So yesterday valve has revealed SteamOS. A linux-based operating system made around steam. Opinions on this?
I am personally thrilled and can't wait for it to be released. For about 6-7 years now I have been thinking and coming up with theories about a possible operating system like this. Its amazing that one is actually being made. Games on linux (when made correctly) actually perform better, and I an only imagine an actual gaming operating system built off of linux would be phenomenal. No doubt I will be dual-booting it the day it is released.
Yep, we will have to see how this plays out. I have done a bit more research on it and it seems very interesting. Even games that do not support linux will work fine because steamos is created for steaming aswell. You can stream a non linux game from your windows machine to your steamos computer in the living room. It will add a little bit of latency and needs to be encoded and decoded in realtime but it should be fine for casual gamers, which is nearly everyone.
It may be a fork of ubuntu, we will have to wait for more details. Valve said it is going to be released "soon". There are two more major announcements to be made in relation to this. The first coming in less than two days. My feeling is that one will be the steam box.
Even games that do not support linux will work fine because steamos is created for steaming aswell. You can stream a non linux game from your windows machine to your steamos computer in the living room. It will add a little bit of latency and needs to be encoded and decoded in realtime but it should be fine for casual gamers, which is nearly everyone.
This doesn't solve the core problem with Linux gaming though. If you already have a Windows-based machine, just hook that up to your television and bypass the middleman.
This doesn't solve the core problem with Linux gaming though. If you already have a Windows-based machine, just hook that up to your television and bypass the middleman.
your missing the point. it is just one possible use for it. you could have the steamOS box as your main gaming rig but if you want to play an older windows game thats not supported by linux you can still do so. Valve is pushing towards making linux a more viable gaming platform which means if everything goes to planned most major titles will support linux thus removing this problem. Whether or not that will happen is a whole other story but its definitely not impossible. Also, this way when people are making computer builds for gaming they do not have to spend $100 on an operating system, they can go with steamOS which is FREE and use that extra money for better hardware. This way you can EASILY make a console-killer computer. Everything is still speculation since we only have a handful of linux games (ive been following the progress though and it looks promising) and steamOS has not been released nor has steambox.
One thing I used to do a few years ago when my pc specs were inadequate for newer games was to dual-boot another os. I had a copy of xp dual booted (forgot if it was a custom os or not) and used it strictly for gaming and tweaked it as much as I could to the best of my ability. The end result was pretty good and I got a high fps increase. You would be surprised how much of a difference you operating system makes and if valve is going this far to make a gaming-oriented operating system I would bet my money on it being ATLEAST decent.
I don't think this will have as big of an impact as everyone is expecting it to.
Linux is still linux. And it still has the issues that linux has that have been keeping it from going "mainstream" for the past 20+ years.
What would you consider major issues?
Linux is no longer majorly behind Windows drivers in OpenGL support and even open source drivers are decent enough to play games.
This provides a single distro to target Blizzard often said one of the major issues with support Linux with WOW is not knowing what distro to pick and support.
Steam will probably act as the package manager for the whole system no command line installing here.
This in fact fixes many of the issues desktop Linux distros have had.
Will it suddenly mean next year Windows is dead and Linux is king of gaming no.
It is a process and once Linux starts gaining market share it will start being supported by more things and then more market share. Valve is attempting to get this started so they aren't reliant on Microsoft who wants to compete with Valve.
the only problem is directx is owned by microsoft, and 99% chance there will be no directx on linux because microsoft is competing with linux. OpenGL works fine, but its not ideal. Also, if this does go well and gets popular then more and more people will use linux for normal desktop use since there will be better driver support etc. SteamOS will kickstart everything.
the only problem is directx is owned by microsoft, and 99% chance there will be no directx on linux because microsoft is competing with linux. OpenGL works fine, but its not ideal. Also, if this does go well and gets popular then more and more people will use linux for normal desktop use since there will be better driver support etc. SteamOS will kickstart everything.
No crap Shurlock?
This was never something Valve considered they knew they are going to be pushing OpenGL.
