That was my thought on it. It's not a physical release without a physical componant

This is like fortnite classifying its release as physical because its dlc had a code that was in a game case.

I have my doubts that it's one of the cheaper hobbies. In my eyes it's one of the most expensive ones you can have. It has a high entry level cost(if you are a PC gamer likely 1k+), plus a moderate to high upkeep cost(new games @ ~30-70$ depending on quality) to keep in the hobby. It's also one of the few hobbies where you are expected to upgrade at least every few years in order to stay relevant. Not to mention the cost of any subscriptions you have as part of the hobby such as gamepass, your ISP, humble choice, etc

Most hobbies are a cost to enter, then a relatively small upkeep style cost. For example engineering, fishing, scrapbooking, puzzles, hunting, even crocheting or knitting are all you buy the tool for it, and then maybe spend a yearly cost for new supplies or a license to do the hobby.

Gaming the cost never goes down. You are either buying a new game cause the old one was completed, or upgrading your parts.

Heavy agree with this, and that the source is shown in three locations(duplicate info is all over the page) as well as the heavy push into how fast deploying the software is, when that's not usually a metric anyone actually cares about as its a one and done setup

"admits" seems to indicate that it's true. I would never run a windows 10 machine on 8 gigs of ram let alone windows 11. It may boot but you will struggle to do anything worthwhile on it.

I agree with you.

However, if I remember the Google case right, it wasn't as much as it was because they allowed people onto the market, it was because they allowed people onto the market, and then participated in underhanded tactics in order to basically guarantee that third-party stores weren't going to strive, some of these practices, including vendor contracts, that state that if they want to ship Google Play Services with their phone, they can't have specific applications installed by default. In some cases, straight out, refusing to even allow that vendor to have a first party store.

I don't think steam meets that metric, There is currently no major storefront except for Steam that is willing to touch Linux with a 10-foot pole. Every major storefront that's on Linux is via a third-party application. Gog doesn't even offer a native Linux version anymore. They've offloaded it onto the heroic team. None of those choices are a result of steam creating a steam machine and none of those choices will change if they had subsidized the machine to be significantly less in the market.

It's not as if Steam intentionally modified SteamOS to disallow competitor apps or to make it harder for competitor apps to enter that market.

I struggle to see how anything can be a monopoly(by ftc definition not literal definition) if nobody else is trying to enter that market. There's no restrictions in place being set by steam to prevent large companies such as Epic or EA from making a native Linux platform where with Android there were restrictions in place to prevent other people from making their own.

them charging less for the steam machine to get more people into the Linux market doesn't undercut other companies because they're not restricting or disincentivizing other companies from existing in that market, its companies willfully ignoring the Linux existence, as the userbase is insignficant most of the time and alternative methods of accessing Windows programs on Linux have been created.

The only argument they could give for subsidizing the steam machine being anti-competitive or antitrust would be that they were intentionally trying to pull people into a market that doesn't have any other competition. But that's a fairly weak argument if you ask me because gaming on Linux is more or less a Windows predominant market anyway. It's just running Windows games over Proton instead of Windows games on Windows.

Heck, I'm not even sure if the current license of Proton even prohibits another company taking the transition layer and using it for commercial means. The proton repository is labeled as is and out of the components I checked in it its mostly MIT or Apache, Wine is GPL, so that's free commercial use. I just don't see the anti-competitive concern with it. Any Joe Smo with money could go out and make a competitor that's native to Linux. That would be more or less the same as Steam. That doesn't mean it will succeed, but Valve is not actively preventing anyone from doing that.

