For some reason in chrome on ubuntu all of the text inside the select boxes is white on white so you have to select options to read them.
They specify that they are looking for "experience linux users" so if you want to game the survey you can answer the "how many years have you used linux?" dishonestly.
I experienced the same behaviour with Chromium 24 on openSUSE Tumbleweed x86_64.
Looks like a good start for a more linux-centered experience, doesn't it? ;)
[edit] Put in a smiley at the end of the second sentence to convey my less-than-serious take on the matter, which did not succeed to keep me from signing up... [/edit]
Yeah, some CSS and GTK+ interactions is definitely useful data to make conclusions about whether or not the Steam client or Source engine run well in Linux... (Neither of which (are likely to) use GTK+ anyway at that).
Clearly a polished GUI is not requisite for good compatibility/performance, but it certainly is a canary-in-the-coal-mine indicator for other less visible bits. Basically, if they haven't had time yet to fix things like unreadable menus, that gives you an idea of how close to RTM quality the underpinnings are.
To be fair I imagine the client itself is much higher quality.
This just looks like a php form someone threw together in half an hour. Valve has a "work on what you want" policy so I imagine most of their developers are more interested in building the games and steam itself than survey websites.
Yeah, but I've been 'using' Linux since 1997. Doesn't meant that someone who picked it up six months ago hasn't completely outstripped me in knowledge (easily done).
That said, I've signed up to help the initiative. As a gamer, I'd really like to see Linux as a 1st class citizen of the gaming world.
For the people without a steam account: They are asking about several hardware details (CPU, GPU, resolution, amount of monitors, RAM) and will notify "selected people" in a few days.
I don't really understand why they need to limit the number of beta testers - I think it was said that only about 1000 users will get access to the beta client.
Because it's probably going to fail to cope with all the weird and wonderful Linux installations out there to start with & they'd rather it didn't gain a reputation as being a buggy sack of offal.
It's hardly unusual for companies to have a limited beta before they open out to a wider audience.
that post only mentioned the Linux Group. At that time, there was no news about a Linux Survey. The group was empty and all you could do is join the group, but there was no mention of a survey. So it seems unfair to me that this would not get upvoted because of the post you mentioned.
I don't know if it's unfair. I know I followed yesterday's link and completed the survey there.
So in my perception, this is a duplicate and I think that's why it's not upvoted. I don't see what fairness has to do with the success or failure of a submission.
Gaming is just time spent not hacking ;) I myself do need a break once in a while, but some people seem to never stop and/or just don't like games (anymore).
Why should I install this when I sill still have to boot into windows to play all the games that are worth playing (of the games I am not already tired of)?
This should not even be news IMO. So mamy people say WebOS and Windows 8/RT will never gain prominence because they don't have the games of IOS/Android - Yet Linux gets a steam client and all I hear is excitement. do yo think that game devs want to create games for a 2% desktop market?
Nice double standard there - I understand it, but it is still an agenda/bias that I wish to call out.
And one shouldn't underestimate Valve's own offering of games. Those are among the best games ever made.
With Left4Dead, Team Fortress 2 and Counter Strike, you have plenty of fun, and at least for Team Fortress 2 they regularly update the game with weekend specials, new items and new maps.
Right now it's Halloween special, with new game modes where the two teams should cooperate to kill the Horseless Headless Horseman with trips to the Underworld. It's really a laugh to play.
It's a chicken and egg problem. At least we'll soon have the chicken.
More seriously, game developpers will be much more encouraged to develop for Linux if they have a delivery system, especially given how Unity is becoming more and more popular.
This is a long play. I doubt that Valve would be doing this if they didn't have a long term belief in it's viability.
One big issue is Engine tech, typically the best game engines have been designed around Windows and Consoles. Now we have ports of Source engine and Unity3D to Linux. This can enable a whole batch of games to be ported to Linux with minimal effort.
Besides , this is a beta so intended for interested early adopters to play with rather than becoming the #1 game system overnight.
>This is a long play. I doubt that Valve would be doing this if they didn't have a long term belief in it's viability.
No their cash cow is being threatened by Windows 8 and they know that their monopoly is almost over. They have one shot to protect it and keep MS away from it for all times - turn the desktop market toward Linux.
2 Problems with it:
For some reason in chrome on ubuntu all of the text inside the select boxes is white on white so you have to select options to read them.
They specify that they are looking for "experience linux users" so if you want to game the survey you can answer the "how many years have you used linux?" dishonestly.