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You may have heard that Valve is hard at work porting its Steam client to the Linux platform, but it's not because the company has developed a sudden affinity towards the open source space. The real reason is because Valve views Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 release as a "catastrophe" in the making for the PC industry at large, or at least that's the viewpoint held by Gabe Newell, co-founder and managing director at Valve.
Newell sat down for a fireside chat at Casual Connect, an annual videogame conference in Seattle. AllThingsD was in attendance and posted some interesting, if unflattering (towards Windows 8) quotes from the head of Valve.
"We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well. It’s a hedging strategy. I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space," Newell explained. "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."
Newell isn't alone in his assessment. Stardock CEO Brad Wardell wrote a piece for Kotaku earlier in the year in which he called Windows 8 a "schizophrenic" operating system unable to decide if its a tablet or desktop OS, and a "usability nightmare" that puts too much focus on touch.
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Belboz99
July 28, 2012 at 9:31am
Microsoft has a long history of competing for the sake of competing, and this takes the cake...
We now see Microsoft throwing their Office on the Cloud to compete against Google Documents, their Games on the Xbox to compete against Sony, their resources were spread too thin to make Zune successful in competing against the iPod, or Azure in competing against Amazon's service, or the Windows Mobile against the likes of Android or iOS.
So, they've now gutted every core reason to use Windows, namely games and office in favor of competing with companies that weren't really in direct competition with them to begin with.
They're making drastic changes to the Windows logo, the user interface in an attempt to compete against other mobile OSes, at a time when Apple and Google are gaining ground fast.
What the frak is MS thinking? Can they really be this ignorant of the situation at hand?
Ghostryderflyby
July 27, 2012 at 9:14pm
Windows 7 is going to be the new Windows XP thanks to Win 8. That disaster of an OS (Win 8) is going to make Win Vista and Win ME look like stellar bits of software me thinks. I too will be clinging to Win 7 until MS pulls their collective heads out and dispenses with the navigational and graphical nightmare that is Win 8.
bensen408
July 27, 2012 at 2:17pm
Sticking with Windows7 thank you very much.
Windows 8... no way and no how!
pratikrawankar
July 27, 2012 at 1:46pm
Love u Linux ___and hope we get most of the famous games on Linux-Steam
Windows 8 ___nono no
Its Vista 2012 or Vista Rebirthbloody metro sucks no multi-tasking
Windows 8 is already been dead
John Pombrio
July 27, 2012 at 1:01pm
Who was complaining about NVidia drivers for Linux? I bet AMD drivers will also be problematic. No Windows is still THE gaming Operating system.
Besides, Win7 isn't that bad and its not going away any time soon...
Me, I actually LIKE Win8 desktop and just completely ignore Metro.
bpstone
July 27, 2012 at 6:31pm
Windows is indeed the most viable operating system for serious gaming right now. Hopefully that will change in due time. ;)
pratikrawankar
July 27, 2012 at 1:55pm
+1 +infinty
thats the same thing is here with me
and when I install windows 8 to my about 15+ & ISO gave to many friends __but next time when I met them I saw they all completely kill windows 8
& they back to windows 7 and say we done Upgrade !!!!!!!!!!!Windows 7 currently Best for Gaming at full throttle ___Its my Gaming OS
maxeeemum
July 27, 2012 at 8:15pm
That's pretty interesting! You installed Windows 8 on 15 plus friends PCs and they ALL deleted it.
M$ what does that tell you! Did you take "Statistics" in college. Not looking good! LOL!
bpstone
July 27, 2012 at 10:34am
Windows fanboys can be even worse than those from the Apple bandwagon. They love to piss and moan over something they likely have no idea how to use. There are several distributions with the Linux kernel to choose from. Flavors like Ubuntu have made it more popular among general consumers desiring to use something else besides a Windows based platform. For those who often jump into terminal could instead choose one like Arch. Nobody is telling you to use an alternative operating system. It is entirely up to you whether you do or not. It is high time Microsoft be knocked off the high horse so some competition can into the picture. While this may not happen over night, it is bound to occur at some point. If developers were to begin giving me native support for most of their titles, I would gladly kick Windows to the curb.
kuebel33
July 27, 2012 at 12:59pm
No fanboy, I mean NO fanboy is worse than those of the cult of Apple.
DeltaFIVEengineer
July 27, 2012 at 10:21pm
And your seething, blind hatred of an American tech company is any better how?
livebriand
July 27, 2012 at 9:25am
The sooner Linux becomes a viable alternative to Windows, the better. Microsoft just needs to realize that metro sucks and is unwanted, and suck it up. I, for one, won't be upgrading to Windows 8.
livebriand
July 27, 2012 at 9:25am
The sooner Linux becomes a viable alternative to Windows, the better. Microsoft just needs to realize that metro sucks and is unwanted, and suck it up. I, for one, won't be upgrading to Windows 8.
bootz
July 27, 2012 at 9:09am
In a world where large businesses are retaining their XP licenses and moving them onto new hardware and where users have difficulty navigating XP, the execrable OSX and have no idea how to even use Ipads beyond touching icons the learning curve for Win 8,with no reward for its mastery, will have Costco suing Microsoft over all the returned computers they will have to get rid of. I have never seen a corporation marching toward disaster like Microsoft is with Windows 8.
maxeeemum
July 27, 2012 at 2:12am
I completely agree with Gabe Newell that Win8 will be a catastrophe. It will hurt the PC desktop/laptop market. I think you will see people returning PCs because they don't work. It won't even be a big seller in the tablet market either.
Windows 8 will go down in history as one of the most moronic moves M$ has ever pulled. It will hurt their reputation and could trigger the eventual downfall of M$. Ballmer will be fired unless W8 is intended to spur Win7 sales.