That is not a problem and OpenGL is ideal and fine for game development. Directx is a whole suite of tools and OpenGL is just a graphics API. They are not direct competitors, driver support is fine in fact i have had more driver issues with modern editions of windows then with Debian.
There is a whole list of other issues in terms of UI consistency that is probably Valves biggest hurdle. Though with their own market place and package manager they could create a closed system and set UI standards. Though it seems like Valve expects people only to be using the Steam interface maybe applications will be rendered with webkit within steam, similar to Firefox OS.
This conversation will be more interesting once we have more details right now we know nothing.
Last I looked, we still have around 30 hours before more information is released.
I am going to lose much sleep over this. You do not understand how long I have been dreaming about this.
I was actually just talking to my father about this and about how microsoft will react. We quickly realised that microsoft has a dark future ahead. 99% of their income is through the windows operating system. They are POURING tonnes of money into windows phone and thats going nowhere fast, they have a few, cheap generic mice and keyboards here and there, and microsoft office and thats about it. Out of the big 3, osx, windows, and linux, the only one that is free is linux. The 2 main reasons people don't use the free one (otherwise it would be an obvious choice) is because they do not know how to use it and there is no software for it.
Those two main points will COMPLETELY change one steam os is released and catches on. It is not just about games and gaming anymore. People will use steam os and linux will become more popular as people start to use it, better beginners guides are written, and there are easier to use ditros. Software support will blow up. The two main issues why people don't use Linux will be solved very quickly. Whats stopping people from going with a free, faster platform as opposed to an expensive ($100), slow, insecure platform? Since windows is pretty much the only thing microsoft makes money off this will pose a big problem. EVEN IF they halve the price of windows, it won't bring them back into the game. Microsoft will never consider making it free. In the sense of software support it would be best for valve to make steam OS based on an already existing distro instead of making their own one.
They need an entirely new approach. They have lost the battle before it has started. Xp was great. 5-6 (ish) years later vista came out which was horrible. Then 7 came out which was pretty good. However the time between XP and 7 is almost 10 years. What has microsoft been doing that whole time? Nothing, just rolling around in their money and they have lost their opportunity to advance in the operating system market because they missed the big window and failed to realise where everything is headed. in my opinion it is too late for Microsoft. Tehcnology is changing very quickly now. The mobile market for example has taken a big shift the last few years into smartphones and companies such as blackberry, htc, and even nokia are struggling to stay alive. Many have already been auctioned off and have died. The same thing is happening with the OS market.
I have a feeling apple won't be too phased by this because they are stubborn children and won't change a thing, and so are the people who buy apple products so they won't switch over. Microsoft though, unless they pull off something amazing I can see them losing market share and money FAST and most likely even die off.
Like many former great technological companies, Microsoft has failed to realize where the industry is going (again, because of basking in their wealth and success) and will bite the dust. Apple was smart to make a smartphone when the time was right and kickstart everything. Apple will survive this because they don't have much market share in the OS world anyway. If I don't see Micorosft get into some SERIOUS financial trouble in the next 5 years I will be genuinely surprised.
I am going to lose much sleep over this. You do not understand how long I have been dreaming about this.
I was actually just talking to my father about this and about how microsoft will react. We quickly realised that microsoft has a dark future ahead. 99% of their income is through the windows operating system. They are POURING tonnes of money into windows phone and thats going nowhere fast, they have a few, cheap generic mice and keyboards here and there, and microsoft office and thats about it. Out of the big 3, osx, windows, and linux, the only one that is free is linux. The 2 main reasons people don't use the free one (otherwise it would be an obvious choice) is because they do not know how to use it and there is no software for it.
Those two main points will COMPLETELY change one steam os is released and catches on. It is not just about games and gaming anymore. People will use steam os and linux will become more popular as people start to use it, better beginners guides are written, and there are easier to use ditros. Software support will blow up. The two main issues why people don't use Linux will be solved very quickly. Whats stopping people from going with a free, faster platform as opposed to an expensive ($100), slow, insecure platform? Since windows is pretty much the only thing microsoft makes money off this will pose a big problem. EVEN IF they halve the price of windows, it won't bring them back into the game. Microsoft will never consider making it free. In the sense of software support it would be best for valve to make steam OS based on an already existing distro instead of making their own one.