::: spoiler my personal opinion on their public relations in regards to it, regarding the text above. being said, my annoyance at this is less the price; and more every response that they've used trying to explain why the pricing is so high. Each has been them shifting the buck onto another entity instead of taking accountability. They have blamed that the RAM companies would walk if they tried to negotiate a deal. They have blamed the current hardware market. They have blamed not wanting to be an antitrust case. They were not forced to signed the hardware contracts for the pricing that they're currently at. They were not forced to release the steam machine this year. It's not like the hardware market changed overnight the market's condition was obvious as well, experts have been saying for at least a year and a half, two years now, that they don't expect this market is going to stabilize until sometime in 2028. Honestly, they weren't even forced to release it at a $1,000 price point, I understand why they did, but I really don't like how they're making excuses regarding it. At some point, they need to just be blunt about it and say: Valve is a company, we're here for the money, and we're having to sacrifice a little bit of customer relation in order to have that. Instead of blaming everyone else for the company price choices. :::

Your $50 bought you nothing if you don't do the pre-order deposit. You are correct with that. However, it gave you the opportunity to have the slot that you currently have. Without paying that deposit, you would not have the spot. Because if you were to pay the full $300 pre-order today, your place in line starts wherever the line is today. Not wherever the line was when you registered.

also the pre-order deposit secures your place in the manufacturing assembly line. I don't see how you're not seeing it. It guarantees that you have a vehicle in the delivery window that they supply to you.

locking you into a spot for a delivery window is the same thing as guaranteeing you have a vehicle it's them designating a vehicle for you as part of their manufacturing batch.

The full description of what the pre-order deposit is this. A preorder is a $300 ($250 with an active reservation) non-refundable deposit that locks in your delivery timing. This gives you a time slot for production and allows you to plan accordingly. You'll finalize and purchase accessories closer to your delivery date.

Please see the part of it where it says it gives you a time slot for your production to allow you to plan accordingly. It literally is guaranteeing you have a vehicle that is part of your delivery window it is giving you your production slot. That will be what your vehicle is. No, it's not going to ask you every step of information that you want. That is a later date that is closer to when that production window is. However, yes, this $250 deposit is confirming that you have interest in the vehicle and you want them to make it. That is why it is non-refundable. And that is why if you don't pay it, you lose your position/get pushed back in line if you pay it later.

Being said, I have answered your questions to the best capability that I can and we're starting to go in circle tho so I'm disengaging now.

I hope you were able to figure out what you're looking for and that you have a good night or day or whatever time it currently is.

I'm sorry, I don't know a better way of explaining this. I will try to reiterate it again, but I don't know where our confusion is

Your $50 deposit gave you the ability to have one of the earlier slots for this vehicle.

Starting the 24th, they opened up the pre-order process for this vehicle. There was no ability to pre-order this vehicle prior to the 24th. (depending on where you are it could still be the 24th)

People who had an active registration, hence paid the $50, have priority access to the queue. Meaning that they have delivery windows that are going to be sooner than everyone else.

When you access your profile on the site, it should have a delivery window. You have 30 days from the time you get that delivery window to place a pre-order deposit That deposit is confirming that you want the vehicle. and as such, blocks you into a slot in the line for when it's assembled. if you don't do that deposit you lose your spot in the window

During the pre-order deposit process, you optionally have the ability to add your accessories. However, as they state, you don't have to pick anything at that time. The pre-order deposit is the only thing fully required to guarantee that you have a vehicle in that window.

At a later date, they are going to reach out or give you the ability to actually specify what you need in the vehicle. Your final time to choose the accessories that you want is when they reach out to you and actually have you pay for it.

So, as you've confirmed, you have paid that $50 reservation you currently have two options available to you.

1. you can refund the registration fee, which will forfeit your place in line and make your pre-order deposit fee $300 if you decided to pre-order
2. you can pay the pre-order deposit prior to the 30-day mark of having a window appear. which will guarantee that you have a vehicle in that window.

Just I want to reiterate that pre-order deposit is non-refundable. It's basically them giving you a final warning of, hey, this is where you can't back down without having monetary loss.

Personally, if you're not interested in the vehicle or you're on and off, I wouldn't pay the non-refundable deposit. I would be refunding my registration fee and waiting to see how it works worst case scenario is you can place an order later on down the line for however much the vehicle is at that point and wait however long the waiting period is.

