Gabe Newell Thinks Steam Can Help Mainstream Linux

[Greg Tito]

Gabe Newell Thinks Steam Can Help Mainstream Linux


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Gaming will make Linux a viable commercial alternative to Windows 8.

Gabe Newell's position at Valve means Valve games and Steam to work on Linux [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116892-Valves-Employee-Handbook-Appears-Online], the open source operating system created from the kernel left by Linus Torvalds. If Newell can pull it off, maybe Linux will be a viable alternative for customers who won't want to sacrifice their PC gaming.

"In order for innovation to happen, a bunch of things that aren't happening on closed platforms need to occur," Gabe Newell said at an event in Seattle called Casual Connect. "Valve wouldn't exist today without the PC, or Epic, or Zynga, or Google. They all wouldn't have existed without the openness of the platform."

Newell hasn't made his trepidation for the new Windows a secret. "I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space. I think we'll lose some of the top-tier PC/OEMs, who will exit the market. I think margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people. If that's true, then it will be good to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality," he said.

That hedge is Linux. Linux works great now, but it takes a bit more tender technical massaging to run common applications. Newell thinks that might change if games could run natively on Linux.

"The big problem that is holding back Linux is games. People don't realize how critical games are in driving consumer purchasing behavior," said Newell.

"We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well."

I don't know if Newell is right about Windows 8 and how its concentration on a touch interface will suck or not. But I do know he's right about games influencing customers. The mere mention of Valve making games work on Linux made me consider installing it on my machine. Maybe gaming can make Linux mainstream.

Source: All Things D [http://allthingsd.com/20120725/valves-gabe-newell-on-the-future-of-games-wearable-computers-windows-8-and-more/]

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[ewhac]

I think the biggest tech problem facing gaming on Linux is audio.

Here are the Linux audio APIs I can name off the top of my head, in no particular order:
[ul][li]ALSA[/li]
[li]OSS[/li]
[li]Jack[/li]
[li]Pulseaudio[/li]
[li]ESD[/li]
[li]OpenAL[/li]
[li]SDL[/li][/ul]

I'm quite certain there are others. None of them really talk to each other. Each of them have different shortcomings.

Newell will have to pick one and stick with it; or invent his own. I would suggest he do whatever's the prevailing solution on Android (which is Linux-based), but I'm biased there.

 

[matrix3509]

Damn, now I know what its like to make a thread literally minutes before an official one pops up covering the same subject matter.

Anyway I'll paraphrase what I said in my own thread. I think Newell is worried less about the touchscreen stuff, and more about Microsoft and how likely it is that they'll get up to their old anti-consumer tactics again, such as closing off the operating system to every service except some GFWL equivalent, and forcing developers to use it if they want to release games on Windows 8. We already know that Microsoft would rather use strong-arm tactics than actually compete fairly, how much of a leap is it to make the next logical conclusion?

I think the biggest tech problem facing gaming on Linux is audio.

Here are the Linux audio APIs I can name off the top of my head, in no particular order:
[ul][li]ALSA[/li]
[li]OSS[/li]
[li]Jack[/li]
[li]Pulseaudio[/li]
[li]ESD[/li]
[li]OpenAL[/li]
[li]SDL[/li][/ul]

I'm quite certain there are others. None of them really talk to each other. Each of them have different shortcomings.

Newell will have to pick one and stick with it; or invent his own. I would suggest he do whatever's the prevailing solution on Android (which is Linux-based), but I'm biased there.

There is also the issue of Linux video drivers, which are almost universally terrible.

 

[DragonsAteMyMarbles]

No, Gabe, no! Not the M word!
You'll scare off the hipsters!

In all seriousness (or near enough), popularising open-source OSes and what-have-ye can only be a good thing. I'm an unwashed Windows peasant; I couldn't code a kernel compiler parenthesis python insert-xkcd-inspired-buzzword-thing-here without given at least a year, but even I can infer that making Linux more accessible to those who have or could easily pick up the know-how opens them up to other programmy things.
This is how you create larval games code-y people!

 

[robert01]

sudo apt-get install steam-daemon && sudo apt-get install no-games

That is what is going to happen, I think it is a nice effort, but Steam isn't going to help Linux become 'mainstream'. Until driver developers (looking at AMD/NVIDIA) actually start giving fuck about the stuff they release for Linux nothing will change.

 

[SaintWaldo]

If Steam can be to Linux what Boxer and WineBottler are for OSX, he's probably on to something. Hell, this just might enable a good portion of what Steam considers "PC Only" to be installed/run on OSX as well as the many variations of Linux.

BTW, the set of people actually excited about Win 8 looks very similar to the set of people contained in "nobody". That's not news, it's just a fact.