They need an entirely new approach. They have lost the battle before it has started. Xp was great. 5-6 (ish) years later vista came out which was horrible. Then 7 came out which was pretty good. However the time between XP and 7 is almost 10 years. What has microsoft been doing that whole time? Nothing, just rolling around in their money and they have lost their opportunity to advance in the operating system market because they missed the big window and failed to realise where everything is headed. in my opinion it is too late for Microsoft. Tehcnology is changing very quickly now. The mobile market for example has taken a big shift the last few years into smartphones and companies such as blackberry, htc, and even nokia are struggling to stay alive. Many have already been auctioned off and have died. The same thing is happening with the OS market.
I have a feeling apple won't be too phased by this because they are stubborn children and won't change a thing, and so are the people who buy apple products so they won't switch over. Microsoft though, unless they pull off something amazing I can see them losing market share and money FAST and most likely even die off.
Like many former great technological companies, Microsoft has failed to realize where the industry is going (again, because of basking in their wealth and success) and will bite the dust. Apple was smart to make a smartphone when the time was right and kickstart everything. Apple will survive this because they don't have much market share in the OS world anyway. If I don't see Micorosft get into some SERIOUS financial trouble in the next 5 years I will be genuinely surprised.
Microsoft is in a fine position the majority of businesses will keep buying windows. We are not going to see Linux exclusives while Windows occupies even a fraction of its current marketshare. Microsoft has the Xbox that it will be making money off of for some time.
Valve is not making a Windows competing OS they are just trying to diversify so they are not locked to one platform. I would not be that surprised to see Steam becoming a market on mobile devices too.
Valve is either going to have to lock it all down destroying the free concept of Linux or face the same issues.
developers on the Linux platform fork code the second they don't get their way. This is primarily why there has not been a decent Linux distro.
Microsoft is not going to suddenly loose market share like what happened in the mobile market. The reason Android manged to change up the mobile market is because it was able to basically run on any companies hardware while its competitors could not.
Name one original Usability feature that existed on Linux before it existed in Either Windows or Even mac OS.
That's OK. I'll wait.
The answer is none, by the way.
What would they take ideas from? Pretty much every Linux distribution is designed by people who like to think they have some idea what they are doing but just end up creating a slipshod system that mixes metaphors frequently enough to cause indigestion. They never let their Desktop environments or other primary software mature before they decide to rip it apart and start anew.
That or Patent everything they can think of that Valve may think of.
Actually, Microsoft has been the biggest Victim of Patent trolls, believe it or not. There has been relatively little litigation pursued by Microsoft with regards to patents, with only around 4 patent lawsuits in their entire history. This compares to Patent Troll companies who file sometimes hudrends of such lawsuits in a single month.
Anyway: As to SteamOS:
This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of. It's the most idiotic move any company can make. WHAT PROBLEMS does this distribution solve. It doesn't SOLVE ANYTHING. All it is is a Linux Version branded for Valve. Woopee. It's not even going to vary from Ubuntu Much. They are basically just going ot fork Ubuntu and slap some Valve and Steam Stickers on it and maybe change the theme and change a few bits of preinstalled software to get the 4% of Steam games that can sometimes run on Linux to work a little easier. It doesn't make ANY sense for them to create an OS that has a inbuilt incompatibility with 90% of Steam's catalog and requires duct-tape solutions to play many of the games that are supported. That's great. Valve doesn't understand Windows 8 and continues to stoke the fires of FUD by continue to spread lies about what Windows 8 entails, and people like Notch, bless their naivety, think that this is a good thing, because they refuse do their own research on the same subject. It's like watching a game of telephone unfold, where the person instantly believes what they are being told when within arms reach is a note that has the original message that is clearly significantly different.
And You still need a Windows machine to stream games to your SteamOS system. Wow. yeah I can see the value in having that extra PC doing absolutely nothing useful.
