theluckyone17

You know, I see Ben's post on April 24th. The prior post was back in January. Who's stirring the pot? Just sayin'... on the other hand, I did pop back into this forum. In all fairness, I think the point they're trying to make is that Ben (et al.) can afford to support Windows, due to the larger customer base. The obvious counter argument is that the larger the customer base, the more issues are likely to arise. I'd also make the position that any experienced Linux user is likely to reach out to the community for support (I do). The key there is "experienced". I've seen what happens with inexperienced (and arrogant) Windows users. Can't even imagine what that'd be like on Linux. For what it's worth as well... I've moved back to Win8 for my flight sim'ing fix, since I'm really missing VATSIM and expected hoped for a 64 bit XSquawkbox plugin by now. With "the other Ben" and Wade spending little time coding for XSBX, I don't imagine I'm going to see a plugin anytime soon, either. I still won't buy any product that includes Gizmo; I don't want to be locked into a platform, if and when I can move back. That's my stand; Ben's got his. Life goes on.

Reading comprehension. It's a good thing. I didn't suggest OS X is crap. I said it may be the best operating system for you, Joe Schmoe, and the guy on the corner, but if my business is centered around the use of ProEngineer, OS X is not the best operating system for me. ProE does not support OS X (http://www.ptc.com/WCMS/files/77552/en/proewf5.pdf), so if I replaced all the workstations in my office with Mac's, and all my business critical data is sitting in ProEngineer's format, I'm hosed. Ergo, it's not the best operating system FOR ME. Applying "simple labels" to define what's "best" in the real world does not work. I'm also going to strongly disagree with your comparison of Linux specifically to Hackintosh. One is not like the other. Now you're implying that anyone can buy $1,500 worth of PC hardware off the shelf, slap it together, and just expect Windows to work on it? That's not necessarily true. Sure, it's a reasonable expectation, but the devil is in the details. There is hardware out there with a shoddy reputation for working on Windows, much less anything else. There's older hardware that's not supported on the latest version of Windows, as well. So making a blind assumption whenever you're upgrading/installing ANY operating system or hardware is a bad idea, and likely to get you burned at some point down the road. If I want commercial support under Linux, I've got Redhat, Canonical, and a host of third party providers. Judging from the experience I've had with Microsoft's tech support in the past, I'm going to guess that Linux support is on par on a quality level as well (it's hard to get much worse). I don't have to resort to community forums if I choose not to. Which is more than I can say for hackintoshes. Psystar Corporation tried that. Apple sued them out of existence. PearC works in Germany, so far. If Apple decides it's profitable to sue PearC, and negate their legal argument that the EULA is a post-purchase restriction on the use of OS X, all Apple has to do is provide a copy of the EULA with the software prior to purchase. Poof, there goes PearC's argument and their business model. They must be comfortable with that. PearC can't do much to support the actual operating system, as well. If there's a bug in OS X? They have no access to the source code. They install an unmodified version of OS X. They can't provide the same level of support that other companies can. I can't see you getting much support from Apple, either. "Hi, I have a problem with XYZ in OS X. No, I didn't buy the system from Apple... I bought it from PearC... But they told me to call you..."

I'll second that, Sqrt. I haven't seen a BSOD that I haven't been able to attribute to anything but either malware (rootkits, especially) or failing hardware. Same goes for kernel panics in Linux or OS X. I may not be the biggest fan of Windows from a preference stand point, but I'm more than willing to admit that. Ben, I missed your earlier post on Rust. I saw that same video when I was researching it a bit. Not sure if it says more about the game or the player base, to be honest. My way of looking at it? There are so many ways I've burned $20 quicker and in less enjoying ways than Rust. Even if it's a total flop. But then again, I'll admit to having actually paid for a copy of Duke Nukem Forever, too... now that I do regret.

Again, you're defining what's best. Your definition of best does little good if I'm running a business relying on ProEngineer (hint: It doesn't support OS X). Going out and buying a Mac would be a bad idea for me, and I can throw your definition of "best operating system" out the window. Your point makes little sense to me. If I understand you correctly, you can't afford to purchase a Mac Pro. Instead of buying $1,500 worth of off the shelf PC hardware bits and putting Windows, Linux, or another operating system on it (which most likely supports that hardware), you're going to make a "Hackintosh" by slapping a copy of OS X on it? The same operating system that in turn doesn't officially support the hardware you're running it on? The same operating system who's legality of running it on that PC hardware isn't clear, since it's a clear violation of the EULA? The same operating system that has a history of instability when run on anything but Apple hardware? Sure. I believe you either have little experience with operating systems despite your claims, or a pretty poor troll. Either way, I wish you luck, but I also wish you wouldn't spew misinformation.

