Microsoft wins no matter what, because if you don't play Xbox you will be playing on a PC which in most cases uses Windows :P
In short time period, yes... on the long run... linux and steam machines(that are basicaly linux) are preparing for battle...
everybody wins
I use Linux *puts on sunglasses*
Except that if you take consoles alone, sony are beating microsoft and nintendo ware beating everyone (past history included).
Adding in PC linux is way behind but will be pushed more and more as the years come.
The day that Microsoft Windows isn't the primary platform for PC gaming, I'll eat my pants
You done eating them yet :)?
OP is XBONE fanboy? Guessing he's team CHEVY/FORD. GO MURICA! Microsoft is probably one of the worst company for gaming. Just look at Games for Windows Live b/s. Bought the very first xbox and all the RPG/stragedy games came out for PS2. Only decent RPG game that came out that system was D&D and that had dupe trick in game. They only thing they did good was buyout Bungee.
Just another random opinion. You have no sources to back up such an outlandish claim.
I understand you're joking around but I feel like diving into this a bit:
http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey - see "OS version"
I can think of quite a few factors of MS Windows' continued dominance. Not that I'm particularly fond of MS but this is just the way the world is right now:
- Consumer Familiarity & Brand Recognition (normal everyday people irl dont know/care that linux exists)
- Ease of use (normal people can figure out how to install windows. you put the CD in and press go, and maybe spend 10 minutes on the 1-800 helpline if you dont know what a BIOS is. the easiest linux distribution still takes a little bit of computer savviness; regardless of the easiness of the installer you still have to get there in the first place). Every new computer already has Windows on it.
- Microsoft & associated market dominating HW/Software/Service vendors will continue to promote windows. (compare that to who promotes linux)
- Hardware and Driver Availability & Support (lol, linux gpu driver support)
- Support for Old and existing software (lol, compatibility layers and emulation)
- versatility of platform (linux is not close to being a versatile platform in the personal computing space)
- Reliability and Stability (windows performance keeps improving, 7 through 10 nothing but good things happening to inner workings of windows)
- Fragmentation - Windows XP through 10 are arguably less fragmented when considered a collection when compared to the popular modern linux distributions at the time; consider Gentoo vs Knoppix vs Mint vs Ubuntu. This includes hardware and compatibility, ease of use, etc
- METRO UI and Tablets In the long run Metro UI for TVs (htpcs and therefore tv gaming machines) and windows tablets (a viable and growing gaming platform) will make gaming easier for these types of usage scenarios. Something like a steam modern app could make steam easier to use for the most casual of users who are intimidated by big windows with lots of text and buttons. It's really easy for me to get into steam big picture mode when I turn on my TV and htpc - all I have to do is click the start steam in big picture shortcut I made in 2 seconds and then bam! There is a big question as to whether or not Steam/Origin/whoever will concede to Microsofts rules for marketplaces within the Windows 8 Modern app environment...only time will tell
Possibilities
- Steambox/EAbox/whatever as a small HTPC that runs Steam Big Picture Mode through Windows 8/10 desktop environment; remote and controller friendly. Issues: gnarly xbox competitor, would MS let Valve/EA/whoever sell this. Most likely to be sold by someone 3rd party like Dell or Asus...oh wait...
- Docking tablets to TVs or desktop setups is going to depend on consumers propensity to embrace Windows tablets over Apple's
- Microsoft merges XBOX with their own steambox embracing multiple software distribution platforms: You buy a box that can run Xbox, Steam, Uplay, Origin...that would be awesome!
- Apple's continued growth of their products & how they balance gaming support/effort between iOS and OS X
- Possible eventual overtake of PC gaming by Linux. Pants eating commences.
hmm well lets use logic here mister. there are 4 vidjya games: xbox, pc, wii and ps4
xbox = 1
pc = 1
wiitendo = 0.5
playstation = 1
xbox + pc = 2 > rest of market = microsoft dominates = barack obama did 9/11
The Xbox and Windows divisions of Microshaft are completely separate. E.G. Why GFWL on pc sucked so bad, neither dev team actually communicated and so it flopped hard. Why you count Nintendo as a half, I can't understand considering they have been the strongest in the gaming market overall for years, and Sony has been outselling the Xbox 360 and the Xbone worldwide with the Ps3/PS4, and especially the PS2.
You also seem to assume that Microsoft actually caters to PC gamers in some regard. Did I mention GFWL? MIcroshaft develops software targeted at businesses first, Schools/students second, and then home users, with gamers sitting at the bottom below home users.
Of course this is just observations that I have made and pointed out with no scholarly articles to back my claims, but hey, the OP didn't cite anything either, so I will just use that as my theme for this response.
I think you're taking this a bit too seriously or personal. The OP seems to have just posted a light hearted comment about how most PC gamers are still playing on Microsoft's software.