The claims of Steam OS is basically to be an LTS. Congratulations- we have those already with Linux distributions. Apparently the idea is to make some stupid hardware box (cleverly called a "steambox" because as one expects of a company with a product called steam, breathing the vapours has caused them to lose all creativity.). They will make the OS, that box, and the games. So they allege there will be no upgrades breaking the games. of course what they don't mention is that what they are effectively saying is that the device will basically be like a VCR from the mid-90's; it might or might not have software but it's certainly not user-updatable.
Big promises coming from the equally oversized Gabe, as usual. The idoltry of this FUD spreading doofus is beyond my comprehension. "Hey, we haven't released anything particularly awesome for years, and we still haven't even started development of the most anticipated sequel, but here, let me spit FUD in your ear based on a complete and almost malicious misunderstanding of everything, then my idolaters can spread this FUD, like loyal Minions. Ahh, Good, Notch has already started to spread the FUD because his understanding of Windows 8 and what it means for games is as weak as my social skills! It Has Begun! We totally COULD work on Half-life 3, you know, make a game, like you might expect a Game Company to do, but instead we've taken the new approach of doing what fledgling 13-year old Open Source Advocates do, which is create a New Linux distribution and put our fancy stickers in the theme."
I really do love their approach to this problem. Linux is too fragmented a software ecosystem to release software for in any professional capacity, because there are too many distributions. Let's create another one. That will fix it.
Additionally- who is this marketed at? Hardcore PC gamers will continue to use Windows, and casual gamers will continue to use Windows and Consoles. It's like they are trying scraping furiously at an empty plank of wood, insisting there must be the ghost of the non-existent Linux gamer. "Gaming" on Linux consists of running TuxRacer.
Another thing is, this really seems like Valve playing the Media game. There are several other announcements planned for this week- because they know if they do them separately maybe it will distract people from the fact that as a Game company, they haven't released a game in nearly a year and are using this stupid stunt to try to force themselves to the front page of Easily Influenced Gaming Nerd Weekly Magazine.
What get's me is that this entire company direction- this entire "Drive" to move to Linux, is based on one fat idiot's complete and almost purposeful misunderstanding of everything regarding Windows 8, a complete misunderstanding that people like Notch have so heartily taken up and refused to budge from. FIRST the fat douchebag called Windows 8 a failure before it even launched and said it would be a catastrophe, and would cause people to ragequit Computers. Then after release, he must have looked like a raging dickbag when the number of Steam users using Win8 went up to 8% within a month of Win8's release, whereas all Linux users combined doesn't even break 1%. He refuses to budge. He still sticks by his idiotic statements and he is still driving the ship that is Valve directly into the Giant Iceberg he insists doesn't exist, and he just made up some BS about how Windows 8 "clearly" drove down new PC purchases when there is no strong reason to think correlation=causation. And that's ignoring how he evidently didn't understand that you only put things on the Windows store for Modern UI applications and I don't think any Steam Games are going to be Modern UI applications anyway, meaning the argument that it's turned into a walled garden is like moving to a new house and complaining that your front-yard is too small when your house is in front of a three acre field.
99% of their income is through the windows operating system.
No it isn't. More than half of their Revenue comes from Enterprise products like SQL Server, Office 365 and Sharepoint, Dynamics GP, MapPoint, and Azure; not to mention products like Visual Studio. saying they get "99% of their revenue from Windows" and then showing you are ignorant of about 99% of what Microsoft sells doesn't do you any favours.
I am personally thrilled and can't wait for it to be released. For about 6-7 years now I have been thinking and coming up with theories about a possible operating system like this. Its amazing that one is actually being made. Games on linux (when made correctly) actually perform better, and I an only imagine an actual gaming operating system built off of linux would be phenomenal. No doubt I will be dual-booting it the day it is released.
Relevant links to read up on:
http://techland.time.com/2013/09/23/valve-comes-out-swinging-with-steamos-7-things-you-need-to-know/
http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/games/steam-os-brings-pc-gaming-to-the-living-room-20130924-2ub27.html
http://au.ign.com/articles/2013/09/23/valve-reveals-linux-based-steamos
Linux is still linux. And it still has the issues that linux has that have been keeping it from going "mainstream" for the past 20+ years.
In addition, I am going to bet this is just a fork of ubuntu.