I hope that's a little easier to understand, but if it's still confusing, I don't have a better way of explaining that.

also

They haven't even told you what any of the accessories will cost

if you're interested to see how much they cost, you can go on their website, most of the vehicle and accessory pricing is already there. So I would use that for deciding how much your accessories cost. Considering that it has you design your vehicle directly through the website.

Again, if you have any confusion, I posted the FAQ link in my first comment I believe it was, that has all of this information. Maybe the FAQ page will explain it better than a third party.

You can call it what you want, but your $50 deposit gave you the ability to have that slot. Whether or not you pay the $250 that locks you into that slot is up to you.

You would not have that slot if you did not pay that $50.

the $300 pre-ordering today without the reservation will not give you that slot.

Your 250 pre-order deposit will.

I believe that's where our confusion is here.

edit: For context, they publicly stated they sold over 100,000 registrations within the first two weeks of the registration being live. Now, obviously, they are not going to sell all 100,000 of those, but ignoring that people placed registrations between two weeks after the registrations went live and the 24th, you placing in order today would put you at 100,001 in line.

that is what your $50 is giving you. The privilege of not being put behind everybody who registered before the pre-order went live. Other than that, as long as you haven't put your pre-ordered deposit, you're not out any money. You can pull out any time it's refundable. It was only to secure your place in line. It wasn't for the vehicle. that's what the preorder deposit is for.

the $50 was a reservation, the additional 250 is the actual preorder deposit. basically the $50 went torwards getting priority placement in the queue it seems. you I think can cancel your reservation to get the $50 back but, you would have to pay $300 for the preorder and it will shift your delivery window back.

per their FAQ page, once you have a delivery window, you have 30 days to make a preorder or you lose the spot and have to have a later window.

well, I can't say I'm surprised they did, but I can't say it made it any more likely for me to buy the game.

I already disliked the anti linux approach they did with late GTA 5, and I can't say I was all that impressed as a whole with GTA 5 in regards to the multiplayer first mentality it had.

Also the fact that they are already advertising GTA+ as part of their preorder bonuses has me on full red alert.

if I paid the $50, but I lose my spot if I don't pay another non-refundable $250, what did I pay the $50 for?

A reservation for the delivery window slot. As in, when you would get the vehicle. The reservation was you putting your money down to have the opportunity to get the vehicle at that reserved window slot.

The preorder deposit is your deposit for the actual vehicle. The reservation was not the vehicle preorder. they have never advertised it as such, they have always advertised it as a $50 (fully refundable) locks your spot for a blank Slate. Reserve early, get your Slate early. When ordering opens, you’ll be able to pick accessories and personalize it exactly how you want.

Think of it this way. You are going to an anime convention, said convention is going to be running multiple times over said dates, with high demand for the events. There is limited slots that the event can run, and limited tickets. They have a $50 spot reservation that gets you an earlier event. When tickets open, they have the ability to do a deposit on the ticket. this promises your actual ticket. when you actually order, you will pay the rest of the ticket.

That's the situation with this vehicle at the moment. You deposited $50 for the ability to have an earlier slot. They are now asking for $250 for the actual vehicle deposit(this amount is non-refundable unlike the spot reservation). Personally I think they should have just done it as one payment at the beginning, but they didn't, however their wording has been the same the entire time, its just prior to the vehicle deposit they only used the phrasing "lock your spot" and "reservation"..

You can technically refund the $50 but you end up paying the same regardless as people without spot reservations pay $50 more on their preorder.

To directly answer your question: You deposited $50 to have your vehicle earlier. That's the difference between the $250 preorder deposit + $50 spot reservation, and the $300 preorder deposit. You are getting the vehicle earlier. If you didn't do the reservation, you are getting your vehicle at a later date.

I'm not sure where you are getting the "it's not a preorder" from. The site calls the preorder deposit a $300 preorder to get the vehicle. While it calls the reservation a spot reservation.

the reservation locks the slot.

the preorder locks the vehicle. They wernt going to start working on said vehicle until you got it.

