Why not Windows 10?

Given that my recent foray into PC Gaming on Linux were... underwhelming, shall we say, some of my readers (yes, all three of you) may well be wondering why I don't just bite the bullet and switch to Windows 10 already. True, the "free upgrade" offer has ended, and Windows 10 will not cost money, but I was honestly always going to want more control over my PC than WX Home offered, which would always have meant a Professional license... in other words, Windows 10 was always going to cost me something up front.

So, why not just switch already?

It's a good question, and one which I've struggled a bit to answer myself this past week. Was I just being stubborn? Or did I still have concrete, valid reasons for sticking with Windows 7, while hoping that Valve and Steam Play would be able to solve the Linux gaming performance problem at some point during the upcoming year?

Today, though, I had a eureka moment, when I found my nebulous reasons for sticking with W7 suddenly crystallized into a single paragraph by Paul Thurrott. He was writing about Microsoft's decision to de-escalate some of WX's advertising bullshit. After downplaying the reversal as "not much of a win," he goes onto describe  Microsoft's approach to Windows consumers thusly:

Everything else that is still wrong about Windows 10 is still in the product and will move forward with version 1809.

In other words, the slippery slope I first warned about way back in 2012, when Microsoft quietly began its first sneaky advertising additions to Windows 10's predecessor, is still very much an issue. And has escalated over time. The ongoing and unnecessary compromises to Windows 10---rampant advertising, attempts at pushing users to Microsoft Edge, pre-bundled crapware, and more---continue unabated. There is no major software platform that is this hostile to its own users. [Emphasis added.]

"That's it!" I thought. "That's the reason!" It's not just WX's ongoing issues, which I could probably live with or work around, it's that Microsoft treats all but their largest Enterprise customers with thinly veiled contempt, most of the time, and has done so for years. Sure, maybe this latest half-hearted walk-back marks the beginning of a trend towards less bullshit in Windows... but I'm not planning to bet money on it.

Seriously, fuck Microsoft at this point. If Valve can get Steam Play working well enough to provide a moderately decent gaming experience on Linux (or, hell, SteamOS), I'll put up with some performance issues, rather than give Microsoft the satisfaction.

Finally taking the plunge...

I was perusing my past posts, and realized that it was April of 2016 when I first mentioned planning to migrate to Linux. By September of last year, I had bought a 2nd hard drive, with vague plans of dual-booting. Only one thing stood in my way: my gaming habit, and the fact that most of the games I was interested in simply didn't run natively on Linux. Worse, getting to run games on Linux using Wine looked really... complicated.

I had high hopes for SteamOS, which seemed to pair well with the new Vulkan API and a growing trend in cross-platform development to make more Linux-compatible games a possibility. But Valve seemed to be letting the SteamOS initiative wither on the vine, which left me using Windows 7, facing end of service in a year and a half with an extra hard drive still in its packaging, and wondering if Linux was really the OS that a lifelong PC gamer like me needed.

All that changed last week, though, when Valve announced Proton, a Wine implementation that they'd built into the Linux Steam client, adding 1000 certified Linux-compatible games to Steam in a week -- and making all of the other games on the service Linux-installable at the same time.

Suddenly, installing any game on Linux that I wanted to play was a doddle, and the main reason for my procrastination was gone. Here I was, with two weeks' vacation ahead of me, every reason to switch operating systems, and no excuses left

Updated Steam Play makes every game Linux compatible, paving the way for SteamOS 3.0... and that's just for starters...

Valve Software have a history of "running silent" - they'll make little or not noise, saying almost nothing publicly about what they're working on, only to pop up, seemingly out of nowhere, and make all kinds of news. Their critics (and some of their fans) often find this to be a source of frustration; Valve simply don't fit the mold of most other big players in the video game business, mainly because they're not a publicly traded company, and thus don't have to be unceasingly communicating to their investors, and potential investors. Some days, Valve's silent running mode works against them.

Today was not such a day.