It may be a fork of ubuntu, we will have to wait for more details. Valve said it is going to be released "soon". There are two more major announcements to be made in relation to this. The first coming in less than two days. My feeling is that one will be the steam box.
Either that or it's debian based (since GOOD LUCK trying to install steam on literally anything else).
Then the question is what is the 3rd.
*wink wink*
*nudge nudge*
Ouch... I have sensitive skin.
Half LifeLeft For Dead 3.You heard it from fm87 first, people!
"Programmers never repeat themselves. They loop."
We all know it is GlaDOS 3 or Hat Fortress 3 or Both.
Valve is up to something. The air has gone stagnant. The stench of cruelty is in the air.
Some exclusive(s) will be "bribery", it is common sense to know so for Steam Box. And now this OS, it is all to easy to figure out.
This doesn't solve the core problem with Linux gaming though. If you already have a Windows-based machine, just hook that up to your television and bypass the middleman.
your missing the point. it is just one possible use for it. you could have the steamOS box as your main gaming rig but if you want to play an older windows game thats not supported by linux you can still do so. Valve is pushing towards making linux a more viable gaming platform which means if everything goes to planned most major titles will support linux thus removing this problem. Whether or not that will happen is a whole other story but its definitely not impossible. Also, this way when people are making computer builds for gaming they do not have to spend $100 on an operating system, they can go with steamOS which is FREE and use that extra money for better hardware. This way you can EASILY make a console-killer computer. Everything is still speculation since we only have a handful of linux games (ive been following the progress though and it looks promising) and steamOS has not been released nor has steambox.
One thing I used to do a few years ago when my pc specs were inadequate for newer games was to dual-boot another os. I had a copy of xp dual booted (forgot if it was a custom os or not) and used it strictly for gaming and tweaked it as much as I could to the best of my ability. The end result was pretty good and I got a high fps increase. You would be surprised how much of a difference you operating system makes and if valve is going this far to make a gaming-oriented operating system I would bet my money on it being ATLEAST decent.
"Programmers never repeat themselves. They loop."
Nonsense, Microsoft is ecstatic about this.
It gives them something to rip ideas off of.
That or Patent everything they can think of that Valve may think of.
Patent Trolls cannot be a Patent Troll should they not have any good Patents to sue over or anything to make a Patent on.
Now that I think about it, I wonder if Valve is to become another Patent Troll.
Stand aside, player Valve has joined the Patent Wars.
What would you consider major issues?
Linux is no longer majorly behind Windows drivers in OpenGL support and even open source drivers are decent enough to play games.
This provides a single distro to target Blizzard often said one of the major issues with support Linux with WOW is not knowing what distro to pick and support.
Steam will probably act as the package manager for the whole system no command line installing here.
This in fact fixes many of the issues desktop Linux distros have had.
Will it suddenly mean next year Windows is dead and Linux is king of gaming no.
It is a process and once Linux starts gaining market share it will start being supported by more things and then more market share. Valve is attempting to get this started so they aren't reliant on Microsoft who wants to compete with Valve.
No crap Shurlock?
This was never something Valve considered they knew they are going to be pushing OpenGL.
That is not a problem and OpenGL is ideal and fine for game development. Directx is a whole suite of tools and OpenGL is just a graphics API. They are not direct competitors, driver support is fine in fact i have had more driver issues with modern editions of windows then with Debian.
There is a whole list of other issues in terms of UI consistency that is probably Valves biggest hurdle. Though with their own market place and package manager they could create a closed system and set UI standards. Though it seems like Valve expects people only to be using the Steam interface maybe applications will be rendered with webkit within steam, similar to Firefox OS.
This conversation will be more interesting once we have more details right now we know nothing.
Last I looked, we still have around 30 hours before more information is released.
I am going to lose much sleep over this. You do not understand how long I have been dreaming about this.
I was actually just talking to my father about this and about how microsoft will react. We quickly realised that microsoft has a dark future ahead. 99% of their income is through the windows operating system. They are POURING tonnes of money into windows phone and thats going nowhere fast, they have a few, cheap generic mice and keyboards here and there, and microsoft office and thats about it. Out of the big 3, osx, windows, and linux, the only one that is free is linux. The 2 main reasons people don't use the free one (otherwise it would be an obvious choice) is because they do not know how to use it and there is no software for it.
