Gabe Newell Says Linux Is "The Future Of Gaming"

[RicoADF]

Make Linux as 'dumbass' friendly as the other operating systems, pushed on major devices, show off the advantages of it over the other OS', improve its backwards compatibility, make it work with other programs I use that will not have their developers make a Linux compatible version...

I'm just... I'm done. There are too many reasons why I don't have any interest in Linux. I have no opinion on it, I'm just REALLY not interested and can't be bothered to make the switch when there's not enough reason for an lower average class computer user.

And Linux supporters REPEATEDLY defend its accessibility and again, I'm not shitting on Linux, I'm just saying... There's obviously something lacking in terms of appeal otherwise it would have spread like wildfire long ago.

Make sure I can do everything on your OS I can do on Windows and then we'll talk.

PS3, PS4 (and I believe PS2), PSP/vita, Android are all linux (modified by the company for their uses). Heck even apple OS is unix based (abiet so heavily modified that some argue it's no longer considered to be related but thats being picky).
Linux has been quite popular for years, it's just that people don't know their using it, this includes gaming. Theres no reason with the PS4 being x86 that a linux release cannot be done, probably with relativly ease. With Windows wanting to dump games nows the time (Microsoft sees xbox as for games and PC for work).

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

Not if I can't play all my games on it. Linux lacks support for a lot of older titles and it barely supports newer ones. Fix that, and you got yourself a Linux user. I have no love for Microsoft.

this, pretty much. get an emulation better than Wine for all the older games that probably wont get a Linux release, and get Nvidia and AMD to release Linux drivers, and i'm in

 

[sneakypenguin]

Ha first it has to become mainstream first, And despite my decent tech skills, built my pc can OC and all that jazz, linux just screws with me. WiFi dongle wont work hmmm, X Y Z software isn't running, too the forums to find a fix. Game crashing on launch, its just too finicky to work for someone like me in a PC world. Everything just works on windows, when linux is in a state were everything is GUI based and I don't have to manually install drivers or find work arounds for various issues then I can't see linux ever taking off as a mainstream PC OS.

Now as a gaming system I can't see a steambox being that great either, unless they work some magic with getting our huge libraries to work well with it.

 

[RandV80]

Make Linux as 'dumbass' friendly as the other operating systems, pushed on major devices, show off the advantages of it over the other OS', improve its backwards compatibility, make it work with other programs I use that will not have their developers make a Linux compatible version...

I'm just... I'm done. There are too many reasons why I don't have any interest in Linux. I have no opinion on it, I'm just REALLY not interested and can't be bothered to make the switch when there's not enough reason for an lower average class computer user.

And Linux supporters REPEATEDLY defend its accessibility and again, I'm not shitting on Linux, I'm just saying... There's obviously something lacking in terms of appeal otherwise it would have spread like wildfire long ago.

Make sure I can do everything on your OS I can do on Windows and then we'll talk.

I've only ever briefly gotten into Linux but I don't think you're properly understanding the problem here. If I remember this stuff correctly from my college days computers generally run on a 7 layer hierarchy model. At the top is the end-user experience, the very bottom is the physical hardware, and in the middle you'll find the Operating System layer. What this means is that for each different OS you need specific driver software for the hardware to run on and a different software development environment to compile the code into a useable application for the OS.

So basically MS hit the mass market for OS first, and no matter how good your newer OS may be if you only have a 1% install base very few companies are going to put any effort towards a Linux option. And if your shit works on Linux no one's going to use it, and if no one uses it know one (outside the Linux community that) is going to develop for it. Hell even Apple has a hard time getting PC games made for their desktop OS, although they're still less than 10% as well. But while competition is usually for the best I don't know if that really applies to the OS market... if you had the same sort of split as you do with web browsers then compatibility issues for hardware and software would just be compounded. It just sucks that such a big anti-consumer/anti-competitive corp like MS has the monopoly.