From PCGamesN:

Steam Play – Valve’s name for its cross-platform initiative – is getting a major update, with built-in tools allowing you to run Windows games on Linux. [...] In the most practical terms, this means you can now download and install Windows games directly from the Steam client without any further fuss. Valve is currently checking “the entire Steam catalog” and whitelisting games that run without issue, but you can turn off those guidelines and install whatever you want, too.

[...]

In theory, this should eventually allow nearly the entire Steam catalogue to run on Linux, though it’s possible certain types of DRM and anti-cheat measures could keep that compatibility from happening. [...] Valve’s own SteamOS is built on Linux, and as we speculated when hints of this update surface last week, this could be part of a renewed push for the platform. There are rumblings around the internet about SteamOS 3.0 being on the way, even after Valve removed Steam Machines from the Steam store. At the same time, Valve reiterated its support of Linux and Vulkan for PC gaming – and this update marks a major confirmation of that support.

Combined with the Vulkan API and an industry-wide trend towards cross-platform development, the fact that Valve is about to make the entire Steam library compatible with Linux will be game-changing. Valve's Steam Machine initiative failed to launch because there were too few SteamOS-compatible games to convince people to switch operating systems, and too few people using SteamOS and Linux to make Linux game development worthwhile.

But Linux is about to become a viable gaming platform, virtually overnight, which means that game developers don't have to maintain a separate Linux version of their games anymore, and Linux gamers can play the largest single library of PC games on their own machines with no additional work required. This is great news for any gamer who had been dragging their feet about switching to Linux. Valve just made it easy.

And that's not the only news that Valve made this week.

Speaking of backpedalling...

It was just two days ago that we were pouring one out for the Steam Machine, after Valve removed the section of the Steam storefront that featured the SteamOS-powered consoles. Valve, however, are now claiming that they really do still have plans for SteamOS, and for Linux gaming in general, regardless of how things might appear based on what they're doing (or not) with the platform.

From TechRadar:

Valve has posted a spirited defence of both Steam Machines and the future of gaming on Linux on its Steam Community forums. [...] The forum post, written by Valve employee Pierre-Loup Griffais, insists that the removal of any reference to Steam Machines was simply “a routine cleanup of the Steam Store navigation”, which was “removed from the main navigation bar based on user traffic”.

Because this move sparked a large number of people to speculate on the future of Steam Machines, Valve decided to set the record straight. As the post acknowledges, “While it's true Steam Machines aren't exactly flying off the shelves, our reasons for striving towards a competitive and open gaming platform haven't significantly changed.”

[...]

While Valve is honest about the lack of success of Steam Machines, it highlights that it has learnt a lot from customer feedback, and is working to address a number of issues. One of these is by its ongoing investment in the Vulkan graphics API, which is an open source alternative to Microsoft’s Windows-only DirectX tools. If more developers use Vulkan, more games should be able to run on Linux.

While it's heartening to hear that Valve are still committed to helping build Linux into a viable alternative to Windows for gaming, I can't help but think that Valve's words fail to match Valve's actions, here. The simple reality is that Valve hasn't done anything much with SteamOS; their last announcement that involved the platform was when they announced the beta of SteamVR for Linux over a year ago. And even that isn't going well.

True, part of this might just be Valve's legendarily poor PR-fu, but even if the removal of Steam Machines from the navigation bar really is just a response to user traffic, it's hardly encouraging for  traffic to that part of Steam to be so poor that the section's removal becomes "routine." And there's just no way around the simple fact that Valve's most recent gaffe feels more like they've inadvertently revealed an embarrassing truth, than like a simple miscommunication.

I'd love to be wrong; I'd love to see Valve visibly devoting the kind of time and resources to SteamOS and Linux gaming that they have to, say, VR. But I don't expect to see anything like that announced in the near future.

Valve finally kills the Steam Machine

Was it only a year ago that I was writing about how Valve might not be done with SteamOS? Well, that was then, and this is now, and it turns out that Valve had only disappointment in store for me on the SteamOS front. From PC Gamer Magazine:

Remember Steam Machines? Valve seems to be trying to forget its bid to get everyone playing games on expensive little boxes from Alienware, Asus and the like, as it’s removed the Steam Machines section from Steam. It’s been a while since anyone really talked about the living room PCs, but this looks like the final nail in the coffin.

