[Dragon]

To be completely frank, I don't even give a damn about the Half Lives anymore. Their time has passed. Valve would be better off making something new.

Well, I want to see how this story ends. The last one ended on a cliffhanger, and I don't like that.

[Phantom Hoover]

Yeah, I think most people would accept HL3 if they abandoned their whole auteur system and just rounded out the story with the same gameplay everyone loves. Admittedly this would've been more practical when they hadn't built up five years of anticipation.

[Ghostavo]

Regarding the OS, it seems they are doing this for all the wrong reasons.

Having a way out of a potentially locked-down-appstore-style-Windows OS seems like a pretty decent reason to me.  If this is what MS plans to do, then I don't see them allowing Valve to install their Steam client (and sorry, I can't find the page where I 1st saw this idea mentioned)

Valve already has Steam clients for other OS. What's the point of having their own OS?

I can't see anything good from having their own OS that they couldn't do by contributing to the Linux kernel without making their own distro.

It's like Adobe suddenly deciding they would rather make their own distro just for Photoshop.

P.S.
I don't mean to say that there isn't ANY point of having their own OS, just that the reason of moving away from Windows is bull**** amongst others.

[The E]

Valve already has Steam clients for other OS. What's the point of having their own OS?

If the Appstore model catches on in Windows (with MS deciding that they'll not allow installation of programs outside of their appstore*), then Steam would be out of business.
Personally, I see a release like this as something that may serve to get more people used to Linux. The issue right now is that Linux is unbelievably fragmented and, for the average gamer, hard to use with little software available natively. SteamOS may be able to change that.

I can't see anything good from having their own OS that they couldn't do by contributing to the Linux kernel without making their own distro.

I'm pretty sure they're going to contribute quite a few things, but the problem is that that does not automatically translate into a good gaming ecosystem based on Linux, as there is no guarantee that other distros will use these changes. Building a showcase that demonstrates what is possible is a necessary step towards getting other distros to accept and implement similar changes.

It's like Adobe suddenly deciding they would rather make their own distro just for Photoshop.

Except that's nowhere near an accurate comparison. Valve want to develop the platform for multimedia and games, they want to make a PC-based console-workalike that combines the power and flexibility of a PC with the "it just works" ease-of-use of a console. That I believe to be a very good thing.

EDIT:

Oops, forgot the footnote I intended to place here.
*There is about a snowball's chance in the sun for this to actually happen. MS is currently in a reorganization period after the Ballmer departure; I do not expect their desperate attempts to copy Apple to continue.

[Nuke]

If the Appstore model catches on in Windows (with MS deciding that they'll not allow installation of programs outside of their appstore*), then Steam would be out of business.
Personally, I see a release like this as something that may serve to get more people used to Linux. The issue right now is that Linux is unbelievably fragmented and, for the average gamer, hard to use with little software available natively. SteamOS may be able to change that.

i refuse to use any os that locks you into an app store. i dont mind if there is one but i prefer not to use one of those.

[Ghostavo]

Valve already has Steam clients for other OS. What's the point of having their own OS?

If the Appstore model catches on in Windows (with MS deciding that they'll not allow installation of programs outside of their appstore*), then Steam would be out of business.
Personally, I see a release like this as something that may serve to get more people used to Linux. The issue right now is that Linux is unbelievably fragmented and, for the average gamer, hard to use with little software available natively. SteamOS may be able to change that.

I can't see anything good from having their own OS that they couldn't do by contributing to the Linux kernel without making their own distro.

I'm pretty sure they're going to contribute quite a few things, but the problem is that that does not automatically translate into a good gaming ecosystem based on Linux, as there is no guarantee that other distros will use these changes. Building a showcase that demonstrates what is possible is a necessary step towards getting other distros to accept and implement similar changes.

It's like Adobe suddenly deciding they would rather make their own distro just for Photoshop.

Except that's nowhere near an accurate comparison. Valve want to develop the platform for multimedia and games, they want to make a PC-based console-workalike that combines the power and flexibility of a PC with the "it just works" ease-of-use of a console. That I believe to be a very good thing.

