Build Settings: "PC, Mac & Linux" sound totally confusing and nonsense

Unity Engine
1

when we open Build Settings window (from File menu), we find this quite confusing situation, that we struggle a lot to figure out what it means:
“PC, Mac & Linux”

PC is whatever hardware that has a cpu (doesn’t matter if the architecture is Sparc, PowerPC, Mips, etc.), ram, rom, eventually some storage device, etc - a really good definition of PC we can find from FSF website: Words to Avoid (or Use with Care) Because They Are Loaded or Confusing - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation

Mac is the hardware alone - the operating system that usually comes pre-installed in it is MacOS-X - so, there is no mistake at all saying that all Macs are PCs (even when they came with other architectures like PowerPC, Motorola 68k, and even 6502) - for example, i have 2 Macs at home, and rarely use MacOS-X (they are dual-boot with Ubuntu GNU/Linux)

And Linux is just the kernel. And Android also uses Linux as kernel. So, naming GNU/Linux as “Linux”, we make the mistake assuming that GNU/Linux and Android are exactly the same thing, when they are not. A good definition of Linux we can find at Words to Avoid (or Use with Care) Because They Are Loaded or Confusing - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation

So, having this said, how soon will we see this bug fixed? Thanks in advance!

5206928--518120--2_unity_buildsettings_nonsense_Screenshot at 2019-11-23 23-38-25.png
5206928--518120--2_unity_buildsettings_nonsense_Screenshot at 2019-11-23 23-38-25.png1920×1080 218 KB

2

What is the solution? It might be helpful if you mentioned how you would like to see it look.

3

Yeah, might be better stated as Windows, MacOS, and GNU/Linux. But I doubt you actually struggled with the naming :slight_smile:

1 Like
4

Funny thread, but…

  • “PC” has been shorthand for “IBM PC Compatible” and any DOS/Windows machine since the 1980’s.

  • There’s fundamentally nothing different between a Mac and PC anymore except the software, so referring to MacOS is obvious (well other than price)

  • The only group that pushes the GNU/Linux name is GNU itself for its own self promotion. GNU lost that battle long ago everywhere but their own website, which coincidentally is where you linked.