GFWL is so bad, I don't know why there isn't a lawsuit. Been playing Dirt 3 on windows 7, then decided to upgrade which broke GFWL... No I can never play the game again. Steam won't fix or refund money either. So I'm looking at the pirated version, lul.
And plays 5 games
Overall microsoft still wins because they own both, who gives 2 shits about the divisions when you own everything. I do agree however that nintendo should be a full point, but xbox 360 really did win last gen.
I actually have no single idea why they have kept since they have stopped supporting it. I used to like the idea of it because I used to be an achievement whore but now i'm just sick of it and it ruins the pre-fun of games and makes PC gaming look bad.
With MS Open sourcing .NET, we may get direct X on Linux in junction with the rest of .NET. Direct X for Linux will kill windows in the gaming market...it's all we need. Just a thought. MS Made a move they had to make to stay relevant, and it may hurt them long term unless they utilize Linux/Unix Based systems to their benefit.
Is Microsoft going anywhere though? Tablets and Smartphones will define their own empire and draw users to them but in general people around the world will still have PCs. A student with homework is going to do so on a laptop or a PC, unless its some seriously basic stuff. Every form of business involves PCs. Anyone who takes anything home from work is going to be doing it on a PC - this spans a VAST amount of careers from the obvious IT/development/networking/admin to the business world, engineering, project managers.
Anyone with a job pretty much needs a keyboard and a mouse to get stuff done. I don't think that's going away anytime soon and I don't think the portion of that which is covered by mobile phones and tablets is going to be a noticeable detractor from Microsoft/Apple's market space because as those people who get by on a shoestring budget or minimalist approach with only a small device will eventually grow their families, businesses, responsibilities, and hobbies, and most likely end up with a PC at some point. I can't stress how many people need PCs to do work at home. Golf course superintendents need a PC at home to do research and keep track of their land, often with specialized software, I can't see Toro creating a remote irrigation system that can be monitored and maintained in full by iPad. Retail managers and supervisors frequently need to sign on to edit spreadsheets, verify payroll and do other things from home often through specialized software that will only run on a PC. Real estate photographers need a way of editing and publishing their work WAY faster than smudging their fingers across a ten inch screen.
My two main points are that the extent to which Microsoft absolutely dominates the market spans the high paid execs to the lowly retail managers and laborers, and that the people who maintain these systems they work with will likely stick with the platform which they use to develop said systems with in the first place, Windows, to save costs. Joe Shmuck Freight Truck Dispatch Software Corp. just doesn't have the manpower or money to port their server interface over to iPad.
That's why I think Microsoft absolutely NAILED it with what they are going for in windows 8/10. It's going to take a while for the market to respond because Apple did a lot of things right first. If you have a phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, set top box, etc that can all run the same application natively and do at least an OK job of supporting the form factor, suddenly Joe Shmuck Freight Truck Dispatch Software Corp only has to write one version of their end user software, and suddenly every piece of equipment the company uses, from the embedded system in the driver's dashboard to the tablet the warehouse guy carries around to the desktop at the dispatch center, that's a really good thing, and that's going to save people a lot of time and money.
As for what's going on with .NET, I don't really know what to think about that, other than it's pretty cool the side effects of what it might bring like what you said, Direct X in Linux gaming. Linux guys (for the most part) need to agree on one distro and get past all the whole alternative schools of thought to solving the same problem thing. Maybe if there were a few less tens of dozens of flavors of slackware or red hat people would actually spend their time making linux pleasant to use, or even working on decent everyday software for it.
The good thing about Linux is that it's free, easy to set up and very well documented which is why everyone puts it on their servers, and it works well for things like Android
The bad thing about linux is that they will continue to have to reconcile their platform with those used by the masses; ios, android (kind of linux but kind of not), and windows, and it will continue to cause confusion by those who have to use it
The ugly thing about Linux is that all the little niche developers who spend all day optimizing the kernel in their latest build of Fair Trade Fat Free Vegan Slackware for Cats ultimately produce very little of value for the platform as a whole, other than learning and interacting/networking with other developers. The linux community is terrible; divided, acerbic, unfocused. Every widespread application of Linux in practice is pretty much built from the ground up by a group of developers who are paid. But in their spare time, these guys aren't coming together and building the next amazing Windows alternative of a gaming platform, they're updating their blog about how someone hurt their feelings in an IRC channel while arguing about the standardization of their GUI API.
If you're interested in gaming on Linux I urge you to check out these links
http://linuxfonts.narod.ru/why.linux.is.not.ready.for.the.desktop.current.html
http://distrowatch.com/
http://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/164620-coping-with-linux-distro-fragmentation-visualized-in-one-giant-diagram/fulltext
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/12/08/05/0335252/ask-slashdot-should-valve-start-their-own-steam-linux-distro
http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/169021-john-carmack-thinks-the-steam-machines-biggest-problem-is-linux
That's what Xen and KVM are for...