It's interesting to me

[6743c676384f3JDoran]

not going to tell you what to do or not to do, but a recommendation, that I can give.

Or you could bribe us! It doesn't even have to be money - if you can send me Karen Gillan's phone number then I won't mention politics here ever again 



Regarding dropping Windows, I've been reading about ReactOS (via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReactOS ), an open source, Windows compatible operating system. It does seem very interesting, but according to the Wikipedia page:

"ReactOS has been in development since 1996. As of April 2024, it is still considered feature-incomplete alpha software, and is therefore recommended by the developers only for evaluation and testing purposes.[11][12] However, many Windows applications are working, such as Adobe Reader 9.3, GIMP 2.6, and LibreOffice 5.4."

So of course it's very far from being the fully Windows compatible, open source (and totally free from Microsoft's controls) alternative to MS's invasive, resource stealing, every update is a guessing game in what it will break, modern Windows versions. Still an interesting thing to read about, and maybe in an alternative universe many of us are happily using ReactOS to run our Windows games and non-gaming software.

And in that great universe, I bet they are playing System Shock 3, Dishonored 3 (or 4),Prey 2 (the sequel to the 2017 Prey game), Half-Life 3, Portal 3, No One Lives Forever 3, Perfect Dark 2, Timesplitters 4, Bioshock 3 (or 4, or, if that universe is *really* great, then they have Bioshock 3 AND 4, and they still have Bioshock: Infinite, which kept all of the good stuff that was removed from our version of Infinite, and is a superb, ground-breaking genre-defining classic, instead of the very pretty but shallow disappointment of Bioshock: Infinite that we were given), and so on. And in that universe, Microsoft never bought (then ruined) Rare, Microsoft didn't break up Arkane Austin, and Microsoft would never think of anything as stupid or unwelcome to the users as Recall.

And in that universe, Duke Nukem Forever came out around 2001, and was really good. I bet they're playing the equally great Duke Nukem 8 by now.

[6743c67638777icemann]

Speaking of Windows. Turns out 70% of Windows users worldwide have stuck with Windows 10, not wanting to "upgrade" to 11.

Article:
Here

[6743c67638909Nameless Voice]

Not surprising, considering they keep forcing more unwanted features in each Windows version.

[6743c67638a47JDoran]

Windows 11 is heavily detested by many people, and not undeservedly. I wish Google or another company with unlimited cash behind them would make a PC OS that ran all Windows stuff but without the bad Stuff that Windows has/does.

Actually, probably not Google. They aren't exactly strangers to selling off peoples' private data, from what I've read. Are there any trustworthy big companies?

[6743c67638d2efox]

Are there any trustworthy big companies?

No.

[6743c6763914dvoodoo47]

Are there any trustworthy entities?

No.

fixed.

[6743c676392c5Nameless Voice]

Valve are the closest one to doing something like this, because the Steam Deck has pushed a lot of companies to want to have Linux support for their games, and Wine Proton has helped a lot more Windows software to run on Linux.

That's probably been one of the biggest boosts for software support on Linux in years.

Because, at the end of the day, the problem that keeps people away from using Linux generally isn't Linux itself, but rather that a lot of software and games don't run properly there.

[6743c67639672fox]

Because, at the end of the day, the problem that keeps people away from using Linux generally isn't Linux itself, but rather that a lot of software and games don't run properly there.

This and force of habit. But the main problem is that many regular Win-users won't feel like they will gain anything in terms of actual functionality but still have to invest time and energy into the migration. If MS wouldn't erode personal freedom and privacy more and more, people wouldn't see much need for a change.

It's like being forced to move out of a comfortable apartment after decades because the new landlord started to read your mail and sneak into your apartment.

All together is almost like a vicious circle. You really do need some killer applications or something like Steam Deck to make Linux more attractive. Not only games are important, also creative tools (like audio/video/photo editing applications) seem to be under-supported in Linux. Apple knew what they did, when they pushed the Mac onto the creative industry.

[6743c67639acaJDoran]

...But the main problem is that many regular Win-users won't feel like they will gain anything in terms of actual functionality but still have to invest time and energy into the migration. If MS wouldn't erode personal freedom and privacy more and more, people wouldn't see much need for a change.

It's like being forced to move out of a comfortable apartment after decades because the new landlord started to read your mail and sneak into your apartment...

Exactly. Changing from Windows to Linux will be a difficult task for many people (even the drive designations are different, which will be a big problem for some people), and for others it won't so much be difficult as pointless as you're learning to use one OS (Linx) when you can already use a different OS (Windows) to the level that you like/need. Even today, many, many people just want to be able to use their PC (or laptop, or tablet, or phone, etc) with as little effort and potential confusion as possible, and they don't care in the slightest what the OS is, or it works, as long as it runs the programs and games that they want to use.

