Below is the article:
"One key revelation is that Microsoft, which is currently the world’s largest software company, has been providing the U.S. government with secret information about bugs in their software. These bugs could then be used by the spy agencies to help with infiltrating foreign adversaries’ computer systems or severs that might be running the software."
Read more: http://vr-zone.com/articles/u-s-companies-share-data-with-the-u-s-government-fbi-defends-prism
Now, I normally don't like to speak ill of Windows, since it is awesome for gaming and has so much good software and freeware for it. But this just makes it seem like there's even more of a case to be made for Linux now.
With the advent of Steam for Linux, nVidia graphics drivers for Linux, and more hardware support for Linux, it just seems like Linux might become a competitive OS for both gamers and mainstream users. With OpenGL getting better, and more gamers being developed for Linux as well, it might seem times are changing from the Windows monopoly. After all, with security becoming such an issue with the NSA, I think it's becoming apparent that the damage done to Microsoft due to this NSA scandal might be irreperable in certain countries (and in certain businesses), as the "flawed by design" approach of Windows would be a serious threat to the secuerity of their data.
I'd like to know what anyone else thinks on this, if possible.
Actually, it is known that "security through obscurity" doesn't work. Closed source software always has the problem. Free software is the only way to defend yourself against it.
Since I realised that I made the switch to linux and it worked great for me. There is just one problem: games.
Most of the games are running on closed source engines like the distribution platforms do (steam on linux). I don't think that it is an advantage to run your game on an open source engine. You can still sell copies of the game and it's unplayable with the assets. Some games are running on open source engines, like the games from wadjet eye and all games on ScummVM.
But it effectivly means that you're still running closed source software if you want to game on linux. You can at least use tools like apparmor to make sure they don't do thing they shouldn't do.
tl;dr: linux is secure, steam and games are not secure. Use apparmor to make them more secure.
@wickedwig -- Would you mind if you made a longer post about tips for the transition to Linux, and other tips for a person looking to made a said transition?
Tips regarding getting apps to run secure (without doing anything they're not supposed to, like the apparmor you mentioned). Regarding emulation of Windows software (like ScummVM, as you mentioned).
I'm looking to make this transition myself, actually. I'd like to find an article that'll help me make that transition.
I need to know what hardware to get that supports Linux natively, what distribution of Linux to get for the best driver support, what's friendliest for a Windows user such as myself (I hear good things about VineOS and Kubuntu), what's good for games and Windows software emulation, etc.
Many thanks in advance for any help you can/will offer. Seeya.
Open GL is actually better than Direct X according to valve
http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/133824-valve-opengl-is-faster-than-directx-even-on-windows
Not only that but Open GL got things like tessalation in their API much before Direct X did and ofter get additions much quicker.
Interesting. I hear some game engines (Unreal Engine 4, if I'm not mistaken) will support OpenGL. I think Unity also supports OpenGL, if I'm not mistaken. (Don't know about Activision's engines, Frostbyte engine, or CryEngine 3.)
I'd like to know if OpenGL graphics are better than DirectX 11.1 in terms of the graphics quality and/or fidelity. (I know that it can affect the image quality. Like how a game made for DirectX 9 doesn't look as good as a game made for DirectX 11, even if it's made today. So I wnated to know how the latest version of OpenGL compares to DirectX 11.1, in terms of image quality...)
After all, great graphics are about more than just raw frames per second - it's also about the quality of the images generated. (I'd also like to know, are there any open Physics libraries, like a open-source version of something like PhysX?)