Valve Joins Linux Foundation, what if Gabe was right...

Perhaps Gabe could be right and Linux is the future of gaming luckily they are ushering it if that time ever comes.

Valve

Joining the Linux Foundation is one of the many ways Valve is investing in the advancement of Linux gaming, the company said in a joint news release.

Besides contributing tools to the Linux community, it also hopes to compel hardware manufacturers to prioritize support for Linux and to eventually deliver an elegant and open platform for Linux users, Valve said.

”Somebody could take SteamOS and create a hardware profile that is somehow battery driven and is an actual wearable interface that is sort of a mobile Oculus Rift,” he said, referring to a virtual reality headset for gaming.

”You can never predict where that innovation will come from,” he said.

Valve thinks that in several years, games played on Steam, their content and their worlds will be largely created by users, Zemlin said. “That is really the future of gaming.”

Gabe Newell is just some billionaire who saved pc gaming, pretty much invented digital distribution, saved indie gaming and gaming in general. I'm pretty sure some angry 14 year old with opniions will know better, this is the internet, after all.

It seems like every time MS comes up with a stinker like Windows ME, they turn around and make an XP. Vista then went to Windows 7. I can see a case where if they don't follow up Windows 8 with a good system, then people might just get real sick of their shit, though.

You couldn't pay me to install Windows 8 on my gaming PC. I would much rather dual boot to a Linux distro than put up with a half-baked tablet OS if that means I could keep playing games.

Not surprising considering steam os is based on linux.

Hopefully SteamOS games will run on distro's like Ubuntu just fine.

I love the idea of more and more Linux games, but I would prefer to play them in a more fully fledged OS like Ubuntu or Mint.

What does this actually change?

MS no longer will have the monopoly on gaming for operating system choices

Oh I get that.

I meant, what does Valve actually joining this foundation change? Is it just for publicity/awareness, or is there something more to it than that?

My guess is, that in the long-term, it gives them leverage to either help with adding code-base to the Linux source allowing them to run DX code in the Linux environment or to write an API that replaces DX completely either within or without OpenGL.

lol please.

1. you only have half a brain so you couldn't figure out how to install windows 8 don't blame Microsoft.
2. you only have half a brain so you couldn't figure out how to dual boot.

Windows 8 is great, so was 7, and vista ME was the only legitimately bad OS, Maybe when you used vista you shouldn't have tried running it on your parents 9 years old PC.

Makes sense. Cheers.

people would be fooling themselves, Valve is appealing off this image and an idea that's anti-corporate greed and so pro-consumer that you might as well think they were just a bunch of hacker activists, trust me they will go darkside and be everything you despised that made you think so highly of them when they pretended to be idealists, they will find a way to monetize off this greatly and they'll be just another corporate empire

Valve's goal is to take PC gaming off of Windows, and put it onto a box with Valve's own proprietary software that hosts only Steam; no GoG, no Amazon, no GMG, no Desura, etc.

It worries me because right now Steam is great because competition is "just a click away".

There isn't competition on a Steambox running SteamOS. It'll be just like the PS4/Xbone/Wii U........ Eww. Pretty much everything NOT PC gaming.

Don't worry you will still get the poor ports of games and the awesome....lol.....Indie exclusives.

Theres something called a web browser and if these sites like GoG and GMG have linux based games, they will work under the Steam OS. Valve isn't like MS or Sony where they lock out competition.

Valve thinks that in several years, games played on Steam, their content and their worlds will be largely created by users.

They couldn't do much worse than some of the lemmings working today. I'm getting a bit sick of the sequels and COD clones.

He's not talking about GoG games but GoG, GMG or Origin as stores. I doubt steam OS will allow these other stores.

LOL most people use their computer for work not just for games and put dx games on linux won't suddenly kill windows ,why whould they install linux in their laptop if they can work and play games better with windows

What makes you think a Steambox wouldn't be able to access other stores? It's just linux. You can do what you want with it. You could even dual boot and just run windows, as well, if you really wanted to. I've seen no evidence to suggest that valve has any plans of barring other services besides steam from their OS.

So? You can take Linux and create a closed down distro. See what Amazon did with their kindle, they don't allow other stores but theirs.

Steam OS may become the 'Android' of PC gaming. I was really hoping that a big software company would take Linux and create a unified PC platform out of it, like Google did with Android in the mobile space. And it looks like that company is Valve.

Wow, thanks for adding one more reason to the list. Not necessarily having to play games with arrogant douchebag Microsoft fanboys. Enjoy your tablet OS, buddy. Stay off STeam.. They are a threat to your precious Oligopolysoft.

I never said a thing about threatening Microsofts place in the business world. Just their place with enthusiast PC gamers.

thanks for having terrible reading comprehension

Win 8 does have some really good aspects that I hope they continue in their next release (fast boot time, really great task manager) it's just a shame that Win 8 is built around touch screens and touch interface. I hope their next windows isn't the same, perhaps than it can be a success again.

If MS is so keen on copying apple than they should at least do it right: Apple has one OS for desktops and one for tablets. Don't try and have one to do it all.

i often agree with gabe newell, but let's be honest, he often uses provocative language and greatly exaggerates things

Why would it not be the same? desktop pc sales are declining at a rapid rate, the average person has no need of them. the only thing that will likely happen is "2 modes" so to speak, which is already possible with a 5$ addon from stardock.

