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Replace the term "PC" with "Windows" #737
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That, and Mac harware can run Windows and Linux as well - even more ambiguity there. |
@kupiakos Exactly. This is the reason why there shouldn't be a mix of operation systems and platforms. |
Perhaps instead, since the hardware requirements are effectively the same. Just list the differing OS requirements along with the hardware. You'd end up with a smaller list. |
@waerloga It's not only the hardware requirements; the label is also used in other places, for instance: |
Ah, that would be the place to put Windows/Mac OS/Linux |
I agree it should say "windows" not pc because I have a Linux PC not a windows pc. so when i saw pc games i thought that included linux at first. Fixing this grammatical error would help with less confusion as to what games are linux games. |
"Hi, I'm a Mac! And I'm a PC!" Sounds familiar? I think that's the cause of this "bug". It probably doesn't sound strange to Americans (anymore) because of Apple's PR dep, but to me, as an European, it's a bit like "I'm a Toyota! And I'm a car." |
Agreed - would also like to see this changed. |
since Macintosh is abbreviated, perhaps a set of 3 letter references could be used: Mac, Win, and Tux |
+1 |
Tux is a mascot, not an abbreviation or an OS, so that would be inappropriate. |
Then maybe: Mac, Win, Nix though nix could be understood as Unix, Minix, Penix (sry :D), but its the only 3 letter abbr. that would fit. |
does it have to be a 3 letter abbreviation ? Linux is only 5 letters, On 19 January 2013 16:41, lopho notifications@github.com wrote:
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Frankly, this is the source of "PC" in its most common usage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC_compatible As such, Windows and Dos (or dos-based) machines are PCs. |
@MrSchism: According to that article, it should be called "Wintel" though, instead of "PC" ;)… Also, machines are not Windows based, but windows is PC based, right the other way around. |
Windows actually requires an "IBM-Compatable PC" |
@MrSchism Okay, then let's label it "The only system which only runs on IBM-Compatible PCs and nothign else", if you want to avoid the term "Windows" :D… Oh wait, Mac OS/X also only runs on that now, doesn't work anymore :) |
Could also just point to tradition. Mac is still Mac, despite being Intel-based now. Mac has been a "PC" platform that runs off of a "Power-PC" chip. But it's nitpicking. The biggest issue is the fact that there are so many more important issues. |
@DASPRiD er.. Windows also runs on ARM.. in the form of Windows RT.. or Window on ARM. |
If the adjustment were to be made forward-looking, perhaps a OS symbol (tile) over a generic PC symbol (tile), and for ARM, a OS symbol over a generic tablet symbol, with the platform gray on white to contrast with the white on gray symbol. The main point is to express that the arch and OS are expressed at the same time clearly. |
@Tele42 Do realize that Valve has stated they will not support the Windows 8 Store, which is the only source of applications for Windows RT Devices, so Steam could (and would) not be supported on Windows RT devices. |
@kupiakos: yes, I am aware, but windows is not the only OS headed towards mainstream support on ARM. The topic of the issue report has split into two parts, the labeling of the of games category "PC" and the use of "PC" as a platform. I was just adding a thought to the latter half. |
@kupiakos The simplest solution is to read "PC" and look at the icon (clearly Windows) and leave things as they are so devs can focus on bigger issues. |
@MrSchism Do you really believe that the same developers working on engines, games and such are also responsible for this? Seriously, they are likely part of gettext files or such, and thus not even part of the work of developers. And even if so, it'd for the web developers, a completely other group of people. |
@DASPRiD Valve Software is flatland. These sort of requests are either handled directly OR are handed directly to whoever handles it. Either way, those guys need to be made aware of the issue and THOSE guys also have stuff on their plates. |
@MrSchism And you think that this will take up so much time for them? Seriously, that's FUD. |
I don't think that means what you think it does.... |
"@cjwijtmans actually, it would be ubuntu. :)" I use gentoo not ubuntu. what do they have in common? GNU. And there are distros that use BSD or hurd instead of linux, software such as steams talks to GNU, not linux or hurd or BSD. You are in the very wrong here. |
@cjwijtmans GNU Software, as we agree, is a part of several linux distributions. Valve has chosen to support "Linux" and for now they support Ubuntu as we can see from their support website. TL;DR: I'm not wrong neither you. |
Irrelevant, several distros have steam in their repos. My point still stand and yours still falls. |
@cjwijtmans @ribeirobreno tl;dr: Windows, Mac, Linux is just fine, even if it may be technically incorrect. |