That said if there's one thing that could lift Linux up into prominence it would be something like the Steambox. A console requires it's own OS, so if the Steambox uses Linux, and maybe launches with Half Life 3 and earn a multi-million install base, other PC developers will want to get in on that and will make Linux 'Steambox' compatible version of their games, which coincidentally will work just as well for PC gamers who want to use Linux.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Some of the biggest naysayers of Linux I've encountered are one of two people:

1) Someone who has never tried it and is parroting stats and anything else someone has said.
2) Someone who used it several years ago who complains about problem X, Y, Z which was fixed ages ago.

 

[synobal]

I play DOTA 2 on linux, it's remarkably stable, and plays well. Preformance is only slightly worse than on windows.

 

[Vivi22]

All very well but really just how big a game developer ARE Valve any more? Pretty sure that as a game developer they have little to no clout

What? Why? Is this another silly, "what has games has Valve even made lately?" argument? Because such arguments are stupid given their track record of a game or more a year for almost the last ten consecutive years.

 

[The Random One]

I remember a Dilbert strip about Dogbert creating a perennial newspaper, containing only generic news: "Crisis on Middle East", "Pope Denounces Violence" etc.

The video game version of that newspaper would surely contain "Big Developer Claims Thing That Best Supports His Business Is The Future of Gaming".

 

[GAunderrated]

Not if I can't play all my games on it. Linux lacks support for a lot of older titles and it barely supports newer ones. Fix that, and you got yourself a Linux user. I have no love for Microsoft.

Pretty much ninja what I was going to say. I have Linux and I love it but I just need to be able to play all my games on it and future games. Secure that and I will gladly use Linux. Gaming is my only reason for sticking with windows (how sad is that).

 

[SageRuffin]

Make Linux as 'dumbass' friendly as the other operating systems, pushed on major devices, show off the advantages of it over the other OS', improve its backwards compatibility, make it work with other programs I use that will not have their developers make a Linux compatible version...

I'm just... I'm done. There are too many reasons why I don't have any interest in Linux. I have no opinion on it, I'm just REALLY not interested and can't be bothered to make the switch when there's not enough reason for an lower average class computer user.

And Linux supporters REPEATEDLY defend its accessibility and again, I'm not shitting on Linux, I'm just saying... There's obviously something lacking in terms of appeal otherwise it would have spread like wildfire long ago.

Make sure I can do everything on your OS I can do on Windows and then we'll talk.

ZorinOS may be just up your alley. It's essentially Windows without actually being Windows, and even the free version comes with all kinds of goodies (Blender, Audacity, VLC just to name a few). And if you want the "retail" version that comes with even more shit, all you have to do is drop about $25US max (the actual price is dependent on how loaded you want the OS and whether you want a physical disc or download) and there you go.

 

[Veylon]

Sure, Linux is the future. The key problem with that statement is that today is not the future.

The day is coming down the road though. At some point, it will be more cost-efficient for PC manufacturers to join together and beef up Linux than continue to give MS money to have Windows pre-installed on every machine. At that point, Windows will just die. Who's going to a hundred dollars for an OS when it already came with one? That day has already come on the tablets. The only real question is whether that will happen before Desktops/Laptops disappear altogether.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

Hell, even the fact the 360 controller can't even be recharged unlike playstation pisses me off.

Not quite sure if that was a typo or not, but I have several 360 controllers and all of them can be recharged. What kind of controller are you using?

OT: I don't think Linux is the future of gaming, gabe. It's open sourced feature is nice and all but it's still lacking compared to other operating systems such as windows and mac(even though mac is also not so popular).

 

[Skeleon]

Linux would have to change first for the primary gaming operating system to change.

 

[iniudan]

There are five letters in the word "Linux". Add one more letter, and you have six letters. Divide six by two, and you have three. I'm not gonna bother finishing this joke.

You know there is more plausible explanation, like 5 been the 3rd prime number. =p

 

[Canadamus Prime]

There's been a lot of talk over the past year or so about the "Steam box," a sort of PC-console hybrid that promises to bring all the pleasures of Steam to the comfort of your recliner.

Of course, most consoles today are just one step removed from PCs anyway so that's not really saying much.

