Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by commandar 5070 days ago
Ubuntu Software Center isn't a direct competitor?

If anything he risks footing a lot of the effort to get developers onto Linux (see: Valve openly talking about working with GPU manufacturers to improve the quality of Linux drivers) only to have it benefit people that choose to distribute outside of Steam.
2 comments
icebraining 5070 days ago
Ubuntu Software Center isn't a direct competitor?

No, because it's DRM-less.

link
wtracy 5070 days ago
I was going to reply that UBC doesn't support paid apps, but apparently now it does.

That said, Valve appears to be going for a play based on being a cross-platform app store (Windows, OS X, Linux). It's not obvious to me that they can add much value that way (after you've gone to the work to implement support for three platforms, submitting to three app stores is not a lot of overhead) but we'll see.

link
GlennS 5070 days ago
A cross-platform store is something that appeals to the consumer rather than the game developer I would think?
link
mattvanhorn 5070 days ago
Definitely in my case - I play a lot of my Steam games on both platforms. Gaming PC at home, and Macbook Pro on the go.
link
commandar 5070 days ago
I'm also of the opinion that the problems I've seen are too deep to realistically be fixed in the few months left before W8 goes RTM.
link
lerouxb 5070 days ago
Why do they have to be fixed before then?
link
commandar 5069 days ago
Because they're fundamental UI issues that Microsoft generally won't touch after a general release.
link
wtracy 5070 days ago
If you're using multiple platforms, I could see the benefit of not having to enter your credit card multiple times. But honestly, if you're going to buy a program on your PC, then walk over to your Mac and buy it again, do you really care if you're buying it from the same store both times?

I know that Steam lets you take your games from one machine to another, but I don't expect that to be the norm for most app stores.

link
esbwhat 5070 days ago
This is not how that works -- if you buy a game for windows on steam, the mac version is free. I've tried this personally, and I expect the same will be true for linux as well. In other words, pay once, get the game for all OS', updating automatically, and all connected to the same account so you can chat to windows and mac players through the steam client
link