Steam Machines never really got their big moment. Valve envisioned a new ecosystem following on from Big Picture mode, where people would play PC games in their living room using a Steam Machine, Steam Controller and SteamOS, but the big launch at the end of 2015 only saw a handful of the boxes appear, and none of them exactly tempted people away from their desktops or consoles.

[...]

The Steam Machine launch wasn’t helped by Valve’s second bid for domination of the living room. While their Steam Machine partners were designing their first boxes, Valve was busy making their own device: the Steam Link. It essentially did the same thing: allowing people to play Steam games on their TV, but instead of being a desktop surrogate, the Steam Link was a streaming device. And it was much, much cheaper.

As someone who bought a Steam Link, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised by this, but it's still something of a disappointment. There was a moment in time, during the darkest days of Windows 8 & 10, when it really did look like consumers generally, and gamers in particular, might be needing a viable alternative to Windows, and I was hoping that Valve might put some actual weight behind SteamOS in order to help make that happen. It turns out that Valve really is too busy with SteamVR to care about SteamOS, though, and thus the end arrives.

Of course, we now know that Microsoft's Windows strategy is changing, and the first steps of that new direction are looking remarkably pro-consumer, so the death of Valve's SteamOS initiative isn't likely to have much of a real-world impact. It's not like anybody was using it, after all. Still, even though its time is past, and its purpose might no longer be relevant, it's a little sad to see that the dream of a viable Linux-like gaming environment won't be coming to fruition... in spite of PS4/Orbis having proved that it really can work. C'est la vie.

Farewell, SteamOS. We hardly knew thee.

Vulkan will have multi-GPU support on Windows 7 & 8, after all.

This is good news for people interested in the Vulkan API, and in competition generally, at least when it comes to gaming.

From Dark Side Of Gaming:

Last week, we informed you about Vulkan support multiple GPUs only in Windows 10. Well, it appears that won’t be the case as the Khronos Group has announced that Vulkan will also support multi-GPUs in Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 (as well as in Linux).

As the Khronos Group claimed:

“The good news is that the Vulkan multi-GPU specification is very definitely NOT tied to Windows 10. It is possible to implement the Vulkan multi-GPU extension on any desktop OS including Windows 7, 8.X and 10 and Linux.”

The Khronos Group has also commented on its GDC 2017 slides that, obviously, mislead us.

“Some of the Khronos GDC presentations mentioned that for Vulkan multi-GPU functionality, Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) must be in Linked Display Adapter (LDA) mode. That was not a very clear statement that has caused some confusion. And so it is worth clarifying that:

1. The use of WDDM is referring to the use of Vulkan multi-GPU functionality on Windows. On other OS, WDDM is not necessary to implement the Vulkan multi-GPU extension.
2. On Windows, the use of LDA mode can make implementing Vulkan multi-GPU functionality easier, and will probably be used by most implementations, but it is not strictly necessary.
3. If an implementation on Windows does decide to use LDA mode, it is NOT tied to Windows 10. LDA mode has been available on many versions of Windows, including Windows 7 and 8.X.”

I don't know what happened here -- whether Kronos Group's previous communication on this was just unclear, or just so unpopular that they decided to reverse course on this one -- but either way, this is a positive development for Vulkan. And more competition is likely to be a good thing for gamers, too, especially those wanting to game with Linux, or with Linux-like platforms like MacOS/iOS, Orbis/PS4, and Android.

Vulkan takes a step backwards

Speaking of self-inflicted injuries...

I've blogged before about Vulkan, the promising new cross-platform API which the Kronos Group is pitting against Microsoft's latest iteration of Direct X. Providing the same low-level API benefits as DX12, but usable on every platform, including Linux, MacOS, Android, SteamOS, and PS4/Orbis (all of which are Linux-based or Unix-like environments), Vulkan's portability gave it a critical competitive edge that DX12 couldn't match, with DirectX12 is, naturally, being restricted to Windows 10.

