Why is the game in the Hall of Fame?

1. Dune 2 was inspired by a famous science fiction book, The Dune by Frank Herbert (who of you have not read it, I highly recommend!).
2. At that time the game had excellent graphics and great animation.
3. The main reason, however, was game mechanics and gameplay of Dune
4. Spice mining, construction of buildings, creating of units and combat.

At the beginning of the game, the player choose one of the families – Atreides, the Harkonnen or Ordos. The game itself is made up of missions and the course is always the same: establish a base, mine of spice, construct buildings and defenses, build military units and defeat the enemy.

In retrospect, the game already has many shortcomings. Weaker AI and bugs in the game that is easy to ensure your victory. Nowadays players are probably quickly poisoned from need to click on each unit separately.

But the game was a hit and will forever remain a legend of computer games.

If you do not know the game, you can get an idea from the following video.

If you want play this great game and again kick ass evil Harkonens, I have great news for you – can play an open source remake of the game: Dune Legacy!

Dune Legacy uses graphics from the original game. It offers the possibility to select multiple units, use a larger screen resolution and multiplayer gaming via tcp / ip.

Your battle for Dune Begins … NOW!

Dune Legacy with larger screen resolution

Ubuntu software store - main screen

The team of programmers are now preparing a new software manager called Ubuntu Software Store, which adds some interesting features:

• Even better usability;
• Improved sorting software to multiple levels of categories;
• More information about programs (link to homepage, screen-shots, users ratings and comments);
• Sale of commercial software;
• And many more.

Yes, Ubuntu Software was inspired by the iTunes Store, Android Market, etc. I think it’s a good idea. Over 8 million users, Ubuntu is already an interesting target group for the commerce software maker and Ubuntu Software Store could be a great distribution and sales channel.

Ubuntu software store - detail of app

In the discussions you will find many people who are against: “Closed software in Linux distributions? No!”. But I think it’s a great way. I like open source OS. I can customize anything without fear of the license etc. With the programs it is different. Why do you not purchase high-quality graphics editor, if you need something better than the Gimp?

The reason why Linux on the desktop still takes only about 3% of desktop users is:

1. great demands on the user’s knowledge,
2. lack of commercial software for particular tasks,
3. small number of games.

Thanks Ubuntu, paragraph 1 is no longer true. Really there is nothing to worry about. Then next time I will write articles about why and how to switch to Ubuntu. Point 2 and 3 could support the project just Ubuntu Software Store. Certainly, this is the way for more years. It’s a chance for the future of Linux on the desktop.

More information on Wikipedia or homepage of Debian.