I can understand the confusion on it but, that's what it said. Reservation is a place in line, preorder is the actual vehicle.

I'm assuming that they did it this way as they didn't know how much the price would be, so they didn't know how much to charge for a reservation & preorder deposit in one go.

That being said. If timing isn't a concern for you. I would just bail(especially since the deposit is an additional 250 non-refundable): refund the reservation and wait to see how it iswait until it hits dealerships whenever that is. I dislike how it is being handled as well, but that's how they did it.

edit: Upon rereading the FAQ, this vehicle isn't going to be in dealerships therefore, so I edited my post to reflect that.

It's not very often that you can watch a video unmuted and get even less context than if you watched it muted. I'm thoroughly lost.

I don't think it has much merit unless there is a gaming storefront that actively cares about linux though.

Like if I go down to the bottom of my hill and set up a lemonade stand, do I suddenly have a monopoly/anti-trust on lemonade as im the only one selling on the hill?

It's a weird excuse to use. and if a court actually allowed steam machine as evidence for anti-trust. it would open both Xbox and Playstation to the same rulings as they are even more closed off gardens.

ps2.

I loved the ps3 don't take me wrong, but the ps2 just had that nostolgia and legacy aspects of it. The splash screen, the menu design, the simplicity. It was so nice.

Friday to monday. That way you can avoid the monday blues and whatever mistakes that were put off earlier in the week because you have all week to do it.

I hate the state of current website reporting.

so many sites give so much information but absolutely refuses to provide the original website or source. Instead, deciding to send the viewer through ClickHell as they try to navigate their own website sending the user in circles usually via links that go to their own pages to propagate views/clicks. I hate it

How hard is it to just link to the Slate's main webpage after reporting on the product that way, the viewer can look at it themselves. Not one of the web pages they link there or any of the pages in said links lead to the actual vehicles site that they are reporting on.

I get the point of the post but, they are hosting a VPN service only to paying customers. they need /some/ way of linking an account to a customer, otherwise you can't verify if who is using it actually paid for it.

yes they could just do like how mullvad does it, give a 1 off account number and if you lose the number you are SOL; but you need to look at FF's general user base as well. they are trying to advertise this service to their casual userbase for privacy and anonymity while browsing the web. the path of least resistance is via the firefox account, that already likely exists for anyone already using the browser and is already tied into their eco system anyway.

also in my mind, if you don't trust your VPN enough to have an account on it of some sort of throwaway identifier, you likely shouldn't use that VPN in the first place. If when you go to sign up your first thought is "should i be giving this piece of info to this service" its not the service for you regardless if they later remedy it.

Still infuriating in the first place but, at least its justifiable infuriating(from both sides) unlike a lot of infuriating, where there isn't really a good excuse.

Yeah, cause Tuesday blues are one step away from hump day. So you can tell yourself that today may suck, but at least tomorrow's the halfway point.

This isn't just with projects either

I was looking at property records and property lines for my state yesterday to try to resolve a question that my mom had regarding land that she was getting.

The first two and a half pages of search results are all websites where you have to pay a subscription fee in order to get the land owner's information.

This is all information that is provided by my state free of charge via their website. I had to filter through two and a half pages before I found the original source of the information that all of those websites are leeching off.

It's ridiculous the amount of paid services that use free-to-use services, it's just they pay more of an advertising, so therefore they're the only thing the user sees.

If I hadn't already known that the state provided it free a charge to anyone who asked or went on their website anyway, I likely would have figured it just cost money to request the records.

The Los Angeles City Council took a first step Tuesday to reinstate a law that bans new oil drilling and requires existing wells to be phased out over the next two decades.

Is it just me or, does 20 years seem like a really long phase out period. Like it sounds like that can just do this song and dance every 20 years and not have to worry about it. That amount of time is plentiful time to get a temporary rewrite or removal of a law before backlash can make it have to revert, and then be solid for another 20 years of drilling.