My original comment was not on the telemetry because I didn’t want to be an armchair engineer on that either, but here I go: I also have my concerns about the claim about the choice to research, implement, and QA blocking WINE + VMs as opposed to filtering telemetry before it ever sent to Roblox. I’m assuming some functionality like this already exists to avoid development builds from flooding any live telemetry (may be a bad assumption, but I am concerned if this assumption is not met). As a software engineer that deals with log processing, but for card payment processing instead of Roblox, filtering out the telemetry sounds like the more cost-efficient option. The software libraries where I work have this functionality built in.
It is very possible that blocking out telemetry is hard because of whatever system Roblox uses. With my experience in my field, I have a hard time believing telemetry is the reason as opposed to using this opportunity to block an unsupported platform that happens to be amazing for virtual machines due to the risk of reversing the anti-cheat.
I think many people are mad (and rightfully so,) about the fact that this was blocked without prior notice.
What I mean is, Byforn was always talked about and they said they were going to add it blah blah blah but they never ever mentioned anything like blocking an entire OS on purpose (that a lot of people/developers use!)
Now obviously there is always the good old “It was never officially supported so it is your problem for using it”, and while that is right I think it is wrong just completely to ignore the people who were using Wine & have been using Wine really.
Roblox is being reasonable to anyone who does not/has not used Linux full-time with Roblox, they practically throw that entire community under the bus and expect people to say: “Oh thank you Roblox! it was my mistake for using Linux & Wine, I will do better next time.”
I think it is sad given that I was planning to switch to Linux soon enough as well
Didn’t notice this post before in the huge pile of other ones. Anyway, since this was posted:
Is there literally anything that we as individual non-engineers with a mix of Linux distros and hardware can do to help Roblox’s effort? My guess is no, but still figured I should ask in case there is something that will get me onto Linux faster.
The Linux community is one of our most dedicated and technically savvy communities, and their input is extremely valuable to us. We do not want to lose this community.
Rolling out a new product, such as the 64-bit Windows client on the scale we are, is rather challenging. As this is a staggered rollout, it will take some time. We need this time to address issues that arise with the introduction of new technology.
At this point, the biggest help would be to give us the benefit of the doubt and not assume malicious intent on our part.
I wrote a question about this a while ago (see here), but are you able to provide a rough estimate on approximately when A/B testing for the 64-bit update will finish before it starts being pushed out to everyone?
I just want to drop in to say thanks. Seeing this kind of two-way communication is a real breath of fresh air. Normally I just lurk in these sorts of conversations, but I felt like I should say something since I normally serve a lot of criticism.
That’s not to insinuate that I believe dropping Linux support is philosophically a good thing, of course, but I understand that there are likely roadblocks, especially where deep-reaching systems are involved, to preserving compatibility. It is good to hear that at least this is a point of consideration.
I would like to think I also speak for a lot of other people who are likely lurking on this thread right now, but who you likely won’t hear because they’re not replying. Genuinely - thanks. Your transparency is not going unnoticed
I know this is off topic, but I feel like it has to be said.
The fact that Bitdancer is STILL ANSWERING QUESTIONS DAYS AFTER THE FACT is the kind of reassurance needed for me to truly believe Roblox will not block WINE forever considering how communication has gone in the past.
I may not have a whole lot of interaction with Developer Relations, and I am very well aware each and every engineer does not have the time to invest in open communications like this (I work in the MSP field, it’s get the details then get off the phone), but I feel like this thread needs to be used by Roblox to establish better procedures for communicating with its platform. As previously stated, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen this level of engagement with any aspect of the community, and the fact it can be done at the shear size Roblox is now compared to 2008/2009 means it’s still possible if done right.
If your asking me to create a new bug report on this devforum, i cannot create one as i haven’t browsed this part of the forum regularly making me unable to create posts.
EDIT: there is a similar post with the same issue im having.
Has anyone here considered the android client??
If you can emulate that, then it’s not the end for Roblox on linux. I’m pretty sure it even supports mouse and keyboard.
Unless this blocks emulation of the android client? that would suck lol
That is actually possible with any android emulators and run it from wine, though it would kind of suck since you have to emulate roblox inside an emulator.
However I would still use 3rd party software with a caution because if you get banned then your account gets terminated and you get permenantly HWID banned.
I’ve heard that rollout is taking place rather quickly! Do you have current statistics for enrolment into the A&B test? If so, is there a public resource or API which can give us the same information?
I’m experiencing this on Fedora 38, and the lack of communication prior to cutoff was frustrating to say the least…
Edit: I appreciate the transparency from BitDancer though, it’s been good to see at least some sort of response after a bit of disappointment on my end
