Skype unfortunately don’t provide a version for Ubuntu 64. It’s still possible to install the statically compiled 32 bit version using the following commands:
Then just run /opt/skype_static-1.4.0.118/skype
I tried Steam a while ago, and it got me thinking about computer games and how we get them.
Free games are normally downloaded and installed. Some very simple ones can be played directly in a web page (using Java or Flash). Commercial games are normally bought on DVD:s and installed onto the local disk. They too can sometimes be downloaded (with Steam, for example).
It took almost a week, the last time I bought a game on DVD, before I had the it in my hand. (The selection in stores where I live is rather poor, so they had to have it delivered to the local store.) The last time I downloaded a game in Steam, that took a day. Neither is fast enough to be convenient, but I like just being able to select a game in my computer and have it automatically prepare it for playing. The downside is that you don’t get a disc; you only “subscribe” to the game, so you can’t lend it to a friend.
A big problem with all types of games, in my opinion, is that they are tied to a specific type of machine and, for PC:s, a specific operating system. You can’t run a Windows game on a Mac. You can’t run a PS3 game on an Xbox, etc.
So how should this work? If we disregard commercial factors (such as copy protection systems), I imagine a game could be kept in a single file, with the code stored in a bytecode format that is JIT compiled before the game starts. The file would also contain all the graphics and sound etc. The advantage of this is that this single file could be played on any computer or game machine that had a game engine that can run this type of game, as long as the hardware is fast enough. Once you had the game engine installed, just clicking on a game file on a web page, or saving it on your local disk and then doubleclicking that, would start the game.
Then just copy the same game file to your PDA to play on the train. (If it’s not a game that requires a lot of graphics and CPU performance.)
The engine could also provide some extra security by only allowing the game to display graphics and play sound, and not allow it to read or write any files or access the network. This would beeasy to do in a JIT engine.
I imagine most modern and old games would only need access to a graphics API like OpenGL ES, a sound API (maybe OpenAL), keyboard / mouse / gamepad / joystick input, and a way to store and retrieve per-user data, like saved games.
