I don't think it was on purpose or the first couple of updates would have fixed everything.  Which they didn't.

Or you can go to anywhere.impulsedriven.com and download a full offline installation of the game that can be installed without an internet connection, so even the digital version technically doesn't have DRM.

Not a good enough reason. Blizzard games, even SC2 are famous for working perfectly under Linux. It is confirmed that at some point they kept internal Linux versions of their games - likely to ensure compatibility. They never stated they support Linux, yet among Linux players they are known for easy emulation. This translates into extra sales, listed as windows versions. Good for both sides.

You don't have to explicitely support Linux. Linux users are exceptional at helping themselves - that's how Linux came to be, and how it is today. There's generally not enough Linux people anywhere to support wide adoption, so you resort to the internet. Linux - by techies, for techies. Ubuntu is different, it has the highest number of windows immigrants with their mentality.



Thank you, this is informative. Yet wine is in constant development and games which don't work now likely will in the future. Demigod used not to, but now does. There's actually voting involved. Developers focus their attention on areas involved with highest voted apps.



Back then there was no Icculus's port.



Hell, it's not just Windows/Linux problem. It's a Windows/Windows problem. I read some interview with a core Windows developer, about his experiences talking to game developers. He tried to talk them into porting games to newer version of Windows. The majority openly responded they don't care about a game after the initial sales. In the retail days, sales dropped very quickly. Open source, open standards are exceptional at supporting old games. Think about Dosbox, other emulators, Fish Fillets, DooM and other adandonware. And yes, wine. The only thing contemporary DooM devs don't get right is fragmentation. Demo recording scene is pretty much gone. PrBoom is a source port which takes compatibility very seriously, and even has multiple options.

You can do fine if you adapt your tastes. I dabble in game design myself, and don't shy away from roguelikes, for example. But I do like some big games like ET:QW. It would be harder if these days most big studios weren't filled with Hollywood-mentality people. Rockpapershotgun is a PC-exclusive site which doesn't exclude small and independent games (although they rarely write about roguelikes, probably personal preference).



Hmm, I'll be careful.

But I hope I've shown that DRM causes collateral damage. I don't care how you twist the words. Online activation, online only, Stardock Goo. Any kind of limitation that an informed player wouldn't want himself. Most people understand the need for anti-cheating limitations like VAC and PunkBuster. These are specialised tools, they don't pretend to be something they aren't (like Steam, Impulse,  BattleNet2 which lump a lot of stuff together and are often defended with red herrings). There are PB-free servers and they can be enjoyed as long as they have vigilant admins.

Incorrect. Wine Is Not an Emulator. It's an implementation of Windows API. Performance hits happen, because it's not a perfect implementation, but absolutely not always. Funny, they even implement various Windows bugs if they affect compatibility.

 

Are you for real ? Developing software is hard work, especially in an obscure, new direction or where no one likes to go. People are and will be paid for it.  People pay even for development of popular free software, including Firefox, OpenOffice and Apache. Even today the actual producers (programmers) are not paid for every sale of a copy of software. Mostly they are paid monthly. In the much glorified days of great works, people were paid to create specific works. You ordered a painting or a new music composition. There's a big disjoint between the work programmers are doing today and the way they are paid. It can't last forever.

I focus on programmers so much because they're one of few blocks which are set in stone. You can replace middlemen. There are areas where ease of use by an education-averse person is preferred to quality. For example, Microsoft Word and especially Excel is a database for technophobes, synchronised by @mail.

Those are sponsored projects, and the sponsors benefit from the products, their development or their wide-spread usage. How many open source games are funded by companies? I can't think of a single one. 

Isn't that a failed commercial project that was then made open source? (Genuine question, that's just what I recall.)