 

[rustybroomhandle]

There is also the issue of Linux video drivers, which are almost universally terrible.

Well, the Nvidia drivers aren't too bad. Either way, it's a somewhat moot point as part of Gabe Newell's crusade is to also improve the graphics drivers. So far Valve has identified one bug in the Nvidia driver, which NV has fixed, been working with Intel to improve their open-source drivers, and have also contacted the nouveau guys to ask how Valve can help.

All 'n all, I think Valve is aware of the obstacles they are potentially facing here and are working at correcting them.

 

[gigastar]

Making Linux a more viable alternative for gamers?

Bringing Steam to it will be but the first step of a thousand-mile journey.

 

[Evil Smurf]

Sorry but what is wrong with windows 8? I mean I have a Mac which normally entitles me to "hipster elitism". But can anyone tell me why it will suck? does it crash heaps?, is it prone to viruses? is it too complicated? Do all the cool kids have Mac envy?

 

[Elate]

Eh, I'll just skip Windows 8 like I did Vista, then microsoft will pick up the ball if valve manages to make Linux viable and bring it back with Windows 9.

 

[TIMESWORDSMAN]

If games could run on Linux? Yeah, I might choose that over windows 8. I've seen the previews for W8, and they scared the shit out of me. I didn't like them, but I thought "It's just the OS right? I can work around the weird stuff."
But if Linux became a viable alternative, I'd probably pick that instead. I'd even save a couple hundred bucks while I was at it.

 

[tautologico]

Just to throw some baseless speculation here (it's a thread about Valve after all), this can be a stepping stone to the legendary Steam Box. They could be planning to make the Steam Box an open game console running Linux (because it's more open and they wouldn't want to pay royalties to MS), so porting Steam to Linux would be a natural first step.

Launch game? Half-Life 3. Yeah.

 

[viranimus]

sudo apt-get install steam-daemon && sudo apt-get install no-games

That is what is going to happen, I think it is a nice effort, but Steam isn't going to help Linux become 'mainstream'. Until driver developers (looking at AMD/NVIDIA) actually start giving fuck about the stuff they release for Linux nothing will change.

Isnt that sort of the point? AMD/Nvidia dont care about linux because they are predominantly in the buisness of processing graphics. Given Linux's lackluster native support for gaming, theres not many reasons to invest a lot of effort into good linux drivers. So by adding linux support to steam, Steam helps establish the need for properly working drivers, Manufacturers take notice because they realize they have to properly support the platform.


Honestly, Removing the only real tether holding wide swaths of people bound to Windows for support, would most certainly help mainstream Linux.

My only hope is that the new linux kiddies figure out what they are doing, instead of just pushing computer/OS ignorance onto a different platform. One can only hope.

 

[halobolola]

I downloaded the win 8 preview, and i lasted 20 min before i went back to 7. the whole stupid touch screen interface on a pc is horrid.

More options are better, but dont assume everyone will just upgrade

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Awesome cannot wait to see if this takes off. I already have steam running through wine in linux and a number of games run quite well, however its no replacement for native support. Whether it will mark a turning point in the number of linux users compared to mac and windows I doubt but it will give a stronger voice to the people asking for linux gaming.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

Sorry but what is wrong with windows 8? I mean I have a Mac which normally entitles me to "hipster elitism". But can anyone tell me why it will suck? does it crash heaps?, is it prone to viruses? is it too complicated? Do all the cool kids have Mac envy?

The biggest thing for the everyday users is that they've divided Windows into two separate interfaces; the traditional windows interface, and a newfangled "Metro" interface, which completely replaces the start menu from past windows. The problem with Metro is that it's designed primarily for a touchscreen, with a mouse and keyboard (aka the inputs that a vast majority of the people that use this OS will be using) being an afterthought. Touchscreen interfaces do not work well with a mouse, definitely not as well as the normal windows interface.

This, in itself, probably wouldn't be too bad, except that you're basically required to use the Metro interface. The programs on each interface are completely separate from one another, meaning that if a program is only on Metro, you have no choice but to use it. That, and the functions that were normally relegated to the start menu are now in Metro, making it impossible not to use it at all.

Microsoft is also apparently doing things to make Windows more of a closed system, although I'm not entirely sure what all of these things are.

EDIT: I also want to add that I am super psyched for Steam on Linux. The less that I need to use windows, the better.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

When it becomes as easy (I use that term lightly, seeing as I'm computer illiterate) to use Linux as it is to use Windows, I'll consider changing. Good luck on your little quest Gaben, I salute you!

Captcha - skynet is watching

Holy fuck, could it be? Linux is Skynet!