There two issues here, you either want the OS to be user friendly (as you said, "it just works") or you want to get people used to Linux. You can't have both.

You can ask yourself, did Android make people get used to Linux?

I used Adobe as an example because regardless of the kind of applications they do, they sit on the same abstraction level as Valve as a developer, or at least did before these news.

[The E]

There two issues here, you either want the OS to be user friendly (as you said, "it just works") or you want to get people used to Linux. You can't have both.

Define "Get used to Linux". The way I see it, if you can give them a non-intrusive desktop, performant games, and a well-designed UI, that's already most of the way towards that goal. The usability issues Linux has stem from the average UI being horrible, there being about 10 different ones, drivers being a pain in the ass to get right, and weird configuration issues due to the GUI backend being weird. If Valve can hide this complexity and make an OS that is at least Win7-levels of usable, that'll be enough.

The idea that "It's Linux, it has to be at least this complex" is one of the big reasons why Linux consistently fails to attract people like me.

You can ask yourself, did Android make people get used to Linux?

Apples and oranges.

I used Adobe as an example because regardless of the kind of applications they do, they sit on the same abstraction level as Valve as a developer, or at least did before these news.

That is quite far from the truth though. Valve used to be a game developer with an App store attached, now it's an App store that occasionally works on games. They're far more of an infrastructure company than a developer at this point, them going deeper into the infrastructure side makes a lot of sense, especially given gaben's stated desire to cut themselves loose from the dependancy on Windows the gaming market suffers from at the moment.

[TwentyPercentCooler]

I'm pretty excited about this. I would love to be able to purge all Microsoft products from my life forever. They seem to only be very reluctantly allowing people to game on Windows at this point. "Why haven't you bought an Xbox yet? We want to control everything you do."

Valve throwing their weight around behind a Linux distro means a lot of good things for the world of Linux. Non-crap AMD video card drivers, anyone?

It's a gamble, yeah, but if it works out, it's not too far-fetched to think that there might be an upheaval in the desktop OS market.

Windows = enterprise/business
Linux = gaming
Mac = uh, something else

[Ghostavo]

There two issues here, you either want the OS to be user friendly (as you said, "it just works") or you want to get people used to Linux. You can't have both.

Define "Get used to Linux".

You used the sentence first.

But I assumed you meant the users dealing with the usual issues they have comfortably, i.e. troubleshooting. Dealing with network connectivity, installing programs, the usual.

The way I see it, if you can give them a non-intrusive desktop, performant games, and a well-designed UI, that's already most of the way towards that goal. The usability issues Linux has stem from the average UI being horrible, there being about 10 different ones, drivers being a pain in the ass to get right, and weird configuration issues due to the GUI backend being weird. If Valve can hide this complexity and make an OS that is at least Win7-levels of usable, that'll be enough.

Except that from what the news details, the OS will be rather steam-centric and with console-like behavior. Not exactly the flexibility people expect from Linux.

Which is why I used the Android reference.

The idea that "It's Linux, it has to be at least this complex" is one of the big reasons why Linux consistently fails to attract people like me.

I would go one step beyond and say that is why it fails to attract most users.

[Luis Dias]

The Android reference is apt.

Specially the fork that Amazon did.

So yeah.

[MP-Ryan]

To be completely frank, I don't even give a damn about the Half Lives anymore. Their time has passed. Valve would be better off making something new.

Or a complete reboot.

You shut your sacrilegious mouth right now!

Anyway, Ghostavo, this announcement doesn't look like Steam is moving solely to the Linux environment anytime soon (corporate suicide, anyone?) but building a gaming-oriented user-friendly Linux distro that just works would be a massive step toward getting the PC gaming market more willing to explore Linux.

