You think Gabe Newell hates Microsoft so much that he has his company contribute to Linux and open source, simply out of spite?
sanpo@sopuli.xyz 16 hours ago
Yes, it is worth it to remember.
They naively expected publishers and developers to give a shit.
But after that failure they worked hard for years and contributed and donated to open source projects.
That allowed Linux to become a true competitor in gaming space with zero vendor lock-in.
Whatever their reasons were, the results are objectively positive for nearly everyone.
marighost@piefed.social 16 hours ago
Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 1 hour ago
He doesn’t want his company to be beholden to another for it’s future.
Look at all the issues phone app companies have when Google or Apple just kills their businesses on a whim with a tweak of their terms of service language.
artyom@piefed.social 1 hour ago
95% of users are on Windows. If MS one day again decided they’re going to try to limit apps to their own store, much like they did with Windows 8 (which is what kicked this whole thing off) or like Android is suddenly doing right now, Steam will be absolutely fucked without an alternative. So SteamOS exists to give them that parachute. They can keep the freedom of PC without the dedication of creating an entirely new desktop OS.
sanpo@sopuli.xyz 15 hours ago
Yes, actually.
www.bbc.com/news/technology-18996377
“We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well,” said Mr Newell.
“Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space.”Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 1 hour ago
No one liked Windows 8. This doesn’t really prove anything.
grue@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
I don’t think that was Gabe “hating” Microsoft; I think it was him recognizing that the Windows Store/appx stuff that Windows 8 pushed was a threat to his business model.
rtxn@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
That is a completely valid reason to hate Microsoft. Who the fuck wants another Apple?
tuckerm@feddit.online 15 hours ago
I don’t think that is true, but I certainly like the idea of it being true.
frongt@lemmy.zip 13 hours ago
I mean he quit working for Microsoft and started Valve because he disagreed with their direction.
hperrin@lemmy.ca 11 hours ago
He has stated as much, so, yeah.
XiberKernel@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
Considering he helped create Windows while working at Microsoft, and allegedly left due to the direction it was going, yes.
BigTrout75@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
On the Windows platform, Valve has to do what Microsoft decides. If Microsoft decides all apps are required to go through the Microsoft store app then Valve would be toast.
ladicius@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
Good reason to have an independent gaming OS, I suppose 😉
If Microsoft ever pulled this play at least EU probably would like to have a word. Microsoft already got kicked in the balls over here for such moves, and it hurt.
jj4211@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
There was no mention of motive, just of the consequences. Microsoft going the Apple/Google path was/is an existential business threat to a company like Valve. Microsoft’s coming up short on MS Store mitigated the risk, but still you have a platform that is geared toward Microsoft subscription revenue.
Just because those business concerns factor in, doesn’t detract from the positive ways that it has gone so far.
stupidcasey@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Yes, but also money.
CosmoNova@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Indeed. I would say the Gabecube is essentially just another PC and a little overhyped already. It‘s SteamOS that deserves a lot of praise. Especially with the upcoming desktop version.
Goodeye8@piefed.social 7 hours ago
I won’t be getting one (because I don’t need one right now) but I’m hyped for 2 reasons.
First is getting a company to come out with an official Linux gaming OS. Not because I want some kind of a corporate OS-s but because bigger game developers have a reason to target Linux as they will see there’s not only a market but a supported market.
And the second is standardized hardware for a Linux platform. It will make game development easier because you can target specific hardware and (together with the previous point) specific OS to make games for Linux. I can’t find the link anymore but a developer once said that the majority of their bug reports came from Linux while Linux was also the smallest platform they supported and most of the probably comes from the fact that you can have so many combinations of hardware and software that offering Linux support costs more than offering Windows support. If that can be reduced to specific hardware and specific OS that would give more of an incentive for developers to try out supporting Linux (even if it’s only SteamOS on a Steam Machine).
I don’t care what Steam Machines and SteamOS can do when they release, I care what they can do 5-10 years down the line. It’s all about getting the ball rolling and once it’s rolling it’ll get to the destination, making gaming on Linux as good as it is on Windows, on its own. I know, I know, gaming on Linux is already pretty good. But gaming on Linux is still dependent on Windows and if MS wants they can screw proton over (for example making UWP mandatory) so getting native games on Linux should still be a goal. And there’s also the lack of official support from other companies in the gaming space. The most obvious is most popular online games not working on Linux due to anti-cheat but there’s also the fact that some more niche peripherals are hard to use due to no official drivers. It took some tinkering to get my Thrustmaster steering wheel to run, which instantly is a no-go for the average gamer. We’re like 90% of the way there to make Linux a great platform for gaming but that last 10% is going to require collective effort to achieve and that’s really difficult to achieve.
dustyData@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
That guy was roasted on Twitter for that comment, and rightfully so. Most bug reports came from Linux users because Linux users actually know how to file them. Windows users are learned helplessness little rats, they see software as black boxes and developers as evil wizards who don’t talk to anyone. Complaining about software to them is speaking to the Eldrich gods and risks burning their retinas and throwing them into madness by their answer.
Linux user knows that software is just something people do, and if you ask nicely and comcompetently, then a human being will try their best to assist you. Above all, Foss users are drilled that if something doesn’t work, report it so it might get fixed in the future. It’s part of the collaborative effort into software openness, bug reports are free QA. Unlike proprietary culture that sees bug reports as customer support requests.
It was a most poignant situation because, as reported by another developer who blogged about Linux support positively, all of the bug reports filed by Linux gamers are about bugs that affect everyone playing the game and not Linux specific support requests. Since Linux users know how to file bug reports and have done so before, they are usually of higher quality than Windows users bug reports who don’t know how to extract information out of their system or might not even have the tools to do so.
Goodeye8@piefed.social 3 hours ago
Had to look up the tweet specifically for this. So here it is
It’s not actually bug reports and it wasn’t the majority. It was automated crash reports where over 20% came from Linux which at that point amounted to less than 0.1% of the sales and most of them were driver related issues. That issue is hopefully solved as driver support has gotten better over the years, but it had nothing to do with Linux users reporting more often or being more thorough in their bug reporting.
jj4211@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Pretty spot on, it was so worth it to remember, that Valve actually seemed to remember.
Their first go at it was “make a viable platform and the developers/publishers will make the effort to come over, and hardware partners will step up with offerings because of Valve’s brand strength and fear of the Microsoft Store screwing everything up”. That didn’t work, and Microsoft Store also didn’t pan out as far as Valve and others feared, but they have been kind of screwing up the platform particularly for games as they chase other things that would be subscription revenue instead of transactional revenue.
Valve learned they needed to work harder to bring the platform to the Windows games, so heavy investment in Proton. They learned that they had to take the hardware platform in their own hands because the OEMs aren’t committed until they see proof it can work for them. They learned that the best way to package their improved efforts was with a “hook” with mass-market appeal, enter the Steam Deck, recognizing the popularity of the Switch form factor and bringing it to the PC market at a time no one else was bothering.
So now they have a non-Android, non-Windows ecosystem that covers handheld, console/desk, and VR with a compelling library of thousands and thousands of games…