1st countdown came to an end! Valve announced the Steam OS

[Missioncode]

i thought TF2 became free ?

well it is but tones of people buy hats keys ect,

[Nicktrance]

This whole SteamBox and SteamOS concept could either be revolutionary and push all gamers to Linus, prompting developers to develop all their games for Linux or it could fall flat on its face because most people won't give it the attention it deserves as they go for next gen consoles. This probably was not the right time to announce this, I just think everyone will forget about this news by mid November . Also I think many current PC gamers will be hesitant to use SteamOS because they uses to using their PCs for other reasons and would be unwilling or even afraid to switch.

[unidentical]

This whole SteamBox and SteamOS concept could either be revolutionary and push all gamers to Linus, prompting developers to develop all their games for Linux or it could fall flat on its face because most people won't give it the attention it deserves as they go for next gen consoles. This probably was not the right time to announce this, I just think everyone will forget about this news by mid November . Also I think many current PC gamers will be hesitant to use SteamOS because they uses to using their PCs for other reasons and would be unwilling or even afraid to switch.

But I don't think there will be a need to switch, there are so many different options. Like you could have your small steam OS console box in the living room that lets you play trine or stream you bigger PC games from your main rig. OR you could dual boot and use steam OS when you want to play the games that are compatible for the snappier experience.

 

The brilliance of this is that you don't have to switch out right, you can experiment while the platform is evolving and take advantage of whatever features you want.

 

I am very excited.

[silencerbob]

Gimme a release date for say.. Witcher 3... On steam os.

K... Go!

How can this steam os compete? I see people getting excited.. But honestly..

Is it honestly this easy to to put together a fully functional gaming / entertainment OS that's secure, unexploitable and carries the same performance as a fully fledged, mature and supported OS like windows?

Sorry to sound so negative, but this must be YEARS away.. Many of them.

[GoodBytes]

Steam OS is based on Linux kernel. Half their work is cut for them right there. Probably Steam OS is nothing more than just a Gnome based skin over a entire Linux distro that they made, with added programs, if any.

[Humbug]

Is it honestly this easy to to put together a fully functional gaming / entertainment OS that's secure, unexploitable and carries the same performance as a fully fledged, mature and supported OS like windows?

Like Goodbytes said they are not trying to make new OS from the ground up. According to their website they are working on improving the parts that will specifically benefit gaming. In addition to that they will no doubt rally better driver support from Nvidia, AMD etc... Personally I believe Valve will get the OS in good shape within a reasonable time frame. They have good people and can afford to hire anyone they want. They've also been already working on Linux stuff for a good few years now.

 

I think their biggest stumbling block will be convincing other developers to get their games running natively on Linux- this is the biggest hurdle, not the OS itself.

[rhyseyness]

I fangirl'd over this big time.

I think it's just because it's a valve release so it should be awesome...

I'm probably never even going to run it but it looks so interesting!

[LAwLz]

Steam OS is based on Linux kernel. Half their work is cut for them right there. Probably Steam OS is nothing more than just a Gnome based skin over a entire Linux distro that they made, with added programs, if any.

Read somewhere that it's Debian based.

So really what they did was take Ubuntu, remove a lot of the programs it comes with (like GIMP and other programs you won't need on a console) and then installed Steam on it, maybe another program as well to get the streaming working.

Want to test SteamOS? Install Ubuntu and install Steam, there is your SteamOS. Don't expect miracles just because it is Valve that are releasing it. It will still (at least for the next few years) have a very small amount of games compatible with it and the drivers will still be worse than the Windows ones.

 

If you ask me, this was obvious and I don't really see why people care that much. A few reasons why:

1) They are going to release a SteamBox so they need an OS for it. Doubt that they'd want to pay Microsoft for Windows licenses (and it wouldn't really feel like a console if it ran Windows), especially not since they have been pushing GNU/Linux for a while now.

2) It is just another GNU/Linux distro. It's not really anything special you can't already have. Like I said above, if you want to test it before release the just install Ubuntu and Steam and bam, SteamOS.

3) You will still need to use your PC that runs Windows to stream games (which takes up resources as well as reduce graphics and introduces much more input lag) because SteamOS doesn't support that many games (just look at how many of the really big games on Steam are compatible with GNU/Linux).

4) I doubt that the people over at the FSF will be happy about this, because it means that their beloved free software will be polluted with proprietary, closed source software and DRM, everything they are against (not that I care but it will displease a lot of GNU/Linux users).