Windows OSX GNU. Macs can run windows and linux, so Mac can be confusing. Also the federal US govt. has advocated using the metric system for ages. Yet people stay retarded and use the imperial system which is very inaccurate and illogical. Basically because the media keeps using it because people are stupid, and people are stupid because the media keeps using that stupid system. Circle jerking here. |
@cjwijtmans Every programmer needs to spend some more time trying to talk and make products for the normal public. It's all marketing, really. A well named product feature shouldn't have to be looked up to know what it is (with exceptions for fancy sounding words). GNU sounds ugly, and 98% of people will mispronounce it the first time (and be very adamant that it's pronounced 'new'). They'll look it up on Google and see it stands for 'GNU's not Unix!' and think "that's weird, an acronym's not supposed to have itself in it....and I still don't get what it is. I'm pretty sure Unix is something really old and ugly though." Here's a very similar misnaming: I'm sure the NT kernel guys are annoyed that the marketing department went ahead and made these choices, but Windows is probably better off for it. Windows 6.2 doesn't sound like a big update to Windows 6.1, and neither of them really sound that great. Mac OS X makes these incremental updates, but they're updates are usually small and they focus more on their "nicknames" of cats. If someone comes up to me running Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, or whatever distro I happen to be running, and asks "hey, is that Linux?" I don't snarkily disapprove and say "No, it's GNU/Linux." I say "Yes, I'm running Linux, (Fedora/Ubuntu/Debian) in fact." If someone asks about Android and how it has Linux but it can't do all of the things my computer can, I simply say "almost everything above the core of the system is different, so that's why it can't." The important thing: Products must refer to the common name, not the technically correct name, and that's the important thing. The goal of this naming change is to prevent confusion amongst the typical Steam user, not make them more confused. As a last note, calling GNU/Linux just GNU may be misconstrued as "GNU Operating System" which, according to Wikipedia, runs historically on the GNU Hurd kernel. (Normal Person: What's a kernel?) tl;dr: Windows/Mac/Linux is unambiguous to gamers and rolls off the tongue better. |
So many fallacies in your comment. "Are you going to criticize the (at least American, afaik) military for calling kilometers "clicks" "GNU sounds ugly, and 98%" "Every programmer needs to spend some more time trying to talk and make products for the normal public." "It's all marketing, really." "PC will confuse people (outside of the US). Windows is preferable.
"Windows/Mac/Linux is unambiguous to gamers" |
@cjwijtmans I said Mac and Linux wouldn't confuse people. I meant to say the average consumer. I can guarantee that those terms won't confuse them. Seriously - go to someone who doesn't know what a kernel is and ask them this. These terms may "confuse" a robot who can only takes things to a literal, discrete level. And yes, GNU does sound ugly. I personally like it, but I'm a programmer. My opinion does not reflect the majority of people. I'm speaking for everyone (I deal with normal people on a regular basis) that I tell GNU is pronounced "guh-new" - and they're confused a gnu (the animal) is pronounced "new" and they're confused why someone would name it the same and pronounce it differently. Go on Google. Search "Linux". 587 million results. Note: I have never heard anyone refer to an iPod as a Mac. iPods run on the Darwin kernel, nothing more significant than that. tl;dr: The people matter, not the programmer. |
"You should get out more and talk to some normal people. Really - it'd be good for you." "Go on Google. Search "Linux". 587 million results. google justin bieber, now google chester bennington. "I'm speaking for everyone (I deal with normal people on a regular basis) " "I'll call it Linux because it's the term everybody else uses." Indeed TL;DR, a bunch of crap. you add nothing to the discussion. |
"ad hominem" Your Google counterpoint shows more people know the name Justin Bieber than Chester Bennington, and that name is apparently more significant to people as a whole - whether to make fun of him or be a fangirl. |
"Linux gets more press." |
sigh...this argument is getting long winded. Let's end it soon before Godwin's Law takes effect. Linux is better known than GNU. Talk to someone in a business environment. Talk to a someone who has seen Linux maybe once or twice. Talk to a Windows programmer. Talk to a parent, even. If they have heard of Linux (and it's very possible they haven't), there's only a slim chance they've heard of GNU. The GNU/Linux-naming-exclusive folks represent a very small, yet adamantly vocal, portion of the general public. Heck, the people who know the term Linux is disturbingly small. It's just the way it is, and the goal here is to inform users, not confuse them. |
Nobody(in their right mind) cares about junk news sites. And yes linux is better known as the kernel, if you said LINUX DISTRO you might have had a point since the majority of them use GNU. Yet again still a comment full of fallacies. |
