Maybe you buy games at release ? I never ever do that. Well maybe for Yakuza 4.
Buying a game is like a decision in parliament - read/watch all info you can get for an hour.
Apart from that i would pay more than 40 bucks for a game…
/ OFFTOPIC
I always have and always will buy Battlefield games at release…because it’s Battlefield. Too bad DICE is now EA’s b*tch 
This is amazing.
Wow…that’s the best example you can come up with off the top of your head? EA is mean to their slaves? They have to work too much and pray for a fat royalty stream? Like I said: aristocratic rebels. It would be nice if they bothered to briefly look a regular people’s lives before choosing a cause to get worked up about. Please don’t take this as a personal attack, but rather as a challenge to the mind-set that can fixate on MS questionable business practices. Maybe they can be jerks. Maybe enough that you don’t want to support them by paying for any of their products. But evil? That’s insulting to people who’s lives have been effected by truly evil business practices.
Let me point you in the direction I’m thinking. My guess is that statistically zero linux user who are so because MS is evil are also careful about what other products they use. Like do they not buy anything from, say, any of the Nestle brands (which would be very hard BTW) since they’ve pulled stunts like baby formula programs. Nestle is not alone and a quick skim of the wiki article doesn’t seem to mention giving away free samples and that many babies will refuse mother’s milk once they’ve had formula or that if you don’t breast feed that your body will stop producing. Talk about locking-in a customer base…who can’t afford to buy formula in the first place.
They, along with a number of other large corporations, are happily part of “water privatization” of poor countries. Sucking dry water tables in Pakistan or capping springs in desert/drought ridden areas and sell bottle water to the now waterless populace. That’s nice.
Speaking of slave labor…how many are careful about what consumer electronics or specifically computer hardware they buy? Most is manufactured by virtual slave labor working in life threatening working conditions.
Food, clothing, oil products…the list will contain virtually kind of thing you might buy. In every sector will be examples of true evil practices. Ultimately what MS at it’s worst does is squeeze some extra cash out of people with enough disposable income to afford a computer or companies that write-off the cost against their taxes. Big deal. I find it ludicrous that anyone can get very worked about something so trivial.
well its just the field I work in so that why I give it a little more emotion than it deserves.
And we are talking about it in game developer forum, in a thread about OS’…
But of course, you are right…
I’m not even that emotional, I just think they stink. Unlike companies who give money to fuel wars and stuff, which are genuinely evil. Although MS could have done that too, just not to my knowledge…
Microsoft is not evil. They are desperate.
EA on the other hand IS evil.
Most businesses are, and have to be, “evil”, by any reasonable definition of evil. Businesses have to be self-serving and destroy competitors without care. It’s part of business. But evil towards ordinary uninvolved innocent people? I agree with Roquen - Microsoft merely relieve rich customers of the burden of having to spend their money on something else. I can sleep soundly at night.
Cas 
While I mostly agree with Roquen and princec , I am wary of the way they, as with many large multinationals, subvert the democratic process; and, some of the things all that money they make funds are not as savoury or philanthropic as they’d like you to believe.
This is the dumbest, most ill-formed attempt at making a political opinion I’ve heard.
Business is whenever people exchange goods and services for money. That kind of constructive trading where both buyer and seller are made better off by the exchange is what has made human civilization a better place. That and science.
EA is evil because they made a game you didn’t like? It relied too much on pointless lens flare and idiot death matching and didn’t live up to the artistic integrity of Halo? So basically, your choice of idiot 3D shooting game is somehow superior to other people’s choice? And Valve is somehow a good guy and should righteously collect rents (fees) from anyone else who wants to buy/sell a video game?
And, this is completely off topic.
I beg your pardon, but exactly how is that statement dumb, or even ill-informed (based, as it is, not on information, but on philosophical argument), or even in any way political?
Businesses have to be evil: they have to serve themselves before they help their competitors. Businesses are not like people, or society. Perhaps you misread my observation and thought I meant that businesses attempt to hurt their customers. That is not self-serving, or evil; that is simply suicidal - like a parasite that kills its host before reproducing.
Cas
This is what I hate about these kinds of topics. It might start with an informed, sensible discussion about pros and cons, but inevitably it will deteriorate into personal attacks and heated discussions about offtopic claims or minor details.
We’ve yet to see the first car analogy or a reference to Nazi Germany, but we’re getting there!
Let’s remind ourselves that everybody is entitled to their (and my) opinion. People and/or statements can be deemed ignorant or dumb, but you can’t fight stupidity, so why bother. Do something else, be productive and let people be wrong for once.
(this by no means is an indication of whose side I’m on, just mumbling to myself in public)
Monsanto is evil. Halliburton is Evil. Royal Dutch Shell is EVIL. EA overworks a bunch of high-skilled geeks who really do have a choice of employers for the most part.
EA’s just trying to make money, like any other business. They’re just doing it in a different way. Although…the worst company thing is something. You might not find another job if you quit.
Nobody in the games industry has to work anywhere or put themselves in the position that they have done. They have only themselves to blame. Seriously. Every single time something like that has happened to me in a job - and it always does, eventually, sometimes just a couple of weeks in to a new one - I walk.
Finally I got sick of ever having to work for anyone ever again and made the plunge and started a business. You can do it too.
Cas
Unfortunately, not every programmer is capable of running a business. :-\
Most of us are probably best off with a 9/5 job.
Sorry, did this thread get trolled? It’s totally off topic or am I in the wrong thread? :yawn: I can’t seem to find any OS stuff we were discussing anymore ;D
In reply to the topic…
I like Windows 7 a lot. It’s like Windows XP, but better. Unlike Vista, which was thoroughly disappointing at the time.
I like Mac too, it’s pretty, but there’s not enough functionality along with it’s restrictiveness.
I haven’t tried Linux, I really would like too though. I need to do something with my empty D drive eventually anyway.
So, all-in-all, Windows is my favorite. Although, I’ve been a Windows guy from the start. I know this OS like the back of my hand from all of those times I’ve had to fix the OS when I’ve broken it with my endless tinkering.
Good times.
Well Linux doesn’t install very well into a drive partitioned by Windows 
I’ve actually gone another way now that computer hardware is nice and fast and Windows drivers of AAA hardware has become nice and stable (yes, I don’t blame the OS for blue screens). I just install Linux in VirtualBox. Even KDE/GNOME run without hiccups virtualized and it is so nice and portable that way. That for me is the perfect setup as I have Windows available for my gaming and tooling needs, but I still have the features of Linux at hand too without even needing to reboot my machine. And in that virtualized environment I can constrict resources, which can be a great benefit to do performance testing.
Only one downside: its so easy and quick to install Linux that way that I can’t seem to chose a distribution and stick with it 
There is always another one to try and when you’ve gone through the list, the next major version upgrade is usually around the corner.
EDIT:
and btw
I have been toying with that idea for quite some time and your success so far and your testimony are certainly helping to make the choice easier - although I’ll be going in a different direction (opening my own bistro in maybe 10 years time when I’m truly done with IT). Just so you know and thank you
Err I’ve tried various distro installation and it’s able. Just on linux setup, format again the drive with linux’s file system.
Just tried Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 32bit desktop again… :cranky: Ghastly. I absolutely cannot stand the UI. Such a shame, I so want it to succeed, because honestly, I’m not happy with the direction Windows or Mac are heading.
Cas