All of this seems too asinine. I want to sit down and think about this, as well as some of the replies.
First, this irks me. Why do we want Minecraft on Steam? Why would Mojang ever put minecraft on Steam? The only thing that could possibly benefit Minecraft from Steam is the steamworks API with community. The right click a friend to join their server. This won't work the way you're thinking either, because Minecraft needs to be coded to have their local servers available to the internet. I don't see plans for this.
Furthermore, Minecraft has no benefit from Steam other than publicity. I'm pretty sure that everybody and their dog (and cat) has heard of Minecraft so this is a non-issue. Steam is another layer of DRM, that's almost as easily bypassed as Mojang's solution. So, really, this is just adding another layer of headache, for next to no benefit to the developer, and no benefit to the user.
Secondly, why does he care about VALVe? No, wait... I see it now. This has to be sarcasm. His actions make no sense, releasing a modified version of creative for the 360, working closely with Microsoft, and doing nothing to work with VALVe. Sure, he's got a hat in TF2, but from a business standpoint, I just don't get it. He's made no push to VALVe, and VALVe has not extended their hand to him. What's the purpose? I'll admit, I'm a fanboy too, but I wouldn't say they're the grace of gaming, even if my project weaseled it's way into Steam. (Though, I probably would if I was given a team and permitted to keep my IP's.)
Third up... Windows. Yes, the whipping boy. It's coy little app-store. All it does is gather dust. Every Win8 user I've spoken to doesn't use apps. The API is unused, and Win8 has done nothing to harm compatibility. Infact, I'm having an easier time with my 16bit legacy shit than I did on 7. So there's that. Gabe predicted Win8 would be a problem. I sat down, used it for 8 seconds, and predicted that Win8 can only improve how we use the modern computer. I'm right, he's wrong. Get over it. Win8 finds a way to make things easier to get to important locations "under the hood" so that the standard user can troubleshoot, and not fuck shit up. But we can't have that, because that would demean people who actually know what they're doing.
Well, no worries there. We've got people like Gabe Newell who looked at the Start Screen and immediately decry it because things look different. Meanwhile, I looked at the Start screen, Task Manager, better permissions controls and the Tools Menu. It's astonishing that, because I actually work with these newfangled things called "computers" I seem to have a more clear head than top games industry names. Why do we have these people ripping into an OS? What reasoning did they give? I missed it when they talked about the MS apps store. I didn't hear a quip about the permissions and Policy Changes within the system. These are the real problems that developers might have actually had to face, but no. We can't discuss those.
And that brings me to SteamOS. This is going to be lovely. Everybody wants a console it seems. I don't understand why we're all jumping on this bandwagon. A console is a lucrative amount of money to be dumped in there. Nintendo is established. Sony is established. Sega was established, but thought too far ahead and died as a result. Microsoft picked up the pieces and rolled with it. The current lineup, including things in development? Let's look over this upcoming generation...
We've got the WiiU, which I haven't been watching, so I don't know how it's fairing.
We've got the PS4, which is grabbing a mountain of popularity.
We've got the XB1, which people will buy in droves because they're fucking vain.
And We're also looking at the Ouya, which is absolutely doomed to fail, and never had a chance.
And We're looking toward the Nvidia Piston. God fucking help them because most of the world's forgotten that one already.
Aaand now we're looking at this Steam Box's OS, which has VALVE's popularity behind it.
People hardly want the three consoles. I remember looking toward the media center in my living room years ago at the Wii, 360, and Ps3 and instantly feeling that heavy regret. My brother was the same way. My friends are the same way... Do we really want four? Five? Six of the fucking things? My circles are out of this generation for the most part because we realized this shit's collecting dust, except for the PS3, which was the easiest to use netflix with.
The Ouya is an omen. I'm not saying Valve is doomed to fail, but it's surely going to hurt the company, and I highly doubt that a strong PC gamer base is going to go for it. I also doubt that current console players are going to jump away from their PS4 to go for the damn thing too. As a strong PC user, why would I stream to my living room, when I can just buy a HDMI cable, and run it through the wall? (Or in my case, 8 feet, but not everybody lives in a single bed with the computer next to the 14 inch CRT that only accepts two composite's and a coax.) Why not move the computer to the living room, and keep a separate laptop for work? Many people's households have already defeated the purpose of the Console.
However, I could be overestimating my fellow man. I do that quite often. I've had people tell me that the Mac is just better for artistic work just because.