...junk news sites? These are respected news organizations trusted by millions of people. This is getting ridiculous - I obviously can't communicate this fundamental idea of popular opinion to you. Kupiakos is out. Peace. |
"...junk news sites? These are respected news organizations trusted by millions of people." "Linux is better known as the kernel inside the Linux community. It is known as an OS outside of it. It may be incorrect, but that's the way it is." It will be a joy to see mr fallacious claptrap leave the discussion. |
Nobody would argue that we should start calling Chester Bennington "Justin Bieber" just because Bieber is more famous, though. That's what this conversation is about, terminology. The point is that far more people refer to this operating system as "Linux", and therefore that's a good term to put on a store used by those people, specifically. People who do not refer to Android phones as "Linux" and definitely do not refer to their iPods as "Macs" (literally nobody in the universe does that, by the way, especially anyone who works for Apple). Or to put it another way, the OS buttons don't specify which version of Windows or MacOS is required to use the game either. But people know better than to assume that the games aren't meant to run on MacOS 8 or Windows 95, even before they go to check the system requirements. Likewise, people aren't going to see "Linux" and think their BSD/Linux system will run the games without tweaks. |
"Likewise, people aren't going to see "Linux" and think their BSD/Linux system will run the games without tweaks." Of course they won't, as you can't just run two Kernels and no userland. |
"The point is that far more people refer to this operating system as "Linux" " "That's what this conversation is about, terminology." "therefore that's a good term to put on a store used by those people," "people aren't going to see "Linux" and think their BSD/Linux system will run the games without tweaks." "People who do not refer to Android phones as "Linux" " "check the system requirements." "people aren't going to see "Linux" and think their BSD/Linux system will run the games without tweaks." Anyone else with fallacies? |
This has spiraled a bit far, so time for some step-in and address some points and some flaming. This isn't a forum; the issue has been marked as reviewed and points have been considered. Further, don't regress into flamers; we don't need that here. Make your point and be done with it. |
I think it would be great to change PC to Windows, Windows/Mac/Linux or Windows/OSX/Linux is ok in my opinion. |
+1 |
+1 I've talked about this for years now that people should talk about "Windows games" instead of "PC games" when they refer to games released for Microsoft Windows. That just makes more sense since PC as acronym refers to any "personal computer". Not just the IBM-PC compatibles that are running Microsoft's software platform. I understand that it wouldn't be perfect to call things "Windows / OS X / Linux" but it sure would make at least make some sense. |
Gaben won't do that. Because he is earning well and most of it comes from Windows aka PC. He will not gonna do anything that may offend Windows people. In fact ; if Microsoft wouldn't put their own store into Windows and wouldn't announce UWP project, Gaben won't be interested with SteamOS/Linux. We are just a spare tire to them ( companies are living for money) to just in case, against that possible successful Ms Store. If Ms announce ; we just decided that Ms Store and Uwp are bad ideas and we're shutting them forever , all of a sudden SteamOS project will vanish Sorry but that is the truth. |
I'm not entirely sure, but this issue seems to be fixed across the entire store by now. A quick check reveals the following terms being used across the entire site:
I assume this issue can be closed then, unless I oversaw something? |
As far as I know, yeah. |
Thread is hillariously PC.. PC in computer venacular is correct. It's describing the hardware. Mobile would describe a modbile device. I certainly wouldn't disagree additional labels could be added for specific support but there are logistical and challenges since many of them are registered trademarks. Developer may not necessarily endorse nor fully comply with those even if they do technically run. It's really not much different from "SteamOS". Though it's based for the most part on Ubuntu, they can't say Ubuntu as it's not completely. It's a fairly critical distinction since it goes to the heart of why people insist on saying "GNU/Linux". Not surprising any vendor, like hosting companies, who claim to have X dsitro but include their own changes, fall under the same legal trouble. |
Seems like this issue can be closed now, it's been fixed for more than a year. |
The term "PC" was misused for a long time already, but didn't matter that much, as long as there was only Windows present. Now with more Linux games popping up in the store, it'd make a lot of sense to replace the term "PC" with "Windows", as Linux itself runs on PCs as well.
One could argue that Mac OSX technically runs on PCs as well, but that could be seen as a special case as Macs are PCs specifically built by Apple.
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