The latest announcement from the Kronos Group, however, is throwing a little cold water on that prospect. It turns out that Vulkan's multi-GPU support might be restricted to Windows 10 and Linux, while being unavailable on the Windows version that half of PC users are actually, you know, using.

From HotHardware.com:

Today we are hearing that the low-level Vulkan API will not support multiple GPUs on Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. The Dark Side Of Gaming came across the disappointing bit of news when rummaging through Kronos Group’s slides from GDC 2017. One slide entitled “Vulkan Multi-GPU and Virtual Reality Support” clearly points out that “WDDM must be in ‘linked display adapter’ mode”, with WDDM referring to the Windows Display Driver Model.

Although it might not seem like a big deal from reading that line, the linked display adapter mode is exclusive to WDDM 2.0. And as you are probably coming to realize at this point, WDDM 2.0 is a feature that is only natively supported by Windows 10. In other words, if you want to use NVIDIA SLI or AMD CrossFire natively with Vulkan, you’re going to have to be running Windows 10.

Here’s one more wrinkle in this story; it appears that Linux won’t have the multi-GPU limitation when it comes to Vulkan (and it obviously doesn’t support WDDM) which makes us wonder why exactly Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 are being shown the door...

It's more than a little head-scratching. Vulkan competes directly with DirectX 12, and its portability is one of its most attractive features, but limiting parts of its feature set to Windows 10 make it less attractive as an option. After all, if your graphics engine is going to need Windows 10 to take full advantage of all the available graphics options, anyway, then why not build it around the API that comes with Microsoft's latest OS? Especially since many graphics engines are already built around earlier versions of DirectX? Other versions of Vulkan don't have this limitation, so it's not intrinsic to the API. What's the reasoning behind this?

Multi-GPU support isn't needed for Android devices, and it still needs to be supported separately by the game your'e playing, which means that this limitation may not hurt Vulkan's adoption all that much, but still.... it feels like a step away from the true cross-compatibility that's supposed to be Vulkan's reason for being. I just don't understand why the Kronos Group seems to be dissing Windows 7 & 8 this way, either, since users of those Windows versions are still more than half the PC OS market. It's like AMD's inexplicable recently loyalty to Windows 10 with their Ryzen line. Where's the benefit?

Hopefully, this is just a small hiccough, and Kronos Group can make Vulkan into a true competitor to Direct X 12, something which can only benefit consumers, but I have to say, I'm a little less hopeful about that prospect now, than I was a week ago.

SteamVR is coming to Linux & SteamOS

OK, this is an interesting development.

From Gaming On Linux:

Valve have put up SteamVR for Linux officially in Beta form and they are keen to stress that this is a development release.

You will need to run the latest Steam Beta Client for it to work at all, so be sure to opt-in if you want to play around with it.

VR on Linux will exclusively use Vulkan, so it's going to be a pretty good push for Vulkan if VR becomes more popular. Vulkan is likely one of the pieces of the puzzle that held it back, since Vulkan itself and the drivers are still so new.

BitGamer have more detail:

While Windows gamers with sufficiently beefy systems have been enjoying the resurgence of interest in virtual reality, those on alternative platforms have largely been left out. For those watching Valve's progress in the arena, this can particularly sting: The company made much of launching its own gaming-centric operating system, SteamOS, but has thus far failed to port its own SteamVR platform - leaving those running SteamOS-based Steam Machines unable to use virtual reality functionality, until now.

Valve's lack of development of, and apparent lack of interest in, SteamOS has clearly hindered its growth, and their intense focus on VR has been a source of some consternation from those who (like me) thought they should be more focused on promoting SteamOS, or on improving the Steam service itself. But it turned out that Valve have been quietly working behind the scenes to resolve some of Steam's most frustrating issues, and apparently they're also planning to promote SteamOS again... and using VR to do it, while also giving a boost to the Vulkan API in the process.