I never touch metro, closest to metro i get is the side snap bar for wifi settings ect.

although they arn't doing great their only hope in the consumor market is tablet-pcs ... which is why this is happening. thats not going to change.

Though I agree, the ability to customize to suit either is essential, and just not quite there yet.

TC, What is Gabe right about?

All this talk about tablet PCs shrinking the desktop/laptop market and Windows in the business environment doesn't really change the fact that PC gaming is done on desktops. The hardware requires it to be this way.

In a sense, you can see MS abandoning the gamer AGAIN with these market forces pushing on their core fundamental business. Valve sees an opening with Linux and is taking it.

There are two things, program wise, that have stopped Linux from overtaking Windows for desktops. First is an office suite not only better then Microsoft Office, but cheaper as well. Second is gaming. With most developers using Direct X the options available to people on Linux only machines hoping to play a game natively, become very limited. Sure they can use Wine but that also comes with not only a performance hit but increased risk of games either crashing, not working properly, or not working at all.

Gaming wise Steambox/Steam OS is extremely important to Linux as it's making AMD/Nvidia step up their driver support and it's getting companies to strongly look into making games using OpenGL instead of DirectX.

You know Valve may just be the best thing that ever happened to gaming in the modern era. Keeping an eye out for what they do next

Linux is a joke for gaming. Keep dreaming Valve. This Steam Machine project is going to sink their company.

That's the thing, they tried pleasing desktop and tablet users and in doing so failed to please either one.

Makes sense..Gaben loves his Linux. Too bad not many other people do.

Linux has been the future of gaming for at least 20 years now.

Probably about as long as PC gaming has been dying. Windows for gaming and PCs for gaming aren't going anywhere any time soon.

why?

I have to agree here, I like Windows 7 but other than the interface (which can be ignored) I don't see the hate for Windows 8. It runs much leaner and while yes initially it's designed for a touch interface you can add in to skip metro and get the start menu back (not as much functionality, but enough for gaming).

It doesn't matter to me. I've made transitions in the past without problems:

1980's: PC MS-DOS to Commodore Amiga

Early 1990's: Commodore Amiga back to PC MS-DOS

Mid to late 1990's: PC MS-DOS to PC Windows

Future: PC Windows to Linux?

No problem.

had to get windows 8 for my new laptop. windows 7 home premium has a limit of 16GB ram. i wasnt going to pay more for win7 pro or ultimate.

before i got this laptop though i was using Ubuntus unity a lot and strangely enough it made the transition to windows 8 a bit easier i think. i missed my side bar when i went back to windows 7 briefly on my old laptop.

i dont like metro though...it looks awful imho. there are many desktops on linux that look so much better (including unity) and work better as a desktop environment. now i had better raise my flame shield :P.

i also refuse to use a microsoft account on windows 8 and that seems to have disabled half the extras. oh yeah and MS doesnt know that where i live actually exists so not even weather works. so my metro screen has 4 tiles :S.

so thats my rant on windows 8.

im going to wait for ubuntu 14.04 LTS before i stick linux on my new laptop but i look forward to doing it. usually i have run a linux distro either in a VM or on some pretty limited hardware and its done very well given the resources it had. (boots like lightening and is generally very smooth). i cant wait to see what it can do given something a more beefy. there will be a fair bit of post install config though as nvidia optimus is not offically supported yet in linux. there is a solution called bumblebee but it will require tinkering.

as for valve locking it down....not possible. steam is locked down of course but the underlying OS is still open source. one of the effects of valve working on linux us that they will lose some control. steam is only offically supported on ubuntu but its working well on debian, ubuntu, mint, arch, fedora, red hat (commercial fedora), scientific linux (which is red hat for free :P), and open Suse (and i would imagine many other spin offs are also working well). thats just due to community effort. there may even be forks of steam OS if people are not happy. or someone might fork ubuntu or mint with steam pre installed along with other things like controller profiles and a tool to easily install GPU drivers and configure things like bumblebee for nvidia optmius.

Steam OS is just something for vendors to stick on. for people who want a full desktop OS a linux distro with steam installed seperately (just like on windows) will do the same thing.

the big hurdle at the moment is just dev support (which is getting better. a lot of kickstarter projects like project eternity have a linux build coming and some big games like rome 2 are also on the way.) and hardware drivers (where pressure needs to be applied). oh and getting hardware manufacturers to provide an option to pre-install a linux distro instead of windows (which will be very difficult). the crowd i bought my laptop from at least game me the option to not pay the MS tax which was nice.

on another nice note..linux does not have arbiterary limits on ram like windows. any limit is a technical limit.

anyway good to see valve joining the foundation.

Maybe true, but this is the first time we've had a company like Valve, with such a dominant position in the PC space, back Linux to this extent.

OF COURSE LINUX IS BETTER FOR GAMING... is that even news?

Only lembots will defend X1 and W8...

Hopefully this eventually leads to a real gaming OS that leads to much more efficient use of current hardware than is possible through the current Windows API's.

Valve already stated their OS is completely useless as a linux distro.

Doesn't that seem suspicious?

And dual-booting is a hassle.

same. I hope steam OS takes off ( and i hope they will add more and more features so a second OS wont be needed ) and force devs to start making more games for Linux. I hate the idea we are still so dependent on MS ( not that Windows is bad or anything but been dependent on 1 company alone not a good think ).