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Steam is a ticking time bomb
(www.spacebar.news)
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this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2024
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If anyone is confused by the title and conclusion of the article I think its because the author buried the real thesis. I think its this:
"It's now a slow and clunky barrier to playing the games I own on my Mac computers—a far cry from the pro-consumer persona that Valve and Steam usually enjoy."
The author is upset Valve isn't supporting the author's Mac gaming desires.
About 30% of the article is directly referencing Steam on Mac with another 30% indirectly. It feels like the author is looking at the small niche of Mac gaming overall, the decline of Valve's interest in Mac, and projecting that decline to every other aspect of Valve. To the author's credit, they point to some massive changes in the Mac ecosystem which invalidated lots of Valve's efforts (Apple deprecating 32 bit support in the OS, full CPU change from Intel to ARM) but they seem to lay the blame at Valve's feet for not pouring development effort into Steam for Mac despite the extremely small market share Mac gaming seems to have.
The author even cites Valve's continued use of 32-bit executable on Windows and Linux as a failing of the company. The irony is that I'm guessing the continued use of the 32-bit code is what has enabled Steam's large and deep compatibly across systems. This further underscores Valve's choice to largely abandon Mac, as Apple removed the option to continue operating on the 32-bit client base.
To the author, your complaints should be directed at Apple, not Valve.
Steam only being 32-bit isn’t improving compatibility, it’s being lazy. You can write code that works on both architectures for the best performance and compatibility across all PCs, like Chrome, Firefox, MS Office, etc.
Judging from your Lemmy username and the article byline, I think you're the author of the article, is that right?
You absolutely can, but it doesn't come from now where and the 32-bit version exists. If Valve has to maintain 32-bit for compatibility on some older systems, and you're introducing the 64-bit requirement now too its raising the Valve support burden maintaining two separate code bases which is a huge amount of effort and cost.
And for what benefit? The only cited problem of a lack of 64 bit client today cited from the article is that some distros of Linux which have removed the 32-bit support libraries cannot run Steam for Linux. However, Linux being very customizable, the users could likely just add 32-bit support back themselves.
The benefit is improved performance and a better user experience. The Chromium-based components of Steam (like the store) are slow in part because of that.
Perhaps, but all of these things must be measured in the benefit to business. Does the performance between a 32-bit or 64-bit versions translate to a difference in sales? Are there user complaints sufficient that there is lost satisfaction to competitors large enough to offset the development and support burden from the investment in a 64 bit client? My guess is that the answer is "no" or Valve would have made this change already. These are the way businesses make these decisions.
He didn't answer your first question. I get the feeling you're right and he's the author.
Yep, never tried to hide that.
Yes you did, by not answering. You're being very obtuse.
Aside from this post I have never in my life heard one single person complain about 32vs64bit. It's the most silly thing for him to be upset about.
Compatibility is greatly being improved, making gaming on Linux very compatible. Steam runs great on both Windows and Linux. Chromebooks aren't made for gaming. And Apple is being Apple, so... Maybe complain about Apple instead. But if you are an Apple user you probably prefer to blame anything but Apple.
"prefer to blame anyone but apple"
The best humour is always rooted in truth
You bought a shit product from a shit company and now are trying to shift the blame so you can justify your buyer's remorse. You were most certainly warned or had to have heard about lack of game support for apple devices but you let your fanboyism get in the way of logic. Keep sniffing your own farts.