I'm not especially excited about VR, as you'll know if you've spent really any amount of time exploring the other op/ed pieces on my blog, but I did have hopes that the current trend in cross-platform game development would make Linux/SteamOS into a more viable platform for gaming... in no small part because I'd like to be able to play my favourite games in Linux, rather than having to switch to Windows 10 in three years' time. That ship seemed to have sailed, with Windows dominating OS market share numbers, and Linux developers failing to capitalize on Microsoft's PR and privacy blunders.

Today, though, it suddenly looks like Valve isn't done with SteamOS after all. And I can't help but feel like that might be a very good thing, indeed. Go get 'em, Gaben.

Intel adds support for Vulkan graphics API on Windows

I've blogged about Vulkan before. An open-source, cross-platform Application Program Interface, or API, it had all the advantages of its predecessor, OpenGL, with the same low-level power that Windows 10-exclusive DirectX® 12 offers, was receiving strong support from AMD and Valve, and was already being baked into Unreal Engine 4, which Nintendo is recently promoting as the tool for Switch third party development. There really was only one thing holding it back: a lack of support from Intel, who arguably make the best-performing CPUs for PC gaming.

That's now changed.

From WindowsCentral:

Intel has officially added support (via CIO) for the Vulkan™ graphics API for its most recent Core chips on Windows 10. While Vulkan is already supported on graphics cards from AMD and NVIDIA, the integrated graphics in Intel's Kaby Lake and Skylake chips can now run games and applications written with the API as well.

[...] Here's how Intel describes Vulkan in its documentation:

Vulkan* targets high performing real-time 3D graphics applications, like games, while giving low-overhead hardware control over GPU acceleration to developers. Vulkan* utilizes many open-source libraries and utilities, and promises great performance and predictability, while paving the way to better equip games to handle virtual reality or 4k HDR.

Vulkan support was previously available on Intel chips in beta form, but the official release signals that support is ready for primetime and should be relatively stable. Don't expect your integrated graphics to suddenly compete with high-end cards from NVIDIA and AMD, but Vulkan support should offer some solid performance on modest settings for games that support it. Perhaps more intriguing are the possibilities this opens up for Vulkan-coded apps that could run on the low-cost Windows Holographic VR headsets coming from Microsoft's hardware partners later this year.

Vulkan is a direct competitor for DirectX 12, and should be stiff competition: it's available on Windows 7, which DX12 isn't, and also on Nintendo's Switch, Sony's PS4, and on Android and iOS devices which don't run Windows 10, either. With Intel officially supporting the API, it may have just received the additional push it needs to become the API for the current generation of gaming graphics engines. Everyone is on board with Vulkan... much to the chagrin of Microsoft, who have long been used to DirectX being the de facto standard for gaming.

Not only does this loosen Windows 10's grip on gaming, it might even loosen Windows' grip on gaming, generally, allowing more games to be developed more easily for Linux and MacOS, both of which are Unix-like environments (as is PS4's Orbis). We might even see a renewed push for SteamOS (also a Unix-like OS) from Valve. And it could ensure that Microsoft continue to be shut out of the mobile market, leaving mobile game developers, in particular, no reason at all to develop for engines that rely on Microsoft's proprietary API. Why would they, when an open-source, easily-portable alternative is available?

In fact, the only part of this development that holds zero interest for me is the potential effect on Windows 10-branded VR headset development, simply because I'm not convinced that PSVR headsets are going to perform any better in the market than existing offerings from Oculus and HTC. As a PC gamer, I'd love to have a choice of platforms available beyond the choice of Windows versions; if Vulkan really takes off, that could actually happen, in exactly the way that it's refused to happen until now.

Stay tuned...

More about Vulkan, which is far more interesting than I realized.

One of the reasons that gamers have been embracing Windows 10, rather than sticking with Windows 7 or 8, is DirectX 12. Since there's currently very little DX12-capable hardware, and even less DX12-enabled software, I hadn't given much weight to DX12 in my decision-making process, but as DX12 becomes more prevalent in gaming, especially on PC, gamers could start to feel increasingly pressured to adopt the new OS, even if they didn't want to for a variety of other reasons.

That is, unless there was a competing graphics API, which could provide similar benefits to DX12, but for platforms other than Windows 10. What if there was a successor to OpenGL that ran on Windows 7/8, and Linux and SteamOS? How game-changing would that be?

