Gabe Newell calls Win8 a 'catastrophe,' wants Linux

tviceman · **Joined:** Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:02 pm **Posts:** 1168

Windows 8 is going to set the stage for Valve to enter the hardware business, with a Linux-powered steam operating system.

SickBeast · **Joined:** Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:57 pm **Posts:** 4307

tviceman wrote:

Windows 8 is going to set the stage for Valve to enter the hardware business, with a Linux-powered steam operating system.

The problem is that there are very few games that natively support OpenGL. You can't just put Crysis 2 onto Steam and think it will magically work under Linux.

Valve is just going to put Steam on Linux because it will give them an extra 2-3% of sales and that alone will cover the minimal development cost. It also has potential to bring them even more money in the future.

Keysplayr · Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 9:37 pm

Linux is kind of sneaking in the back door with tablets and smartphones taking over.

apoppin · Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2012 2:38 pm

Blizzard seems to agree with Newell

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2 ... pean-daily

Quote:

Some are saying that Windows 8 is the next "Vista" and that it's not too friendly for consumers or developers. Recently, Rob Pardo, executive vice president of game design at Blizzard, took to Twitter to endorse Newell's comment.

Pardo commented on the "nice" interview that former Xbox executive Ed Fries did with Newell, and he then proceeded to note that Windows 8 is "not awesome for Blizzard either."

The big concern from Newell and others is that Microsoft will make Windows 8 a closed system. It's been suggested that Microsoft will seek more control over various applications and purchases made through Windows 8, but the company has yet to announce full details.

SickBeast · **Joined:** Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:57 pm **Posts:** 4307

with enough devs this could really make a difference to the Linux adoption rate. This is starting to get my interest now.

grstanford · **Joined:** Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:19 am **Posts:** 5169

Valve's optimizations make Linux port of L4D2 outperform Windows version

In a new blog post that was published this week, Valve revealed that its Linux port of the popular title Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D2) now outperforms the Windows version of the game on a high-end test rig. The OpenGL-based Linux port of L4D2 runs at 315 FPS, the Direct3D-based Windows version runs at 270.6 FPS, and the OpenGL-based Windows version runs at 303 FPS.

apoppin · Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 12:48 pm

They are going beyond games
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/softwar ... ond-games/

Quote:

Starting on Sept. 5, Steam will host a number of applications that aren't games, according to a company blog item posted Wednesday. Though no titles were mentioned, Valve stated that a range of software would be offered through the platform, including both creativity and productivity apps.

Steam is not often thought of as a cloud service, but it has proved to be an effective digital distribution platform, one for managing the process of downloading and installing software on Windows, Macintosh and -- available soon -- Linux computers. Thus far, more than 40 million gamers have used the software to download Valve and third-party games. In 2011, Steam was used to download more than 780PB of gaming software, almost double the amount downloaded the year prior.

The Steam platform could provide many additional features for software companies to distribute their wares. The software has DRM (digital rights management) to control copying of software across multiple computers, and a mechanism to push updates to the purchased software. Users can peruse new titles in an online store. The service will also offer a hosted storage service, where users could save their work or configuration settings.

After the Sept. 5 launch of the initial set of titles, Valve will add more software titles on an ongoing basis. Developers can submit their programs through Stream Greenlight, a community site where Steam users pick releases they would like to see distributed on the platform.

tviceman · **Joined:** Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:02 pm **Posts:** 1168

At this point Valve seriously needs to start seriously consider selling it's own hardware. I know it would be hypocrisy to launch a steam OS and bundle it with your their own hardware, but seeing that Valve is the least evil of all the digital software store fronts in existence (based on promotional sales, user friendliness, popularity, and developer relations) it really just makes the most sense at this point. Valve certainly has the talent and should be creating an OS for desktop PC's and setup boxes that can integrate all computing devices a person has (phone, pc, tablet) and have the ability to launch a game locally from a device powerful enough to handle it, or stream the same game to a device without the power (phone or tablet) but can still output to larger screens and input user controls (like a bluetooth keyboard & mouse or gamepad).

Gabe Newell calls Win8 a 'catastrophe,' wants Linux

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