[Gambas-user] SteamOS and GAMBAS

[Rob Kudla]

On 12/14/2013 04:50 PM, Kevin Fishburne wrote:
> SteamOS is Valve's attempt to circumvent the walled 
> gardens that are Microsoft Windows and Apple iOS/OSX and allow the 
> digital distribution of their games though 

...their own walled garden.

I think SteamOS is a great development, but let's not kid ourselves: Valve
is using Linux to push their own DRM-based app store. It's about pushing
Steam, not pushing Linux. I appreciate that they're growing the market for
Linux games, because now there's more than just Icculus porting Humble
Bundle games to Linux. But I think it's telling that they call SteamOS a
"fork" of Debian, and I certainly have no interest in assisting people who
want to create DRM-encumbered Gambas apps.

I think it's more likely that someone who wants to use a high-level
language is going to use C# or VB with Monogame, since it works on not just
Linux but everything from the iPhone to the Ouya, and the form design
advantage that Gambas provides is erased if you're using the SDL/OpenGL
components for your game.

That said, here at home, our next desktop PC will most likely be a Steambox
hooked up to our television.

As for the Gambas packaging question, since it is essentially a console OS,
if Gambas development is supported at all, in all likelihood you'll just
have whatever version of Gambas available that the version of Debian
they're based on does, and you'll need to make your code work on that.
Breaking APIs between minor releases is not going to work, so they'll
probably just pick one and freeze it.

Their beta page says "Most of all, it is an open Linux platform that leaves
you in full control. You can take charge of your system and install new
software or content as you want," and says they use apt for their own
package management. I take that to mean that you'll be able to add your own
software sources and install whatever you like, being cautious not to stomp
on Valve's own ABIs. Whether it'll be easy for your app's non-technical
audience to add your repo and install your stuff -- as easy as it is on
Win8 or OSX or Android, at least -- is another question, but one that
should become clear within the next few months.

Rob