Linux is its own worst enemy.  I have thus far stayed away from it (Android aside, mind) because I cannot be bothered to **** around with identifying what distro I want, setting up the GUI, installing the drivers, etc.  Windows 7 FINALLY moved Windows away from the driver search/conflict bull**** that have plagued non-Apple PCs for years, and I'm not eager to dump myself back into that setting when Windows just bloody works now.  Windows 8 aside; I've been playing with a Windows 8 tablet at work and while I like it, thus far I feel like its just Windows enough to have a rough idea of where all the under-the-hood stuff should be found, but in typical MS fashion they've tried to reinvent the wheel and moved settings around just enough to piss me off when they aren't where they should be.  Someone needs to tell both the developers of Windows and Office that once people get used to a method of finding functions they use, they don't like having to constantly relearn it in every new version you release because you're trying to be hip, cool, and utterly obnoxious like Apple (has anyone here ever tried to find semi-advanced settings on an Apple computer or tablet?  Because it is a ****ing pain in the ass, and Apple's own tech support often doesn't know how to do it).

At any rate, ANYTHING that makes Linux more user-friendly and oriented to a general audience is a positive development.

[Luis Dias]

As I said in IRC, I am indeed looking forward to this one, I've been waiting for a cheap console solution that has access to the biggest indie dev community out there. A solution that seems to be pointed to openness and availability. I still think the most apt comparison is with the Amazon tablets. While I'm not the biggest fan of Amazon or ebooks or whatever, the business model seems unbeatable and amazingly cheap, and it looks damn familiar with what Gabe is trying to do here.

[Mika]

Good news, given that I have already decided I'll start learning Linux, Windows 7 is the last Windows I'll ever use, both at work and at home.

I'm still wondering whether the smart-asses at Microsoft realized that they have never made it easier to jump ship completely? As in: "if the ****ers shift things around and I need to pay for courses that teach me to use UI and Excel that I knew well before the change, what's stopping me from changing the complete operating system?"

Now if only the developers of a couple serious design softwares saw what's coming... I don't personally like the idea of running stuff in Windows emulation mode. Granted, I'll have to do that anyways if I want to game at home, but I do have some CPU cycle critical stuff running at work.

And at least I can ****ing configure my own UI in Linux. Ribbon can really go where the sun doesn't shine. And no, I definitely don't want my stuff to be saved under "My Documents"!

[Nuke]

i probibly know enough linux to get by, but probibly not at the same level of proficiency that i have with windows. but if winders keeps going the way its going im gone. there is also reactos but its development is very slow.

[SypheDMar]

I had a large wall text originally, but it went off topic.

Ubuntu is very easy to understand and install. It mostly works out of the box, so that's one to try if you want to.

SteamOS is very interesting. Increase graphics support from AMD and Nvidia can only benefit everyone (except MS) in the long run. I hope valve succeeds. Gaming was the only area where I had a beef with Linux. Once that's resolved, I'll be strictly sticking with Linux.

[Nuke]

id probibly go with something debian based. last live cd i tried, ubuntu kinda had this linux for noobs feel to it. plus my most recent linux experience has been raspbian on the pi.

[Fury]

Those who like to read books to learn might want to consider Linux Bible. The book starts from very basics of desktop Linux and advances into troubleshooting, administration and setting up servers. Primary focus of the book is in Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, but most things should work fairly well with Debian and Ubuntu. The skills the book teaches can be applied to any distro. All you need is a virtual machine with Linux (preferably Fedora) in it, free easy-to-use VirtualBox provides that.

[Mongoose]

Ubuntu is very easy to understand and install. It mostly works out of the box, so that's one to try if you want to.

...unless you have an AMD card that's on "legacy" drivers, which then entails a solid week of trying to fiddle with config stuff you really don't understand in order to get your system to run at a non-glacial pace.  Fun times.

But yeah, I'm really interested in seeing what comes out of this.

[Phantom Hoover]

Nvidia have just coincidentally announced that they will be helping with the development of the open-source Nvidia drivers on Linux. Clearly 2014 will be the year of Linux on the desktop.

[knossosfs2]

Steam Machines and quests...who wants to add me as a friend on Steam? 
http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamMachines/