Microsoft - keep your filthy hands off Valve, leak shows MSFT would buy Valve : linux

[–] [email protected] 78 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Valve is a private company. Microsoft can't just buy Valve, Valve would have to agree to that. Considering Valve has (for a company their size) effectively unlimited resources already, and considering that Valve's founder and leader is a known detractor of Microsoft, this is a nothing story. Microsoft will not buy Valve. This is baseless musing, like how I sometimes daydream with my wife about what we'd do if we won the lottery (which we don't play).

Of course Microsoft would love to buy Valve. Just like they would love to buy Nintendo. I'd like to buy a Lamborghini. All these things are about equivalently likely, zero likely.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Gabe Newell will die one day and with him the age of gaming shall die as well.

Any other owner would sell out to the billions of amazon and microsoft.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We can only hope that there are people waiting in the wings at Valve who are ready to take over the reins whenever Gaben is done and carry the torch forward in the same direction.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I am pretty sure that already happened. Any bigger (or even many smaller) companies have disaster recovery plans if one of the higher ups dies or vanishes. There is a high likelihood that the next valve leader is already fixed or at least a Gremium to get to there.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I agree

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

They could open the code even more, that day real free gaming and Steam Machines will be a real thing.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

Even if they were public, they would have to lose majority share of the company to lose control over whether msft can buy them.

But yeah, no shit they'd like to buy valve. Valve is positioned to eat their lunch in the gaming space.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

@theragu40 @boo I'd rather buy Valve than a Lamborghini. Just saying. 😆

[–] [email protected] 77 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

*Valve laughs in Gabe Newell, owner of Valve and former employee of Microsoft.

Motherfucker left Microsoft to focus on games. He spearheaded the move to Linux to protect their store from becoming blocked on Windows. He knows how Microsoft works, intimately.

I’d be really surprised if Valve got sold to Microsoft while Newell still lives.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We must protect this man at all costs.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Unfortunately, we can't protect him from weight related heart issues :/

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

Fat jokes aren't funny.

Except this one, and only because we've all been there.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He's 60 years old. He'll probably be around in good health for another 10 years.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I sure hope so. But at his weight, people can start having heart problems fairly early. Then again it seems he's lost some in recent years, so maybe he'll get to see old age.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

HOW DARE YOU?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

got sold to Microsoft while Newell still lives.

Surely you mean while he's "Still Alive", right?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This was s Triumph

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

This was s Triumph

Also GLaDOS: "Managing to misspell a word that is only a single letter definitely is some kind of triumph."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They know that gaming is the one thing that often keeps people from switching to Linux. Buying up all these gaming companies is their strategy to keep gamers locked into Windows.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They know that gaming is the one thing that often keeps people from switching to Linux.

They know this because they keep purposefully making Windows worse and less consumer-friendly. They want you to use Windows how they want you to use it, in a way that maximizes profit for Microsoft.

[+] [email protected] -11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

How is windows getting worse?

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

Refusal to let the user decide how they want to use the system. Examples such as:

If I uninstall Skype or Candy Crush, I expect them to stay uninstalled. Nope. Each update, Microsoft says "Nope, you need these" and re-installs them.
Pushing Microsoft Accounts hard. For most consumers, the copy of Windows 11 they'll get won't even allow them to use a local account. If they're savvy enough, they might be able to look up the PowerShell commands to bypass it, but it's pretty much a done deal for most average people: if you want to use consumer Windows, you're looking at needing to submit to using a Microsoft account for logging in.
Ads ads ads everywhere! I don't ever remember Microsoft being this pushy before. It won't shut the fuck up about Microsoft Edge. Hell, I had to put up with fucking Cortana on every install until very recently when they finally decided to drop her useless ass.

They have in general decided to say "fuck what the consumer wants, they'll use our OS how we say."

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

And then there's the administration. It's like they hired a billion Indians to make a billion random admin centre interfaces with random functions and random names that change once a year and make no sense. With 10+ years of enterprise windows administration behind me I suddenly have to look up guides on how to do basic things because they keep moving everything around to nonsensical places (probably so they can sell the newest certifications).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Good points. Non of them affect me personally or the family where I do support, but still. Maybe I don't see that as most are still on W10.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's fair. I don't know why you got downvoted for asking a reasonable question. Not everybody deals with these issues front and center.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

For me, it has essentially only gotten better, which is why I wondered what is getting so bad. With 10 or 11 I hardly have to help people with things. But yeah, privacy etc. is clearly getting worse.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@dingus @Eheran this sounds terrible. What are you going to do?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Continue to use Linux as my primary go-to for operating system except in cases where I am in need of a Windows machine.

Then, when it comes to Windows, continue being informed about the inner workings of the OS and using Powershell and other tricks to get around the worst of Microsoft excesses.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I deleted Skype and candy crush once, years ago and its never showed up on my system since then and I forgot cortana even existed not long after it was introduced. How is your experience so much worse than mine?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It continues to lack real mandatory access control, for starters. You can deny system apps permissions and Windows update will just quietly revert them. It has a hidden "user" which cannot be restricted.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

That would be not getting better - not getting worse.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

ads, start menu becoming tied to internet searches ultimately slowing it down, performance decrease win11 vs win10, Bloatware, Xbox locking game folders, the new context menu.. these are the ones i can quickly come up with

Update to add: The goddamn shortcuts, can't just click and drag from desktop to start menu or taskbar, and vice versa anymore

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Perhaps that's part of it. But I'd say the bigger part is just wanting more control over the tech industry in general - gaming and OS are just part of that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

@irmoz @const_void we as gamers need to unite and not have to feel like we need to participate in this manner. We can create things we like on engines and systems of our choice. We make it worse by indulging in individualistic behavior of not standing by our fellow gamer.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@irmoz @const_void systems ***

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (2 children)

wtf they just had trouble buying Activision/Blizzard and now they wanna buy Valve. they would ruin valve

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No, three years ago they contemplated buying Nintendo or Valve. Activision happened because those two didn't.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Gotta obfuscate the fact that this is years old information to maximize the rage clicks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

There's no fucking way Japan would let go of Nintendo.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

The money machine hungers for more. Never satisfied for more than a moment.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

ohh hell no..... I am done with microshit

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

If MS did buy Valve would gamers finally rise up?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

gamers rise down 😂

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

What would "rising up" mean? So far, gamers have never shown a rebellious bone in their metaphorical (yet still emaciated) body. Every action by the gaming community has always been defined by corporations. Even gaming on linux is only viable because of valve.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

I would just stop buying games. I'll only play old games and open source games, if Steam gets enshitificaties.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Long live GOG.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

imo its not big/useful enough to matter. if it did, MS would have wanted to buy it as well :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If only they would support Linux / Proton officially even minimally...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@Prione @prunerye Itch.io is what you may like.

Linux Gaming