tangra

If they don't get hit by an Anti Trust in the EU by this it would be strange.

I don't think they will do this, but lock other major updates ... def. Like when they retro introduced dx 12 for older cards. Something like this will end up behind a pay wall. Or shadow play but not game drivers. Basically the extra fluff.

The design language is identical ...

What is Zune? /s

Ouuuu, ok here is what I think. I think they will bring a full linux support like Sigwin for developers. More specifically on the web developers side who's tools are very Unix based. We will have to wait and see.

Google is starting to protect some videos legally under fair sure. Meaining for the first time, YouTube is protecting its content creator again takedown request on videos that genuinly follows fair use properly. As Google themselves put it, Ars Technica reports that, The Game reviewer in question is, Jim Sterling, who also made a JIMQUISITION video about it. It's important to note that the legal video protection is only in the US, so the videos are restricted only in the US. In more specifics, Google is ready to put up to a million dollars in legal fees if the people issuing the takedowns decide to go to court. Sources: 1- http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/youtube-offers-to-pay-legal-fees-for-some-challenged-fair-use-videos/ 2- http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.ca/2015/11/a-step-toward-protecting-fair-use-on.html?m=1 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-UgOXP82UI

And steam link has been great for that matter! The controller has a really bad learning curve but the link ... AMAZING.

It does not really matter tho, its for comparison purposes between OS to OS not between hardware components.

Ars did an analysis on the performance in games of the Linux based SteamOS vs Windows and ... the results were not in favour of the gaming Linux flavour. Altho CPU result differences were not great, the GPU is where Windows basically kills it. They used Metro: Last Light Redux and Middle-Earth:Shadow of Mordor and basically came up with this: Now, as Ars puts it, What has to be kept in mind is that since Windows is treated at the primary platform and everything is ported SteamOS from there, lower results are expected. However, there is also the elephant int he room which are GPU drivers. Under Windows, both AMD and NVIDIA deliver updates for every new AAA titles and their drivers are miles ahead on windows than under Linux or Mac. And we also have a chicken and an egg problem. As long as there are significantly more users under Windows, other desktop OSes will be getting the short end of the stick. And having great performance in games requires that ALL parties involved are focussed on it. And last but not least, many games are designed to run under DirectX when written for the desktop and when transferred to OpenGL, there is simply less optimization being done on the port. Altho, valve's own games are probably the best examples of proper ports. Source: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/11/ars-benchmarks-show-significant-performance-hit-for-steamos-gaming/ What do you guys think? Is it possible that we will ever see a parity in performance here?

The Verge reports that apple is working on its own phone service. source: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-in-talks-to-launch-an-mvno-in-the-us-and-europe-2015-8 via: http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/3/9089911/apple-mvno-phone-service-being-tested-report I am not even surprised in all honesty. Its all part of the ME TOO mentality of the tech sector ...

Microsoft is developing an Android launcher. It's in the very early days so far, but its interesting to see the the company going on other platforms. They also released a lock screen (Next lock screen) for Android as well. Here is the verge's take on the new launcher: I find this really interesting in the sense, that you will be able to live in an MS ecosystem even if you are using an Android device. At the moment, this is in BETA stage with a Google plus group invitation for it. Here is the link to ask for an invite: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/109393011462139141948 Source: http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/28/9055011/microsoft-arrow-launcher-beta-download

One thing that you guys need to factor in, is that Valve is playing the EXTREMELY long game when they do things. They are not looking into the next quarter or year, they are looking 10 years down the road. This is not intended to be doing major sales in the near future. What follows is PURE speculation ... Valve loves the e-sport scene In order to have a successful e-sport game you need to have a game that stays popular and has a community that supports it for a VERY long time. It is why they went after DOTA, this is why Counter Strike STILL EXISTS and is topping the charts on steam. This is why valve is working on porting their existing games to a new engine and not releasing a sequel. In the next 10 years we will see 25 Assassins creed games, 10 CODs and 8 battlefields, and we will still have DOTA/LOL still being played. Blizzard is also going that route, and why Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch are getting made and pushed like no tomorrow. I mean, we live in an age, where ESPN2 broadcasted a MOBA, Twitch is a multi billion business and things will only grow in that scene. Spectating games, is only going to become more and more popular as prices and scandals become bigger and bigger. It may sound funny today, but having people gathered at watching a final of a game tournament will be a real thing. I think that Valve is getting ready for a post console market ... playing the very long term game. They are a fully private company, so there is no pressure of immediate results.

It would not make much sense if you could refund purchases of other vendors ... The fraud possibilities.

http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds Scroll down, click on the help link. Open a ticket. And then wait ... I really hope the next thing they will fix is the response time on those tickets. Last time I had to use the support system it took a week to hear back from then, but after the first response it was faster the back and forth.Then again ... with refunds being a new thing I guarantee there are TONS of people who are doing exactly what you are going to do now.

You know why I support Steam?! Because they single handedly saved my hobby which is PC gaming (practicing it and creating it). 8 years ago, I was at a developer conference here in Montreal with panel of speakers from Ubi, EA and THQ (rip). Keep in mind, that back then Indie development was much less of an option. One of the questions from the public was: What about PC support? Why is it always an after taught? The answer: There is simply no budget allocated for it to be better, its not a good platform (it was pretty much the response) I went to a similar conference last year and the same question was asked. This time it was a panel of a lead devs from Eidos, Ubisoft and Unity. Eidos: PC is important for us. Ubisoft: We intent to fully support the PC platform and its passionate community. When it came to the Unity guy, he answered a single thing: Steam .... So yes, they can be better, and they will get there. Its a special company with an extremely flat organization. It is extremely unique in the way it works for bad or worse. They are also extremely data driven ... in the sense everything is based on analytics. So yes, I will applaud them when do things in the right direction, just like I will bitch on them when they do things that are bad. So far though, over the 13 year record they have done way more good than bad. According to me at least. Also as already mentioned, you can try requesting a refund outside of that period.