Many thanks for both your efforts in supporting Linux and the giveaway.

I'm in for "Pillars of Eternity: Definitive Edition".

In for:

Risen 3: Titan Lords - Complete Edition
and
Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition

Thanks once again. Linux forever and ever.

Not in. +1 adam

That's why I think of my games as a library, to be accessed at will throughout life when I want to experience whichever - it's the same way I have my books and movies; many many many many that I have yet to imbibe, but desire to and intend to over time through life. I just make sure I want before acquiring, especially in a giveaway.

adamhm, as always +++++ to you and what you do

with this topic brought up, I'd like to ask if I may enter for:

Risen

it's a game that I keep putting off getting and telling myself just to wait on since I've not played through the 3 Gothic games and I am such that I will only do that before playing the Risen games. I've only played partway through Gothic, and while I was loving it, life distracted me and I've not picked it back up. So I know it'd be a while until I got to Risen.

Your rules state "won't rot in the backlog" - it may be in my library for quite a while before I play it, but it won't rot or go to waste, I'll definitely play it, but not anytime soon (well, maybe a GOG "soon" !) - if you'd prefer not to accept my entry and give others a chance who are more likely to play it sooner, that's totally cool, otherwise, I'm in!

I don't think it makes sense to enter for 2 or 3 given I don't even have 1

Amazing giveaway again!

I'm in for
Pillars of Eternity: Definitive Edition

Thank you & +1!! :)

thank you for another awesome giveaway

not in

I'd like to enter for a chance to win Risen.

Thanks for the giveaway, adamhm (+1)! :)

Not in, but thanks for another giveaway. +1

Thanks adamhm!

Im in for:
> Risen
> Risen 2: Dark Waters Gold Edition
> Risen 3: Titan Lords - Complete Edition
> Pillars of Eternity: Definitive Edition

Nice but I think I should refrain from entering every giveaway on these forums.

Thanks for the giveaway, and also your continued promotion of penguins!

I'd like to compete for: Pillars of Eternity: Definitive Edition

Thank you very much for your effort bringing games possible play on Linux.

Risen 2: Dark Waters Gold Edition
Risen 3: Titan Lords - Complete Edition

Maybe to an extent. If they do then it wouldn't be a sudden change and I wouldn't expect them to do away with non-store software entirely (or at least not until nearly everyone has stopped using it

Instead, if they were to do this I'd expect it to be a "slow boil" approach, gradually making it more & more of a hassle to use software outside of the store, e.g. by:

- Imposing restrictions on using non-store software, likely in the name of "protecting" the user from malware or so. We're already seeing something like this with "S mode" and I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually make it the default for all "consumer" versions of Windows & start adding more hoops to using non-Store software.

- Restricting dev time allowed for maintaining the old Windows API so that only the more severe breakages can be fixed, quick & dirty hacks are used more frequently and less time is spent on optimising so that it becomes slower and more broken over time.

- Related to the above, making a translation layer for the Windows Store to allow developers to easily re-release their older software via the store (something like a proprietary "Wine for Windows") and have the translation layer work better than "natively".

And I'm sure there are plenty of other possibilities I haven't considered.

Microsoft have also made no secret of their intention to provide Windows "as a service" so it would not surprise me if they eventually plan to make Windows itself available for free but locked in "S mode" until you pay up, or perhaps make it ad-supported or so.

Freedom: Your computer is yours, there's no DRM or so to dictate how you can use it. You can choose which updates to install and when to install them. There are also a huge amount of options for customisation available if you want to tweak things.

You have the freedom to choose between a wide selection of distros, each with their own special features/advantages and disadvantages (which admittedly can also be a disadvantage in itself; I'd recommend starting out with Mint or so until you know enough to make an informed decision about other distros, if you decide that you want something different).

If the maintainer of the distro you choose makes a change you don't like you can reverse it - or simply move to another distro if it's a bigger change, as you're not tied to any particular distro.

Privacy: There's no 'spying'/'telemetry' built in (except for Ubuntu which has/had an optional Amazon search thing), and where data collection is requested you can decline/turn it off - and when such options are turned off they respect your decision and *stay off* :p

Security: Linux is in general more secure. It has security flaws like any other OS, but they tend to be more difficult to exploit due to the way Linux is set up & get fixed a lot more rapidly once discovered. Malware is also a lot rarer for Linux than other OS'

I also find that it's a lot faster to get a Mint install set up than Windows, both to install and to set up as there are far fewer options and tweaks that I need to make.

It does have its downsides though, e.g. it's quite different to Windows at its core, which can take some getting used to when you're only familiar with Windows. Also a lot of software and games are not available for Linux (Wine helps a lot with this for older software at least), and support for certain customised/uncommon hardware can be lacking - but this situation is improving as more people start using Linux, making it easier for others to learn & giving developers more incentive to support it officially.

Take a look at my guide if you want to learn more :) https://www.gog.com/forum/general/the_try_linux_repostrewrite

It sounds pretty interesting and I'll most likely try it out on my old laptop (in case I completely mess it up the first time I try :P) after exam season is over! Thanks for the info! And thanks for your support of this pretty cool operating system! :D