Well, it's looking like Vulkan could very well be that competing API, and I've gotta say... I'm a little excited as its potential.

For a great explanation DX12 and Vulkan, and why they can eventually be better than DX11 or OpenGL, I recommend this video:

So, how quickly could we see Vulkan adopted by graphics engine developers? 

Well... how does now suit you?

From The Tech Report:

Whether you bleed GeForce green or Radeon red, we can all agree that thepotential performance gains to be found using the lower-level DirectX 12 and Vulkan APIs are significant. Crytek, creator and curator of the ever-popular CryEngine, is doing its part to further adoption of the new APIs. The folks at OC3D noticed that Crytek has updated its online roadmap for the engine. That document shows DX12 multi-GPU and Vulkan support as "on target" for upcoming releases.

Chinese-exclusive martial arts MOBA King of Wushu was the first DirectX 12-enabled CryEngine title when it debuted earlier this year, but CryEngine still doesn't support multi-GPU systems in DX12 mode. That will be changing with the projected release of CryEngine 5.4 in late February 2017. Crytek may be showing off the new feature at the next Game Developer's Conference, whichstarts February 27.

Perhaps even more exciting is the "on target" listing for Vulkan support across all platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, and mobile. That support is coming even sooner: Crytek's roadmap lists an anticipated launch window of "mid-November 2016" for version 5.3. CryEngine's greatest rival engine package, Unreal Engine 4, already has basic Vulkan support. However, Unreal limits applications using the new API to the mobile feature set of the renderer for now.

Since Vulkan is proudly cross-platform, and works with Linux (and Linux-like) environments, it can add a graphical punch to SteamOS and PS4's Orbis that's equivalent to Windows 10's DX12, which could make developing high-performance games for these platforms easier... and Valve had noticed, something which escaped my notice at the time.

Is Linux a Threat to Windows?

Not according to these stats:

The stats appear to be from NetMarketShare, whose graphs I've become quite familiar with over the last few months, but the analysis is from Softpedia:

They say Linux is the best alternative to Windows for a number of reasons, and it’s no secret that there are plenty of users who actually jumped ship and went the open-source way just because of that.

But last month's statistics show that Windows continues to be the dominant desktop operating system out there, and what’s more, Linux isn’t posing any threat just yet despite the number of users who are making the transition.

Specifically, Windows is once again above the 90 percent historical threshold that it has been holding for so long thanks to a pretty successfully month of August.

Net Applications claims Windows is currently at 90.52 percent, up from 89.79 percent the month before. Windows’ worst month was April this year, when it dropped to 88.77 percent, but the OS has been recovering ever since.

Linux, on the other hand, is still super far behind with a share of just 2.11 percent. And what’s more, Linux is even dropping in terms of market share, as statistics show a decline from 2.33 percent it had in July.

But Linux is overall performing quite well, as it has now managed to maintain its share above 2 percent, so there’s definitely an increase brought by the number of users migrating from Windows.

Basically, Linux is still doing as well as it ever was, but it isn't benefitting from any mass migration of disgruntled Windows users. It may just be that switching to Linux involves too much work on the part of users, all to adopt a product with which they're unfamiliar, over a brand that they already know, even if they don't particularly like or trust that brand anymore. 

The status quo, even if actively bad, is often seen as preferable to an uncertain future. Windows users may not be happy with Microsoft, but they're sticking with the devil they know. All of which is perfectly predictable, in its way, but still... I'll admit to being a little disappointed. 

And with Windows 10 now being used by 50% of Steam customers, it looks like Valve's chance to push SteamOS as an alternative may be passing them by, too. Fully a third of Valve is now working on VR, even while developers that promised SteamOS/Linux versions of their games decide against making them.

From PCWorld:

Linux gamers shouldn’t buy games before they’re actually released for Linux or SteamOS. Lots of games—including big-name, AAA games—have gotten a wave of good press by announcing forthcoming support for Linux and SteamOS, which then never materialized.

