Re: GFX under Linux

[Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.net>]

Mark Collins wrote:

> > I still think Linux can get a respectable share of the desktop market and
> > when it does, games will come.
> 
> Of course, it won't get a sizeable market share of the desktop until there
> are more games, and thus begins the downward spiral.

...and that's the crucial question.

Is Linux desktop usage slowly increasing despite the lack of games?  (in
which case it'll eventually get into the realms of positive feedback -
more users => more games => more users) ....Or is it gradually declining
in popularity because of the lack of games? (in which case we are in the
realms of negative feedback - less users => even fewer games => even fewer
users).

The reason I'm mildly optimistic is that there are essentially zero high quality
Linux games and that hasn't stopped us from having a reasonable growth from one
user to about seven million.  Those people came to Linux in the absence of
great games - so the negative spiral can't happen - we are already in the
worst possible case vis'a'vis games.

If Microsoft continue to push towards the "pay per view" model of getting
profit from their software then I think we'll pick up a lot of disgruntled
users.

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