Idea #8408: Sys. req. of programs should say: works on Linux with wine

Written by Primož Papič the 12 May 08 at 09:00. Category: Gaming.
Related to: Nothing/Others. Status: New

Description

Priority: Medium to high
Realisation: Theoretically easy
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Us Linux users and Linux distributors should lobby at gaming industry so it puts Linux on system requirements...
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The idea is fairly straight forward: Almost any program not just games already works on Linux to some extent if Linux has wine installed.
If you take any game it has system requirements written on the back side of the box. These sys req usually read:
cpu, memory, ... . Under operating system it says: windows xp or higher (or something like that...) But it should also say: Linux. And on the end it says: Needs DirectX to play; it should also state needs: Wine (platinum/gold/silver)*.
* see: http://appdb.winehq.org/ for more information.
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The tags platinum/gold/silver are tags that WineHQ uses to evaluate how much of the game works on Linux. This could make a big difference for those who want to play games on Linux. Now I have to go on this site http://appdb.winehq.org/ to check out if the game I want to buy is supported.
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This would make thing easier, because gaming industry would start to collaborate with Linux community and more new software would work better on wine.
Why? For this idea to work WineHQ should get pre releases of games to test and evaluate, so that maybe the game developers would even repair the things that wouldn't work right.
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Why would gaming industry do that?
Well now Linux users aren't the biggest game consumers mostly because we are not sure that the game would work fine with wine. So some get not the most legal version of the game, because nobody will pay money for game that doesn't work. If games would have written on it that they do work on wine, Linux user would be more prone to buy them.

So this would make us and the gaming industry happy.

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Comments

Auzy wrote on the 12 May 08 at 09:23

Its a good idea. Maybe wait for Wine 1.0 though

Primož Papič wrote on the 12 May 08 at 09:44

Well about wine 1.0; I already have it.
Well it really is "bleeding edge wine 1.0 RC"

Auzy wrote on the 12 May 08 at 09:51

I mean 1.0final.

Auzy wrote on the 12 May 08 at 09:56

Btw, I'll add that the reason why it has to be done against final, is because fixes made from the release candidates to the final may break programs still

Ferk wrote on the 12 May 08 at 19:16

And... what's your idea for making this happen? :S

it will be nice to have companies and computer brands to have a "Linux capable" stick for their products.. but I'm not sure if Canonical can do anything about it.

It is up to us, users, to ask for support to the companies, not to Ubuntu. Ubuntu will nicely welcome anything like this, but it can only happen if the users request for it at those companies... just filling an "idea" in a Ubuntu website is not enough.

deejross wrote on the 12 May 08 at 19:44

Though a great idea, I don't really see it happening due to the nature of Wine itself. With every update they do, they fix one thing and break 5 more. Simply looking at their app database shows a HUGE fluctuation in reliability from version to version. Until they stop introducing a thousand regressions per release, the gaming companies won't even touch this because they will have to support it when Wine breaks something in their game. They have neither the knowledge or experience to support Wine and they won't spend the money to hire someone for it.

Wine will be considered by most to be alpha-quality software long after their 1.0 release.

mac.ryan wrote on the 19 May 08 at 09:11

I will +1 the idea, because it cannot hurt. Yet: if I were a software commercial software producer I would NEVER EVER put a lable like that on my boxes, the reason being that the sticker would imply me (producer) making a statement of compatibility over which I would have little if no control at all.

Yet, it would be nice to see linux at least "considered" by the industry.

Ati500 wrote on the 5 Jun 08 at 00:49

I agree with mac.ryan.
Imagine if EA did what you've said. Their mailbox would be filled with letters from Linux users because they have problems with the game they use with WINE.
I don't think a simple user can separate bugs in the game from bugs in WINE...

But if a software runs well with WINE and it's 100% sure, then they can do it.
For a positive example, have a look at uTorrent's site:
http://utorrent.com/download.php
It says "For Wine, Windows 95 (Winsock2), 98/ME, NT/2000, XP, 2003, and Vista". Cool, isn't it?!
But I say it again, your idea is only acceptable when the game has no problems at all running on Linux.

Auzy wrote on the 5 Jun 08 at 01:56

They could always write "works with wine 1.0" and then have a statement written on the box "EA will not support this game running in wine mode. Please refer to the Wine development team for support"

notyetroot wrote on the 12 Aug 08 at 20:31

That sound like a good idea, but it's difficult to get much vendor support. +1 anyway.

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