There are lots of great games you can play on Steam Machines and Linux. That’s why it’s so disappointing when developers cancel announced ports or, worse yet, go silent and stop talking about them.

[...]

Many developers probably thought Steam Machines and SteamOS would be more successful when they made these promises, although some also thought their own games would be more successful, and had to scrambled when they weren’t.

Still, it’s a shame that developers so frequently back away on their promises. It’s a lesson to gamers everywhere: Don’t buy a game based on something the developer promises to release in the future, especially when it’s something as easily and frequently cancelled as support for Linux and SteamOS.

Ouch.

So... with the average user proving reluctant to take the Linux plunge, and Valve, who invested heavily in SteamOS and Linux as alternative gaming platforms, apparently abandoning those efforts to join the VR gold rush, is the Linux alternative still looking viable? The answer, sadly, is probably no. Not unless Valve decide to refocus their efforts on SteamOS and Steam Machine as gaming platforms, and continue working to secure their future in a Windows Store/Universal Windows Platform future, rather than chasing a VR future that's realistically still years, if not decades, away.

Tim Sweeney still isn't a fan of the Universal Windows Platform

From Gadgets 360, via Slashdot:

A few months ago, Tim Sweeney, co-founder of Epic Games, the studio behind the Gears of War and Unreal franchises, was in the news for criticising Microsoft's Universal Windows Platform (UWP).

[...]

Now Sweeney alleges that Microsoft plans to make Steam - the world's largest PC gaming platform, "progressively worse and more broken."

"Slowly, over the next five years, they will force-patch Windows 10 to make Steam progressively worse and more broken. They'll never completely break it, but will continue to break it until, in five years, people are so fed up that Steam is buggy that the Windows Store seem like an ideal alternative. That's exactly what they did to their previous competitors in other areas. Now they're doing it to Steam. It's only just starting to become visible. Microsoft might not be competent enough to succeed with their plan but they are certainly trying," Sweeney said in an interview with Edge Magazine (via NeoGAF).

[...]

"If they can succeed in doing that then it's a small leap to forcing all apps and games to be distributed through the Windows store. Once we reach that point, the PC has become a closed platform. It won't be that one day they flip a switch that will break your Steam library - what they're trying to do is a series of sneaky manoeuvres. They make it more and more inconvenient to use the old apps, and, simultaneously, they try to become the only source for the new ones," he claims.

Early on in the interview he says that Microsoft has been "able to [start] this via some sneaky PR moves. They make a bunch of statements that sound vaguely like they're promising openness but really they're not promising anything of the sort."

Considering that Microsoft are desperate not to piss off Steam PC gamers, I'm not sure that I entirely buy this line of argument, but it's certainly possible, and Microsoft haven't exactly done anything in the last year to earn the benefit of the doubt from consumers. It'll be interesting to see:

1. if Microsoft take time to respond to Sweeney this time around, the way they did last time, especially since he's not backing down on the rhetoric at all;
2. if the possibility that any such move would bring down the wrath of regulators in the US, the EU, and elsewhere has any impact here, especially since CNIL's recent actions have ensured that Microsoft pay a lot more attention to this possibility; and
3. if Valve do more in the coming months to push SteamOS and Steam Machine, which looked to be the core of their anti-UWP strategy but haven't been very actively promoted since they launched the Steam Link.

Stick a PIN in this one for later. Sweeney clearly isn't backing down or going away on this issues, and sooner or later we'll find out whether he was right about Microsoft's UWP long game.

Today in GWX

Here's a quick roundup of the state of play for Microsoft's GWX campaign.

The full-screen nag screen is getting a lot of unflattering press coverage, like this Trusted Reviews piece:

Just when you thought Microsoft couldn't get any more irritatingly pushy with its Windows 10 upgrade system, it has.

Microsoft has received considerable stick in recent months for its use of sneaky tricks to get people to upgrade from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. By upgrading Windows 10 to a "Recommended" update, it meant that users had to manually change the schedule or cancel it, or else face an automatic installation.

Amazingly, Microsoft has just managed to make Windows 10 upgrade notifications even more obnoxious.