Those two main points will COMPLETELY change one steam os is released and catches on. It is not just about games and gaming anymore. People will use steam os and linux will become more popular as people start to use it, better beginners guides are written, and there are easier to use ditros. Software support will blow up. The two main issues why people don't use Linux will be solved very quickly. Whats stopping people from going with a free, faster platform as opposed to an expensive ($100), slow, insecure platform? Since windows is pretty much the only thing microsoft makes money off this will pose a big problem. EVEN IF they halve the price of windows, it won't bring them back into the game. Microsoft will never consider making it free. In the sense of software support it would be best for valve to make steam OS based on an already existing distro instead of making their own one.
They need an entirely new approach. They have lost the battle before it has started. Xp was great. 5-6 (ish) years later vista came out which was horrible. Then 7 came out which was pretty good. However the time between XP and 7 is almost 10 years. What has microsoft been doing that whole time? Nothing, just rolling around in their money and they have lost their opportunity to advance in the operating system market because they missed the big window and failed to realise where everything is headed. in my opinion it is too late for Microsoft. Tehcnology is changing very quickly now. The mobile market for example has taken a big shift the last few years into smartphones and companies such as blackberry, htc, and even nokia are struggling to stay alive. Many have already been auctioned off and have died. The same thing is happening with the OS market.
I have a feeling apple won't be too phased by this because they are stubborn children and won't change a thing, and so are the people who buy apple products so they won't switch over. Microsoft though, unless they pull off something amazing I can see them losing market share and money FAST and most likely even die off.
Like many former great technological companies, Microsoft has failed to realize where the industry is going (again, because of basking in their wealth and success) and will bite the dust. Apple was smart to make a smartphone when the time was right and kickstart everything. Apple will survive this because they don't have much market share in the OS world anyway. If I don't see Micorosft get into some SERIOUS financial trouble in the next 5 years I will be genuinely surprised.
I think a big part of Microsoft's future rests in whoever they choose as the next CEO.
"Programmers never repeat themselves. They loop."
Microsoft is in a fine position the majority of businesses will keep buying windows. We are not going to see Linux exclusives while Windows occupies even a fraction of its current marketshare. Microsoft has the Xbox that it will be making money off of for some time.
Valve is not making a Windows competing OS they are just trying to diversify so they are not locked to one platform. I would not be that surprised to see Steam becoming a market on mobile devices too.
Valve is either going to have to lock it all down destroying the free concept of Linux or face the same issues.
developers on the Linux platform fork code the second they don't get their way. This is primarily why there has not been a decent Linux distro.
Microsoft is not going to suddenly loose market share like what happened in the mobile market. The reason Android manged to change up the mobile market is because it was able to basically run on any companies hardware while its competitors could not.
Name one original Usability feature that existed on Linux before it existed in Either Windows or Even mac OS.
That's OK. I'll wait.
The answer is none, by the way.
What would they take ideas from? Pretty much every Linux distribution is designed by people who like to think they have some idea what they are doing but just end up creating a slipshod system that mixes metaphors frequently enough to cause indigestion. They never let their Desktop environments or other primary software mature before they decide to rip it apart and start anew.
Actually, Microsoft has been the biggest Victim of Patent trolls, believe it or not. There has been relatively little litigation pursued by Microsoft with regards to patents, with only around 4 patent lawsuits in their entire history. This compares to Patent Troll companies who file sometimes hudrends of such lawsuits in a single month.