[SMURG]

Read somewhere that it's Debian based.

So really what they did was take Ubuntu, remove a lot of the programs it comes with (like GIMP and other programs you won't need on a console) and then installed Steam on it, maybe another program as well to get the streaming working.

Want to test SteamOS? Install Ubuntu and install Steam, there is your SteamOS. Don't expect miracles just because it is Valve that are releasing it. It will still (at least for the next few years) have a very small amount of games compatible with it and the drivers will still be worse than the Windows ones.

 

If you ask me, this was obvious and I don't really see why people care that much. A few reasons why:

1) They are going to release a SteamBox so they need an OS for it. Doubt that they'd want to pay Microsoft for Windows licenses (and it wouldn't really feel like a console if it ran Windows), especially not since they have been pushing GNU/Linux for a while now.

2) It is just another GNU/Linux distro. It's not really anything special you can't already have. Like I said above, if you want to test it before release the just install Ubuntu and Steam and bam, SteamOS.

3) You will still need to use your PC that runs Windows to stream games (which takes up resources as well as reduce graphics and introduces much more input lag) because SteamOS doesn't support that many games (just look at how many of the really big games on Steam are compatible with GNU/Linux).

4) I doubt that the people over at the FSF will be happy about this, because it means that their beloved free software will be polluted with proprietary, closed source software and DRM, everything they are against (not that I care but it will displease a lot of GNU/Linux users).

I agree with some parts of this and not others. Is SteamOS just another Linux distro? Yes. Is it just going to be Ubuntu + Steam? No. The streaming functionality alone suggests that there many other elements to it, plus you can bet they'll have made changes to the UI to make it gamepad-friendly like with Big Picture.

I agree that this was no surprise though, we've known the Steambox was on its way and Gabe has outright said that any such device would be running Linux because he dislikes Windows (despite being the man behind DirectX...); I think it goes far beyond the licensing issue. I genuinely think Gabe wants to get away from Windows because it is becoming an increasingly more restrictive walled garden.

With the streaming thing, not only could it be extremely useful (install SteamOS on something like a Raspberry Pi, plug SteamPi into TV and play games on the couch without having to lug your PC back and forth if you want to play at your desk again later), but it's also mainly meant as a stop-gap. Game devs won't give their games OpenGL/Linux support until there is a sufficient market for games which have those things; what Valve are trying to do is create such a market. Valve are clearly in it for the long game with this one.

Agreed on the 4th point though. The purists are gonna see this as anathema ><

 

[rashdanml]

Agreed on the 4th point though. The purists are gonna see this as anathema ><

FSF hates a bunch of popular distributions already, including Ubuntu. Only some distributions remain completely free.

[Humbug]

Gabe has outright said that any such device would be running Linux because he dislikes Windows (despite being the man behind DirectX...)

I know Gabe worked on early Windows versions at Microsoft in his early days... but the man behind directX?

[silencerbob]

I think I'll pass on this "steam os".

[Humbug]

I think I'll pass on this "steam os".

Since it's free I'll try it out of curiosity. But it won't replace windows for me unless it gets to a point where AAA games are commonly running natively on Linux.

For the other non-gaming applications I use on Windows there are Linux alternatives available.

[SMURG]

I know Gabe worked on early Windows versions at Microsoft in his early days... but the man behind directX?

I was under the impression he was among the first guys at MS to start working on improving game compatibility after it became clear that people were staying on DOS to play stuff like Doom, and the work they put into porting Doom over to Windows was the foundation for DirectX. Perhaps "one of the men behind DirectX" would have been a better choice of words

EDIT: Gabe led the team who started working on Doom95, the Windows 95 port for Doom (http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/167253-gabe-newell-made-windows-a-viable-gaming-platform-and-linux-is-next) and Doom95 was the flagship for DirectX (http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/Doom95) so I guess I always assumed he had something to do with it?

Edited September 25, 2013 by SMURG

[Humbug]

I was under the impression he was among the first guys at MS to start working on improving game compatibility after it became clear that people were staying on DOS to play stuff like Doom, and the work they put into porting Doom over to Windows was the foundation for DirectX. Perhaps "one of the men behind DirectX" would have been a better choice of words

EDIT: Gabe led the team who started working on Doom95, the Windows 95 port for Doom (http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/167253-gabe-newell-made-windows-a-viable-gaming-platform-and-linux-is-next) and Doom95 was the flagship for DirectX (http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/Doom95) so I guess I always assumed he had something to do with it?