Airfighter: OS X is the best OS in the world? Define best. I'll bet you and I will have differing definitions. Not that it's a bad thing, us disagreeing. We're likely not using our computers for the same purposes, and have different preferences. You do your thing, I'll do mine. Life is good. Abburo: Linux for gaming is possible. I'm doing it. Three Gentoo boxes at my house. One's used for X-Plane (a sim, but I digress), Minecraft, and Steam (Kerbal Space Program, X3, and a few others). The other two are hosting Minecraft servers. I'm tempted to pick up Rust, when it looks a little less "Early Access". It's not Valve's responsibility to make Steam work with any given distribution. That's placed upon the shoulders of those rolling the distribution. Not to nitpick, but if your distribution is rolling a kernel that prevents you from gaming with it... you might want to be looking at another distribution. Either they've got a different goal in mind (a distribution tailored for something other than gaming, such as SELinux) or the dev's rolling the distro are incompetent.

From the speculation I've heard, Valve's concerns aren't focused on bringing Linux to the masses. If it helps standardize Linux distributions a bit, that's fine and dandy, but it'll be as an indirect effect. I understand that Valve is more concerned with reducing the need to rely on Microsoft. I imagine that the Windows Store might have something to do with that, as one could view it as an attempt to bypass Valve's distribution stream. That controller, though... ick.

I want to clarify something here. If Cameron doesn't see fit to roll a copy of Gizmo for Linux, and that's his business decision, so be it. We may not see eye to eye on it, but I'll agree to disagree. I take offense to Ben's statement that by requesting Linux support, I'm a "whiner" and I'm requesting special treatment. All I'm asking for is the same treatment as the other two platforms. Ben can take that attitude and do what he wants with it.

Ben, Zero compelling reasons to provide Linux support? That's odd; I had 40 of them sitting in my pocket last night. I'm sure there are others willing to provide some reasons as well. If asking you to roll a version for Linux is "special charity treatment" when Laminar Research, DDenn Designs, STMA, Carenado, Heniz, et al all support Linux without an issue, then so be it. If you view my wanting to hand money over as "whinging [sic]", then so be it. As a consumer, I get really offended by any developer whose level of customer service amounts to declaring a subset of the niche "1%'s expecting to receive special charity treatment" and to be "whingers [sic]." That's piss poor customer service. I'm not expecting you to fix third party libraries issues; that's a distribution issue, as far as I'm concerned, and is best to be supported through other Linux users/administrators (the way we solve most of our issues, oddly enough). I'll tell you what; I'll take my expectations of "special charity treatment" and my "whinging [sic]" elsewhere, as well as the contents of my wallet. You take your Gizmo, and I'm sure you know what you can do with it. Sideways . Have yourself a nice day.

I usually hate digging up a necro thread, but I'll make an exception for this one. I've been tempted to pick up a DC-3 model, since it'd be pretty handy in FSEconomy. Google "X-Plane DC-3", and the first link that appears took me to X-Aviation's web site. $39.95? A bit pricey, but I spent less than I expected to on Christmas gifts, and I deserve to spend a little money on myself. The model looks gorgeous, too. The wear on the cockpit & gauges... perfect! Oh, wait... Linux isn't supported. I guess that ~$40 won't be leaving my wallet (well, it hits the credit card first, but eventually it comes out of the big wallet I call the bank account). Let's check out that second link Google listed; yep, they support Linux. Guess I'll be buying from them instead. Then it vaguely hits me that I've been here before, when I was looking at SkyMaxx Pro. I'm starting to see a pattern develop. I may not be your rabid "Everything must be free" Linux user; I get better performance running X-Plane on Linux than I do running on Windows. I don't mind spending money on something worthwhile. Heck, I can blow $40 at dinner with the wife easily, and that dinner won't last as long as I'd be flying that model. I don't like DRM, but when it works and doesn't stand in the way of my use of a product, I'm okay with it. But when a company refuses to support my platform of choice, and I read the thread above, I begin to get a sour taste in my mouth. I'm sure it'll come up in conversation whenever I discuss my use of a DC-3 model in the near future, and I don't imagine it'll be in a positive note.