely on one someone compiled) it leaves the average user relying on the buddy that suggested him to get it. Also since MS has become a standard on the Office front, it leaves users to install Open Office, which is 100% (well close to) compatible, but a whole new interface for them to learn.

And as we know users don't like change...

[Papa6]

It's a matter of choice. but I'm trying to pry myself off this MS dependency. But it's tough as I've been addicted to MS OS's up till now. But Windows keeps the CPU busy, actually busier than Linux or other OS's.

I have to archive my docs and important files so i can clean my HDD clean for installing linux. I'm moving on! but I can enjoy the same websites with no problem

[ROCO*AFZ*]

It's a matter of choice. but I'm trying to pry myself off this MS dependency. But it's tough as I've been addicted to MS OS's up till now. But Windows keeps the CPU busy, actually busier than Linux or other OS's.

I have to archive my docs and important files so i can clean my HDD clean for installing linux. I'm moving on! but I can enjoy the same websites with no problem

But not the games. I have also seen Firefox render some sites oddly with fonts and javascripts. You may want to look into opera. (it's also easier to change bookmarks and addresses between pc's unlike firefox and thunderbird) Althought they don't advertise linux on there main page (probaby not supported)

http://www.opera.com/download/index.dml?custom=yes

You'll be back once you find a game you like or you'll dual boot. (you missed the big linux crusade by about 2-3 years... heck i even had winlinux and mandrake 9.0 loaded back then)

[Papa6]

I might get Americas army for linux if i feel the need to game.

[ROCO*AFZ*]

http://www.americasarmy.com/support/faq_linux.php

There you go... have fun.

[Papa6]

LOL @ roco. i have it for windows. I know this game pretty well for the most part.

[Sup]

Those are some interesting numbers, Dannik. I had no idea popcap was making (or spending) anywhere near that much.

Having played through BWA, I figured it was probably higher budget than their previous games, but 700k is a surprise.

[Dannik]

Considering it's more or less a three person development team, the cost shocked me too, but the market is certainly there.

[ROCO*AFZ*]

LOL @ roco. i have it for windows. I know this game pretty well for the most part.

Yeah but you wanted it for linux right?

[Papa6]

Well yeah. But I wiped my harddrive of Winblows and I'm fully in linux Ubuntu 6.06 and I think my system is advancing to edgy eft the latest for free.

it isn't

XP home- $99

to vista- $400

Cool thing is, this linux works perfectly with my digital a the camera Kodak EasyShare 7590 and i push the button on the camera's Dock and itopens the wizard to download my piccies to the harddrive.

nice!

Roco...You need to goto Linux man, this is sweet.

But I have to learn what's best, Gnome or KDE. I still have alot to learn

[ROCO*AFZ*]

Well yeah. But I wiped my harddrive of Winblows and I'm fully in linux Ubuntu 6.06 and I think my system is advancing to edgy eft the latest for free.

it isn't

XP home- $99

to vista- $400

Cool thing is, this linux works perfectly with my digital a the camera Kodak EasyShare 7590 and i push the button on the camera's Dock and itopens the wizard to download my piccies to the harddrive.

nice!

Roco...You need to goto Linux man, this is sweet.

But I have to learn what's best, Gnome or KDE. I still have alot to learn

I wasn't much for gnome although some like it. I preferred KDE.

Vista ultimate is the 400.

There is a basic home and a premium

Then a business (pro) and and ultimate (pro) (note pro isn't in the title I put it there for comparison)

I have virtual pc and can bring my virtual linux up anytime i need it, while in windows lol. I played but it got stale after a bit (i don't like AA either very much )

[firefly2442]

Well yeah. But I wiped my harddrive of Winblows and I'm fully in linux Ubuntu 6.06 and I think my system is advancing to edgy eft the latest for free.

it isn't

XP home- $99

to vista- $400

Cool thing is, this linux works perfectly with my digital a the camera Kodak EasyShare 7590 and i push the button on the camera's Dock and itopens the wizard to download my piccies to the harddrive.

nice!

Roco...You need to goto Linux man, this is sweet.

But I have to learn what's best, Gnome or KDE. I still have alot to learn

Just FYI- don't upgrade from 6.06 to Edgy... many people had problems with high end machines. I would suggest a reinstall if you go that route.

Back on topic:

I dual boot Ubuntu Linux and Windows XP. I've tried numerous Linux distros. I used to have a stack of CDs until I went in and cleaned them out. It's true that Linux and Open Source/Free Software in general has been making huge strides towards ease of use and features. If you are a DIY kind of person or really into computers, Linux is an excellent choice. I still don't think it's at the point where my parents could install it and go. Sadly, this is mostly because of patents and file formats. Many multimedia and document formats are still closed source and probably won't be opening up anytime soon. In terms of computers, people don't like change. I tell my parents they should switch (jokingly) and they say it's too hard to learn. I still think there are many things Microsoft does wrong, and some things that they do correctly. But as time goes by, I tell people more and more about Linux because I believe it's a superior product. And I think that's a good thing. At the very least, it shows how far Linux has come. I guess deep down, it doesn't really matter what OS people run. It's still just a computer, the point of a computer is what you DO with it, not what runs on it.

So what about mocap? What about orchestras for the scores? What about licensing real-world technology to ensure the cars in racing games are based on actual cars, and the guns in tac-sims are based on actual guns?

What about marketing? Publishing? Shipping? ArmA may never see store shelves in North America because the developer couldn't afford to secure a deal to distribute/publish that satisfied them. Great game, and sure it's purchasable online (thanks, Valve, for getting the ball rolling on a large scale), but it just won't sell many copies because they also don't advertise it compared to other titles it may otherwise compete with.

Even Popcap spent $700,000USD on their latest game, and they specialize in cheap, inexpensive titles. It takes money to get shelf space, whether real or virtual. No amount of free tools will ever be good enough to become an "AA" title, unless the vast amount of money is spent on things outside of the software used in development.

To bust out the car analogy: If your car was free, and used 1/10 the fuel of your neighbour's car, you'd still need the highways and byways to get around, and those don't come cheap.

While I think Dannik is completely right, I believe the main point of Free and Open Source software is to have it be open for anyone to use. By having it be free you know there are no restrictions on general usage. It's about empowerment for not only developers and indy studios but anyone. I guess that's pretty idealistic/sappy but the whole idea here is to make computing accessible and open to everyone.

[Dannik]

That's why the FOSS community frequently has the phrase "Free as in freedom and free as in beer". To understand that "free software" can mean two things.

Free to run, and free to modify to suit your needs. Two very different things, but the GPL ensures both.

In a perfect "free" world, you would not have to pay for anything. Ever. This is noble, but unrealistic. The whole "communism works in theory" applies.

Free (beer/freedom) software is frequently fantastic. Commercial software is also frequently fantastic. The critical difference is that commercial software carries a certain guarantee that *free* software cannot. Yet.

Heck, this website runs on software that was initially Free as in Beer. Now, it's a full on commercial entity, yet it's still in use. It was never Free as in Freedom. PhpBB is both, but it just does not match the quality of IPB, in terms of function.

Doesn't mean PhpBB isn't great software, just that the GPL and GPL-like options are not ready for commercial success.

In a perfect GPL (FOSS) world, all software would be free, and we'd only have to pay for support, personal updates, etc. This is not a bad thing, but it's an impractical thing for most.

Hi, my name is Dannik, and this is my rant. Merry Christmas, folks.