Poll: SteamOS announced, 2 announcements to go

[Tayh]

Sod that.
I guess they'll have to achieve total digital domination without my help.

 

[Clowndoe]

I didn't answer because we (although I might have not read enough) just don't know enough about to know if I want it. If it means I can get rid of old "resource hog" Windows and still be able to play my games, I sure as hell am making a switch, or at least dual-boot my PC. I can't really use the streaming service because that would make me pay out the ass up here in Quebec.

 

[hazabaza1]

B) I already spent my personal splurging money

They said it's gonna be free for everyone forever so keep that in mind.

That being said I think I'll wait and see how this turns out before I make any promises.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

I don't think I'll partake in this. I find windows to be fine already and Steam itself is annoying as hell to use so an OS based around it sounds like a nightmare.

But if I'm wrong and it is actually great then I'll give it a try.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

It depends if they can live up to the promises they are making, so put me down as a possible.

 

[Bellvedere]

Well from the information available it seems SteamOS would be cool for a media centres, not that there's isn't already a shit ton of possibilities for that.

There's not enough details at this point to determine how valuable it is a PC OS though. Existing OSs leave plenty to be desired and from the sounds of it SteamOS will be optimised for gaming, so that could be interesting provided that they do get significant support from devs. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of multi-booting if it does provide worthwhile advantages.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

Would you rather play your future PC titles on a new Windows OS or on an open source free OS like SteamOS?

It depends on how truly open SteamOS is going to be, I suppose. Despite everything I've been reading at sites like PC Gamer and Ars Technica, (correct me if I'm wrong here) Valve haven't yet told us how truly open the operating system is going to be -- will I be able to install competing game clients on it? Will I have to sign up for a second Steam account in order to access my primary account's library? Will I be allowed to dual-boot another OS if I want to? Will SteamOS be hardlocked when it appears in the Steambox? Will we have to buy additional copies of newly-Linuxed Steam games if we already own their respective Windows versions? What kind of restrictions are the publishers going to put on us?

How big is the walled garden we're inevitably going to end up with?

There are too many unanswered questions to make feel comfortable saying that SteamOS is going to revolutionize the gaming industry (something I've been hearing from far too many others).

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Would you rather play your future PC titles on a new Windows OS or on an open source free OS like SteamOS?

It depends on how truly open SteamOS is going to be, I suppose.

It's basically Linux. Valve just put their own flavor in it. It's a free OS. And they already explained how free it's going to be:

Cooperating system

Steam is not a one-way content broadcast channel, it?s a collaborative many-to-many entertainment platform, in which each participant is a multiplier of the experience for everyone else. With SteamOS, ?openness? means that the hardware industry can iterate in the living room at a much faster pace than they?ve been able to. Content creators can connect directly to their customers. Users can alter or replace any part of the software or hardware they want. Gamers are empowered to join in the creation of the games they love. SteamOS will continue to evolve, but will remain an environment designed to foster these kinds of innovation.

GabeN talked about this for years. It's his pet vision coming to life.

Strange, how a "dying" gaming system such as PC is still the source of all innovation in the gaming industry.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

Would you rather play your future PC titles on a new Windows OS or on an open source free OS like SteamOS?

It depends on how truly open SteamOS is going to be, I suppose.

It's basically Linux. Valve just put their own flavor in it. It's a free OS. And they already explained how free it's going to be:

Cooperating system

Steam is not a one-way content broadcast channel, it?s a collaborative many-to-many entertainment platform, in which each participant is a multiplier of the experience for everyone else. With SteamOS, ?openness? means that the hardware industry can iterate in the living room at a much faster pace than they?ve been able to. Content creators can connect directly to their customers. Users can alter or replace any part of the software or hardware they want. Gamers are empowered to join in the creation of the games they love. SteamOS will continue to evolve, but will remain an environment designed to foster these kinds of innovation.

GabeN talked about this for years. It's his pet vision coming to life.

Ah, thanks for that tidbit. I'm still skeptical, however -- given Valve's rabid obsession with "software as a service", restricted single-user accounts, and Steamworks DRM, the quote you provided sounds like nothing but marketing speak to me. It still doesn't give any details into how account management or publisher demands are going to affect the OS. And given Valve's history, there's invariably going to be some set of restrictions involved, especially when we consider the fact that they pioneered client-based digital DRM as we know it today.

"Free" doesn't necessarily mean "Open", but I guess we'll just have to see what unfolds.

 

[Doom972]

I will definitely install it on my laptop and check out the in-home streaming capability. This is something which I have wanted to do for a long while, but I haven't managed to do it with available software.

 

[Vegost]

It depends on the amount of games. I have a huge Steam library, but if only half of it is available on SteamOS i might have to dual-boot it. I would prefer not to do that. I am excited, though