I'm not 100% sure this is actually word-for-word, but alas. "In a presentation at Ubuntu Developer Summit currently going on in Denmark, Drew Bliss from Valve said that Linux is more viable than Windows 8 for gaming. Windows 8 ships with its own app store and it is moving away from an open platform model." I feel like a broken record by now but here we go again: keep an eye on Valve, even if you're not into games. This is the company pushing NVIDIA and AMD to improve their Linux support, with enough clout and name to actually get stuff done. Valve doesn't mess around.
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Member since:2005-07-06
Steam has quite a lot of existing users and a good community. Gabe is just panicking over nothing (steam works perfectly fine in Windows 8).
A good businessman doesn't worry about the now, but about tomorrow. Only people with their heads in the sand aren't seeing where Windows is going. Gabe is preparing for that. "
Agreed. However, if all he can come up for a Plan B is Ubuntu, he might as well bury his head in the sand and save himself the trouble.
Member since:2005-06-29
I don't think he has a lot of options here.
All this Ubuntu stuff is a ruse anyway. They're building a Steambox specification that runs on Linux - quite possibly their own, heavily modified Linux - that developers can target much in the same way they target consoles now. Enthusiasts can still build their own rigs, and OEMs can offer their own Steamboxes.
Member since:2009-08-18
Sorry Thom,
1) But saying Win 8 isn't a viable gaming platform is talking garbage.
2) Linux is well known for breaking stuff and piss poor 3d (wait until they move to Wayland, Nvidia won't work with that).
Steam has a good community, and most of them use Windows and probably have no desire to change their OS or how they buy games.
Installing your own programs on Windows x86/x64 systems is not going away at all ... there is just too many little niche uses for Windows for that to happen.
Member since:2011-01-05
...I'm not gonna copy you and say that's garbage in return..
BUT I don't believe it's hard and fast true either!
: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTE5MTk
(and there's other noises about saying similar things)
Member since:2005-06-29
It isn't when you take long-term into account, something many people refuse to do here. Long-term, Windows is going Metro-only. That effectively kills any serious gaming on Windows - and Microsoft is okay with that, because they've got an Xbox to sell you.
Which is exactly why Valve is working with AMD, NVIDIA, and others. The breakage is not something that's unstoppable or insurmountable - just look at Android. Valve could easily work together with the parties involved to come to a - for Valve - stable platform for developers to target. If Google can, then Valve can. Especially with the help of major other game companies with which they're already working anyway through Steam. Remember, a Metro-only no-serious-gaming Windows is disastrous for especially NVIDIA. Nobody needs a powerful graphics chip for Metro and Cut The Rope.
You are stuck in the present, unable to look beyond the horizon. Windows' viability as a gaming platform will end in the very near future when Microsoft pulls the plug on the desktop. They've made it very clear they intend to do so, and luckily for us, Valve has the brains to start addressing that situation NOW, instead of when it's too late.
Edited 2012-10-30 15:41 UTC
Member since:2007-11-11
See where its going? You mean another Vista flop? and even if it doesn't flop, lets just say for the sake of argument it don't...I direct your attention to Games For Windows Live, which MSFT has had YEARS to fix and to this very day if you look for a game for your PC will give you 3 dozen X360 games without a single product for THE SYSTEM YOU ARE USING!
Lets face it Mr Holwerda, MSFT does NOT do "consumer friendly" worth a damn, they just don't. Even when given a successful competitor to crib off of, like Apple or valve, they ruin the execution, because they have "AOL syndrome" where you have 300 PHBs for every grunt and constant meddling to "push the product" even where the product doesn't make sense. i'm sure the reason you get 300 X360 games in GFWL when you go looking ON a PC FOR PC games is some PHB brought out a spreadsheet showing X360 trailing in some metric so they needed to "push the product". Well that is nice for a spreadsheet in a meeting, doesn't make for a working games platform though.
To put it bluntly Valve has as much to worry about from the appstore as i have reason to worry i might grow wings out my butt and fly south for the winter, IE not at all. MSFT has become this big, bloated, PHB heavy trainwreck of a company and they couldn't get a gaming platform right if you stuck a gun to their heads, again look at GFWL. How much you wanna bet you'll start seeing a billion X360 games in there too? After all X360 sales are down, look at the spreadsheet...sigh.
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Member since:
2005-06-29
Steam has quite a lot of existing users and a good community. Gabe is just panicking over nothing (steam works perfectly fine in Windows 8).
A good businessman doesn't worry about the now, but about tomorrow. Only people with their heads in the sand aren't seeing where Windows is going. Gabe is preparing for that.