With the free Windows 10 upgrade offer set to expire on July 29, Microsoft is implementing full screen notifications in a bid to push those upgrades through. The following screen will appear for a subset of users:

The full-screen nag screen hasn't stopped people from noticing Windows 7's resurgence, though, like this Alphr piece:

In one final push before the free upgrade window closes – in an effort to close in on the Windows 10 user target of one billion – Microsoft has now started providing its obstinate Windows 7 and 8 refusers full-screen adverts begging them to upgrade. This is very much the software equivalent of throwing your goalkeeper up for a corner in the 93rd minute when you’re 1-0 down.

[...]

It has kind of worked. According to Net Analytics, Windows 10 market share has gone from 0.39% last July (which is understandable when it only launched on the 29th) to 19.14% today.

The trouble is that Windows 7, a seven-year-old operating system, is still the top dog, with 49.05%. While that has shrunk from 60.73% in the same period, Net Analytics has reported a mini-resurgence for the elderly OS. In April it was on 47.82%, in May it was 48.57% and today – as mentioned – it’s 49.05%. That’s a trend Microsoft won’t be happy to see.

But wait... it get worse.

Microsoft is still desperate to avoid pissing off Steam gamers

With Windows 10 bringing a plethora of monopolistic initiatives include UWP and a merged Windows/XBox store, Microsoft is obviously angling to control all software distribution on PC. One of their biggest hurdles in the short term, though, is VALVe's Steam, which currently dominates PC gaming.

Long story short: Redmond spend a long, long time basically neglecting PC gamers in favour of XBox and XBox Live, and VALVe cleaned up while Microsoft weren't looking. Steam now has a customer base of over 125 million active users and climbing, far more than PS4 (just over 40M) and XBOne (20M) combined. Steam is PC gaming right now, and it's more in spite of Microsoft than because of them.

Microsoft would obviously like to take back control of PC gaming, and make PC gaming synonymous with Windows 10 gaming. But they can't alienate Steam gamers in the meantime, because those same gamers actually have a choice of OS to use: the service now lists nearly 5000 Linux/SteamOS titles, and customers who bought Windows versions of those same games get the SteamOS versions for free. Steam Machines aren't taking the world's living rooms by storm, or anything, but SteamOS remains as a threat to Microsoft, a reminder that they're not the only game in town anymore for PC gaming.

Which may be why, in spite of having just spent E3 talking about all the various ways in which they're trying to take control of PC gaming via Windows 10, Microsoft are now trying to reassure Steam gamers that they're not trying to freeze Steam out of PC gaming at the same time.

Microsoft to put even more ads in Windows 10’s Start menu

You know, when I started this blog, I really was intending to blog about things other than Microsoft, and how they're being such incredible jerks about everything surrounding their new OS. Hell, there was a moment when I was even looking forward to Windows 10; when my planned summer project was switching to MS's new OS, and not turning my Windows 7 rig into a dual-boot Linux/SteamOS system.

But that was then, and in the now, the hits just keep coming:

Microsoft is planning to put even more ads inside Windows 10’s Start menu in its upcoming Anniversary Update. There won’t just be an extra one or two; the software giant plants to double the current number from five to ten.

Start menu ads are typically promoted tiles for apps and games available from the Windows Store, and according to The Verge, they mostly appear on new PCs to encourage new users to check out the titles available in the Store.

[...]

Microsoft confirmed it was doubling the number of ads at the WinHEC conference, where it also announced fingerprint scanner support is coming to Windows 10 Mobile. The company did not provide a reason for the move, but it’s likely to boost Windows Store downloads.

Of course it's to boost Windows Store downloads. Windows Store is a major focus of Windows 10's Universal Windows Platform, after all. Apparently, nothing else matters, including users' privacy, or their continued trust and good will. We will upgrade whether we like it or not, and we will download from the Windows Store after "upgrading," because UWP will ensure that we don't have any other options. At least, that seems to be Microsoft's plan.

It seems to me like it's just about time for Microsoft to face another antitrust action, and maybe more EU regulatory action, also.