It's no secret [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118706-Gabe-Newell-Thinks-Steam-Can-Help-Mainstream-Linux] that Newell doesn't care for Windows 8 and today he reiterated his belief in and support for Linux as a gaming platform, saying during his keynote at LinuxCon that "Linux and open source are the future of gaming." That's a bold statement to say the least and one I'm not sure I buy, but his prognosticative talents notwithstanding, he also promised that Valve's contribution on that front will see the light of day very soon.

I don't buy it either. Linux isn't exactly the most intuitive of Operating Systems. Then again there are so many different distributions of it and the only one I've had any real experience with is an old version of Red Hat and that was quite a few years ago, so maybe they're are more intuitive distributions available now.

 

[Dragonbums]

Most gamers are content with their windows computers.

never has the word "content" been soooo loaded....

Not really.
Even the most PC savvy people don't go out of their way to get a Linux computer. Either through humongous lack of support, or just complete and total indifference.
If they don't like a current Windows software, then they can simply upgrade their computer with the previous one. No problem, seeing as how it takes a while for Microsoft to drop support for other softwares. Hell, they still somewhat support Windows XP.

 

[iniudan]

Linux and open source are the future of gaming.

All very well but really just how big a game developer ARE Valve any more? Pretty sure that as a game developer they have little to no clout and since it will be THE GAME DEVELOPERS that determine what format their games use chances are that this is nothing more than ground work prep for the when the Steam Box appears and Valve have to justify why everyone now has to convert their Steam library and games to work with a Linux system rather than their 10 year old library of games that all work on Windows.

Here's a question, how long has Steam had it's Linux client, in fact how many people use the linux client, better yet just how many of the games that are out for Steam have Linux versions available? Yeah Linux it's the future the future of a big black hole that Valve are gonna pour a whole lot of cash in to if they push a Linux based Steam Box.

Just as a side note I took a look at the Steam Hardware survey, Windows 8.1 (a beta has a higher percentage than the highest Linux version user base at a massive 0.45% vs 0.40%, the TOTAL Linux user base, lol less than 1%. Whatever Gabe is smoking sure must be good stuff.

Valve is still focused on game development, it just that currently, they are mostly focused on developing tool for developer, more then software targeted at end user. Like Source 2 engine, a debugger for LLVM (a compiler), which should make developing software, for Mac and Linux, easier and is actually something demanded by other game developers. They also working on software to make porting easier (it one of the reason CK2 got ported to Linux, has from post from Paradox dev them on their forum, it wouldn't be worth the trouble for them to port their game to Linux without Valve's tools)

 

[iniudan]

Most gamers are content with their windows computers.

never has the word "content" been soooo loaded....

Not really.
Even the most PC savvy people don't go out of their way to get a Linux computer. Either through humongous lack of support, or just complete and total indifference.
If they don't like a current Windows software, then they can simply upgrade their computer with the previous one. No problem, seeing as how it takes a while for Microsoft to drop support for other softwares. Hell, they still somewhat support Windows XP.

The only reason XP was supported for this long is because Microsoft rehabilitated XP and released service pack 3 to fight on the netbook market, which first generation product were all running Linux.

Let's just say they have regretted that decision, since the day, that smartphone and tablet have completely destroy netbook market.

 

[Dragonbums]

Most gamers are content with their windows computers.

never has the word "content" been soooo loaded....

Not really.
Even the most PC savvy people don't go out of their way to get a Linux computer. Either through humongous lack of support, or just complete and total indifference.
If they don't like a current Windows software, then they can simply upgrade their computer with the previous one. No problem, seeing as how it takes a while for Microsoft to drop support for other softwares. Hell, they still somewhat support Windows XP.

The only reason XP was supported for this long is because Microsoft rehabilitated XP and released service pack 3 to fight on the netbook market, which first generation product were all running Linux.

Let's just say they have regretted that decision, since the day, that smartphone and tablet have completely destroy netbook market.

But you can't deny the sheer amount of people who refused to buy Vista due to how the software was complete garbage.