Gabe Newell wants to bring steam to linux?

[TangentDelta]

I never thought I'd live to see this day!


http://kotaku.com/59...s-a-catastrophe


The way Windows8 is headed, I'd start porting to Linux too. Since most of the "mac" games on steam are run in a pre-packaged Wine environment, it wouldn't be all that hard to package some of them fro Linux (I personally think wine runs 100% better in Linux than on Mac).


What do I for-see? Linux becoming the dominant OS, leaving windows as an "alternative" businessman's OS. Even then, I find some of the free business tools available on the Debian repo far superior to the paid ones for windows.


Why get a $300 (maybe more) operating system that's slow, catches viruses, and doesn't support your favorite gaming service, when you can get a free OS that's much faster, can't catch any viruses, and plays that games you've always loved! The fall of Windows as the main operating system is coming!


Of course, when Linux does become one of the main OSes out there, people are going to get smart, and begin developing viruses for it. We also might see a monopolization of the Linux distros by one main OS, most likely Ubuntu. With monopolization comes proprietary file types, which is not something the current linux projects aims for.


Edit: You know when TF2 was brought to mac, how we got apple earbuds? I hope we get some sort of penguin-themed object for the linux port, like a penguin hat, or something.

 

[fahrstuhl]

Not really news, but very awesome


Valve also have a blog about it and it's mentioned in the Cold Stream DLC release notes.


And Left 4 Dead 2 is not alone.

 

[TangentDelta]

Not really news, but very awesome


Valve also have a blog about it and it's mentioned in the Cold Stream DLC release notes..


Also Left 4 Dead 2 is not alone

Oh. The title of that topic was a bit misleading. Sorry.

 

[fahrstuhl]

I think this is going to be a very interesting development. What (desktop-)Linux really does lack, imho, are games (and manufacturer support for some hardware...) I really hope Valve manages to make Linux even more interesting for users, developers and manufacturers alike.


Linux would also be very well suited to the needs of gamers. You could create an extremely minimal system with just everything you need to run your games which would leave as much hardware resources as possible dedicated to the game. (Some people already do that with the Windows Server Editions as far as I remember.)

 

[ekianjo]

Well, Linux does not ONLY need games to be more popular. Having better driver support for ATI, Intel (and also Nvidia, somehow) is needed to get to the right level of performance.


This is something that will be benchmarked when the L4D2 for Ubuntu comes out, and I'd definitely want to see how much gap there is between the Windows and Ubuntu version.

 

[fahrstuhl]

The Intel driver situation doesn't seem so bad, although the only sources I have on this are phoronix and how well my laptop seems to handle graphics

 

[elwing]

and if steam for linux starts to get popular driver will get better...

 

[ekianjo]

The Intel driver situation doesn't seem so bad, although the only sources I have on this are phoronix and how well my laptop seems to handle graphics

It has improved, but it's still nowhere to be on parity with the windows drivers performance. At least that's what I remember reading not too long ago.

 

[fahrstuhl]

Ah, you're right. Although Valve might help a bit to change this.


But my biggest problem right now is "Later this year".


I want it now.

 

[Cas]

From what I have read Windows 8 has its own store to buy from and it will only allow you buy games/apps from that store.


Glad I run a Mac with Bootcamp for Windows games.


Thinking about this, are MS allowed to do that, tie you in to their own store ?

 

[TangentDelta]

"Later this year"

Around 3 more years

 

[ekianjo]

From what I have read Windows 8 has its own store to buy from and it will only allow you buy games/apps from that store.


Glad I run a Mac with Bootcamp for Windows games.


Thinking about this, are MS allowed to do that, tie you in to their own store ?

No thats only for Windows RT, the ARM version of Window 8 that is only planned for tablets and phones.


Normal Windows 8 you can still install what you want.

 

[gp32rich]

If you think a behemoth like M$ will suddenly not notice falling market share and respond in typical fashion (that is: bring out a rushed and buggy OS to fill the gap) you are very much mistaken.


While we'd all like to dream of M$'s downfall it ain't going to happen just because they release a(nother) naff OS. Enough folk will stick to 7 and not upgrade to 8 keeping their coffers filled until they get the idea that touch isn't right for a desktop machine.


I'm waiting for w9 when they require kinect in every monitor and you interact by waving and running around.