Gift link:

https://aftermath.site/ubisoft-ea-paradox-launcher-pc-steam?...

As someone who bought Microsoft Flight simulator via Steam I concur. I swear that Flight Simulator updates use at least 3 layers of redirection between starting via Steam, getting updates for the main program, and then getting updates for the scenery files,and then getting another set of updates while already running the main Flight Sim program. Absolutely bizar.

Steam should be a crime. There was a time you could launch an executable without a middleman at all.

Most games (I own on) steam can launch just fine without using steam. In fact I do that all the time. Come to think of it, I've never launched a game I bought on steam through steam except maybe the first time and then I "pin to taskbar" and launch through there.

Using steam for sales and activation is quite rational. Do you think we should go back to CD keys or other preshared secrets written on paper?

I've had to repurchase many games over lost/stolen activation codes. I don't really want to go back to that place. It's like cryptocurrency - sure you have total control but you better never fuck it up even one time or it becomes worthless.

Would you say the same thing about 'apps'?

It's definitely terrible that half of mobile users can't run code without the permission of their platform and the other half could eventually lose the ability to do so.

But the stakes are lower because the phone is a time-wasting/consuming device and not a general purpose/productivity device like a desktop.

>general purpose/productivity device like a desktop.

It's sad that a good majority of homes don't have desktops nowadays. Maybe the parent will have a work laptop.

I remember a CS professor mentioning on twitter that the recent crop of undergrads arrive without knowing what files and folders are.

At least for the most part, you can.

I use Steam as the launcher because the interface for SteamOS Big Picture mode on my TV is great.

For DRM free games you can just run the executable directly without steam even being open. Maybe we should prosecute the publishers who don't check the box that allows that?

Also why I don't use it at all.

I can survive with the games that exist outside Steam, no FOMO over here.

Dunno about Ubisoft, as I don't play their games, but CDPR has a `--launcher-skip` flag that I use.

Not ideal that it's needed in the first place, but better than nowt. Maybe Ubisoft has similar?

I'd appreciate living in a world where this was on my radar.

Is it because I'm old now that it doesn't even register? My job, for the last half decade, has been to release things via steam. Yet, this seems like re-arranging deck chairs atop a flaming tornado of cannibalism and madness.

Find your feng shui I suppose. Personally, I think we oughta start by stopping sony's current interpretation of quality experience expressed by whatever you'd call their current interface. That said, victory on your front doesn't mean defeat on mine, so good luck.

ubisoft disconnect is an abomination and should be banned legally

well then tell Valve to create sensible guidelines for how and why and when an update occurs.

talk to some Steam workshop developers as ask them about update concurrency within Steam -- and then realize why this double-launcher-syndrome exists in the first place.

Mind actually spelling out your problem?