If Windows 10 could be used for the rest of my life (two, maybe three decades, probably), then I would stick with Win 10, and I don't doubt that the majority of PC users would say the same. People tend not to like change unless the change brings noticeable and existent improvements and benefits. Which Windows seldom does. I don't want Co-Pilot, or Recall, or anything else that MS is currently promising (that I know of).

[6743c67639e33Nameless Voice]

Not only games are important, also creative tools (like audio/video/photo editing applications) seem to be under-supported in Linux. Apple knew what they did, when they pushed the Mac onto the creative industry.

I think this also has to do with a lot of creatives / artists being locked into toxic ecosystems by big companies such as Adobe and Autodesk.  Everyone feels they are pushed into "industry standards" like Photoshop, despite some truly horrible anti-consumer practices and exorbitant subscription prices.

That's an area where I'd love to see more development in open-source alternatives, regardless of operating system.

[6743c67639f49fox]

Edit:
The contents of this post, about new game "Sonar Shock", moved to a dedicated thread now.

[6743c6763a03eicemann]

Firstly yes make a thread. Second, that looks very interesting. Visually looks like System Shock 1 mixed in with the Blade of Agony Wolfendoom mod for Doom 2. Have to check it out.

[6743c6763a151voodoo47]

a cryogenic napalmer.. ok.. go home FO4, you are drunk.

[6743c6763a266fox]

Hope And Glory | A Mad Max Fan Film (2024)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScyL5W8HZkM

[6743c6763a3a8fox]

privacyguides.org: ""Privacy-Preserving" Attribution: Mozilla Disappoints Us Yet Again"

"No shady privacy policies or back doors for advertisers" proclaims the Firefox homepage, but that's no longer true in Firefox 128.

[6743c6763a49avoodoo47]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zAI8K7OzDQ
hmm.. I do have a 486 dx2/66 machine.. uhh, somewhere. and 14:05, heh.

[6743c6763a5dfvoodoo47]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-aVt77epQ4
this is.. not bad, and I say that as someone who absolutely loathes (proper) 3D models in old shooters.

[6743c6763a6bcfox]

Needs a Hellfire missile launcher for maximum overkill now.

[6743c6763a83bicemann]

Romhacking.net shutting down after being up for over 20 years.

Quite sad about this one, as I've been a frequenter of the site for a long time. Easily the best place on the net for news and repository of romhacks and (for me) more importantly English translation patches for games that would otherwise be unplayable, due to language barriers.

Thanks to the site, I got to play Sword of Mana (aka Secret of Mana 2) on the Super Nintendo, Shin Megami Tensei 1 & 2, Policenauts (Hideo Kojima's next game after Snatcher). At least the site will be staying up and still have news posts, but will no longer be hosting any new patches.

[6743c6763adf6sarge945]

Fallout 4 is a mixed bag. The combat is great, the world is quite large and there's heaps of content

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM-e46xdcUo

The combat is undoubtedly better than previous Fallout games, but seeing as how it came out the year before the Doom reboot, also by Bethesda, it really shows how lackluster the combat really is. It suffers from stiff animations, no animation/reload cancelling, lots of camera jitter while animating, and many other issues.

The world isn't particularly big either, neither is the amount of content. When you look at the number of quests, then yeah sure, Fallout 4 has more content than previous games. But if you look closer, a significant number of those quests are extremely basic "defend the point" quests for the Minutemen, or other barebones pseudo-quests. If you're only measuring the sheer volume of content then you're right, but it's a stupid metric because significant amounts of the content are meaningless drivel.

Fallout 4 isn't even a good "Bethesda Fallout" game. It's more like a surface-level imitation of Bethesda Fallout (which was already a surface level imitation of real Fallout)

[6743c6763af2bicemann]

Oh I completely agree. I to this day cite Fallout 4, as one of my biggest disappointments in gaming. To go from New Vegas to that is just such a drop.

For me the loss of roleplaying, and no longer having proper alternate paths to quests + the loss of the skill system were my biggest negatives. I do still want to check out of the fan made expansions at some point. Fallout London of more recent note.

[6743c6763b022voodoo47]

but.. the loot!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPN0qhSyWy8

[6743c6763b119sarge945]

I honestly don't understand how anyone can live in a third world shithole (like the USA) where they don't have guaranteed consumer protections against that kind of fraud (speaking of the Nylon Bag thing).

[6743c6763b2aevoodoo47]

wouldn't call my place a 3rd world country, but ms is still allowed to sell an office suite that expires after 12 months for 100 bucks, and nobody bats an eye - ask me, this should be illegal.

much more concerning than bethesda being stupid with its ips.