Anyway: As to SteamOS:
This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of. It's the most idiotic move any company can make. WHAT PROBLEMS does this distribution solve. It doesn't SOLVE ANYTHING. All it is is a Linux Version branded for Valve. Woopee. It's not even going to vary from Ubuntu Much. They are basically just going ot fork Ubuntu and slap some Valve and Steam Stickers on it and maybe change the theme and change a few bits of preinstalled software to get the 4% of Steam games that can sometimes run on Linux to work a little easier. It doesn't make ANY sense for them to create an OS that has a inbuilt incompatibility with 90% of Steam's catalog and requires duct-tape solutions to play many of the games that are supported. That's great. Valve doesn't understand Windows 8 and continues to stoke the fires of FUD by continue to spread lies about what Windows 8 entails, and people like Notch, bless their naivety, think that this is a good thing, because they refuse do their own research on the same subject. It's like watching a game of telephone unfold, where the person instantly believes what they are being told when within arms reach is a note that has the original message that is clearly significantly different.
And You still need a Windows machine to stream games to your SteamOS system. Wow. yeah I can see the value in having that extra PC doing absolutely nothing useful.
The claims of Steam OS is basically to be an LTS. Congratulations- we have those already with Linux distributions. Apparently the idea is to make some stupid hardware box (cleverly called a "steambox" because as one expects of a company with a product called steam, breathing the vapours has caused them to lose all creativity.). They will make the OS, that box, and the games. So they allege there will be no upgrades breaking the games. of course what they don't mention is that what they are effectively saying is that the device will basically be like a VCR from the mid-90's; it might or might not have software but it's certainly not user-updatable.
Big promises coming from the equally oversized Gabe, as usual. The idoltry of this FUD spreading doofus is beyond my comprehension. "Hey, we haven't released anything particularly awesome for years, and we still haven't even started development of the most anticipated sequel, but here, let me spit FUD in your ear based on a complete and almost malicious misunderstanding of everything, then my idolaters can spread this FUD, like loyal Minions. Ahh, Good, Notch has already started to spread the FUD because his understanding of Windows 8 and what it means for games is as weak as my social skills! It Has Begun! We totally COULD work on Half-life 3, you know, make a game, like you might expect a Game Company to do, but instead we've taken the new approach of doing what fledgling 13-year old Open Source Advocates do, which is create a New Linux distribution and put our fancy stickers in the theme."
I really do love their approach to this problem. Linux is too fragmented a software ecosystem to release software for in any professional capacity, because there are too many distributions. Let's create another one. That will fix it.
Additionally- who is this marketed at? Hardcore PC gamers will continue to use Windows, and casual gamers will continue to use Windows and Consoles. It's like they are trying scraping furiously at an empty plank of wood, insisting there must be the ghost of the non-existent Linux gamer. "Gaming" on Linux consists of running TuxRacer.
Another thing is, this really seems like Valve playing the Media game. There are several other announcements planned for this week- because they know if they do them separately maybe it will distract people from the fact that as a Game company, they haven't released a game in nearly a year and are using this stupid stunt to try to force themselves to the front page of Easily Influenced Gaming Nerd Weekly Magazine.
What get's me is that this entire company direction- this entire "Drive" to move to Linux, is based on one fat idiot's complete and almost purposeful misunderstanding of everything regarding Windows 8, a complete misunderstanding that people like Notch have so heartily taken up and refused to budge from. FIRST the fat douchebag called Windows 8 a failure before it even launched and said it would be a catastrophe, and would cause people to ragequit Computers. Then after release, he must have looked like a raging dickbag when the number of Steam users using Win8 went up to 8% within a month of Win8's release, whereas all Linux users combined doesn't even break 1%. He refuses to budge. He still sticks by his idiotic statements and he is still driving the ship that is Valve directly into the Giant Iceberg he insists doesn't exist, and he just made up some BS about how Windows 8 "clearly" drove down new PC purchases when there is no strong reason to think correlation=causation. And that's ignoring how he evidently didn't understand that you only put things on the Windows store for Modern UI applications and I don't think any Steam Games are going to be Modern UI applications anyway, meaning the argument that it's turned into a walled garden is like moving to a new house and complaining that your front-yard is too small when your house is in front of a three acre field.
No it isn't. More than half of their Revenue comes from Enterprise products like SQL Server, Office 365 and Sharepoint, Dynamics GP, MapPoint, and Azure; not to mention products like Visual Studio. saying they get "99% of their revenue from Windows" and then showing you are ignorant of about 99% of what Microsoft sells doesn't do you any favours.