Very interesting- thanks. I didn't know that he had done anything gaming related at Microsoft.

 

I guess this explains how he and John Carmack became BFFs

[ACatWithThumbs]

I think Steam OS will do very well, because MS doesn't care for PC gaming anymore and Windows 8 is a complete fail.
There are already 307 Games on Steam that run nativly on LInux and that's before release.(Minecraft has also Linux support)
That's more then the Ps4/XboxOne wil get in the first Year.

Driver support on Nvidia side will also be no problem they are already talking about it.
And when Nviia supports it AMD will follow very fast.

The only real problem I see is EA and Ubisoft.
They need there support or it will fail.

 

[Humbug]

reading that story on how doom got ported to windows got me wondering if valve has been visiting a few high profile devs and offering to port their games to Linux for free. I imagine that many devs would consider it a risk to do it themselves not knowing how it will sell. But if valve offered to do it for free it's a no-brainer. They know their game is in Good hands and they transfer the risk to valve- who can easily afford the man hours required. Obviously valve has limited resources so they can't do this for everyone but they may consider it worthwhile to do so for a couple of high profile AAA titles. Just to get the ball rolling..

[Humbug]

The only real problem I see is EA and Ubisoft.

They need there support or it will fail.

origin and uplay will be allowed to operate obviously.

[ACatWithThumbs]

origin and uplay will be allowed to operate obviously.

Yes but will they even make a Version and will all of there new Games support it from Day 1??

[SMURG]

Yes but will they even make a Version and will all of there new Games support it from Day 1??

SteamOS isn't supposed to have support for 'AAA' tiles from day 1. The premise is that you create the platform first, then people build their games with support for that platform built in. Since OpenGL works on all platforms and DirectX only works on Windows, eventually it will become a nobrainer to use OpenGL for games since that maximises the extent of the market for that game. Valve doesn't expect there to be a whole host of games for SteamOS from the get go, what they anticipate is that developers will start to make games for it moving forwards.

[ACatWithThumbs]

SteamOS isn't supposed to have support for 'AAA' tiles from day 1. The premise is that you create the platform first, then people build their games with support for that platform built in. Since OpenGL works on all platforms and DirectX only works on Windows, eventually it will become a nobrainer to use OpenGL for games since that maximises the extent of the market for that game. Valve doesn't expect there to be a whole host of games for SteamOS from the get go, what they anticipate is that developers will start to make games for it moving forwards.

With Day 1 I didn't mean the release date of SteamOs I mean the Release Date of the Games.

We already have that Situation on PC  where Games often come out Months later on our Platform like "GTA V"

And Mac's have the same problem where the games come a few Months after Windows release like "Sim City"

When a Game releases for Windows it has to be on the same day on SteamOS or else it just won't work.

 

 

[Kilerbomb]

So much news today! I can't contain myself! 

[SMURG]

With Day 1 I didn't mean the release date of SteamOs I mean the Release Date of the Games.

We already have that Situation on PC  where Games often come out Months later on our Platform like "GTA V"

And Mac's have the same problem where the games come a few Months after Windows release like "Sim City"

When a Game releases for Windows it has to be on the same day on SteamOS or else it just won't work.

 

Oh, I see. Well I still don't really agree. Like you said, games often come out for console way before we see them on PC, yet is PC a dead gaming platform? No.

What Valve is trying to do is get as many future games as they can to have support for Linux, and therefore SteamOS. It's a long way off happening, but this is the first step.

[beebskadoo]

I think it will be interesting to see if the games show an improvement in performance switching API's and platforms. Hopefully they do!

[ACatWithThumbs]

Oh, I see. Well I still don't really agree. Like you said, games often come out for console way before we see them on PC, yet is PC a dead gaming platform? No.

What Valve is trying to do is get as many future games as they can to have support for Linux, and therefore SteamOS. It's a long way off happening, but this is the first step.

Yes, but a PC has alot of benifits over the Console that makes the waiting worth.

But are the benifits of SteamOS big enough ??

Look at the Situation with GTA 5 we have to wait Months to get the Game, but we will probably get then DX11,better Peformance,higher Res,higher res Textures,Mods and so on.

But what would be the benifit from SteamOS over Windows ??