I'm sure Windows 9 is in the works already and will be released before April 2014. Does that date look familiar.
ohsnaps1104
July 27, 2012 at 1:54am
The reason companies haven't made many programs such as this for Linux is because NOBODY cares. Problems that keep Linux from becoming a standard Desktop OS:
1) No unified program installer. Some programs install on some distros but not on others or require painstaking recompiling. Not fun. This seems like it would be a headache to try to mass produce programs for.
2) Antiquated System Support. Linux system driver support is very slow and weak, new systems typically have to wait six months or more for any kind of driver support.
3) Serious System Instability. I have had program installs or even system updates obliterate a perfectly good Linux installation.
I love the idea of Linux and I love the power it gives me, but I'm afraid no company will take Linux seriously as a Computer OS in any manner unless these things are met head-on.
USraging
July 27, 2012 at 4:41am
May i remind you of what platform 95% of web servers are hosted on....
ohsnaps1104
July 29, 2012 at 10:16pm
I realize this is true, but web severs are not the average PC market either. Most people have no use of setting up their own web server.
Happy
July 27, 2012 at 3:15am
Linux is not popular because of its problems but Linux has problems because its not popular. It's a vicious cycle. But if Linux were to become popular then all these problems would quickly vanish, I guarantee it. Money tends to follow attention and when Linux is getting all the attention then the money and the necessary improvements that require it will come.
loozer
July 26, 2012 at 6:14pm
I think he should switch his direction, turn add non-game programs to steam, convince OEMs to preinstall steam on new computers, then totally rape the windows store with overpowering steam awesomeness.
Don't run from the changes in windows 8, counter, then destroy them.
whathuhitwasntme
July 26, 2012 at 2:55pm
I think the biggest reason they fear windows 8, is the HIGH PRICE
Since M$ has made its intention to enter the tablet market next year, and every other manufacturer having to absorb a 90 dollar charge in excess of the price of components, its a no brainer. They need an os that will not force them out of the market due to price.
TechGoudy
July 26, 2012 at 1:49pm
I highly doubt people are going to move to Linux just because the Windows 8 "sucks".
If that were the case, when Vista was released why did we not see users flock to Linux and MacOS?
Even though we may not like the changes that Microsoft has made that doesn't stop the fact that people will have to learn to use it at some point. Windows 8 really isn't that bad, it caters to certain groups and to others....well they hate it. I mean granted I still use Windows 7 and will continue using it until I see that it is no longer convenient for me to use.
I personally believe that Windows 7 will become the brand new Windows XP, before users switch to Linux and MacOS.
RaptorJohnson
July 26, 2012 at 1:08pm
I see a lot of similarities in the changes made to Win8 and Gnome3.
whr4usa
July 26, 2012 at 1:53pm
that shouldn't be surprising considering how much influence Microsoft has with various organization maintaining standards across platforms and how much code they contribute indirectly to various open-source projects including many integrated in linux distros
xRadeon
July 26, 2012 at 11:04am
Steam runs fine on my Windows 8 install...
You know, and the only difference really is the start menu, its just more touch friendly, its not much different than that its still mostly Windows 7.
hastyscorpion
July 26, 2012 at 1:41pm
The point is not that Steam will not run on Windows 8.
They are hedging with Linux because they want to make sure that if people start a mass exodus from Windows 8 and go to Linux they will still be able to sell their games.
fry
July 26, 2012 at 10:36am
Yes, Windows 8 is a mess. No, it will not drive mass adoption of Linux on the desktop. And, no, it's not going to cause OEM's to abandon Microsoft en masse.
Microsoft peddling Microsoft-branded tablets, however, just might.
silverblack
July 26, 2012 at 10:19am
So... if someone wanted to try Linux for the first time, where would be a good place to start?
xr1200
July 29, 2012 at 4:09am
Silverblack, take a look a Zorin os 6. It is a linux distro based on Ubuntu. However, it has a "look changer". You can make it look similar to windows 7, mac osx, windows xp. I think it might be an easy way to get comfortable with linux without having to dig into it too much. You can try different linux distros like Mint, Zorin, Ubuntu, etc. by downloading the iso images then burning them to a DVD or CD or a flash drive. Just put the disk or flash drive in your pc and boot to it. You don't have to install it. Good luck and have fun!
maxeeemum
July 27, 2012 at 7:52pm
If you want to try Linux I highly suggest you try Linux Mint. In a nutshell the Mint Menu is very similar to XP. Any new user will be able to figure it out. Plus most likely it will have all the drivers you need.
Mint is a fork of Ubuntu and is referred to by many as "Ubuntu done right". I currently use Mint 9 and if you want more shine like Win7 try Mint 11, 12 or 13. If you are new to Linux go with 9.
livebriand
July 27, 2012 at 9:20am
Ubuntu is what I've been considering switching to, followed by Mint.
pcguy94
July 26, 2012 at 6:33pm
I would suggest Mint for someone wanting to get started with Linux. It comes with all the codecs necessary for proprietary formats installed in addition to being very easy to set up.
Also, Valve is working on Steam for Linux for Ubuntu at first but it will support all Linux distributions when it is released.
damicatz
July 26, 2012 at 11:39am
How much time do you have?
Ubuntu and Mint are both very easy distros and if you don't want to spend a lot of time learning about GNU/Linux, they would be good choices since you can do everything through the GUI.
Gentoo is more difficult to install but it has a very well written installation manual and you'll learn a lot about GNU/Linux in the process : http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-amd64.xml
USraging
July 26, 2012 at 11:03am
The most user friendly distro is ubuntu though i favor fedora. I also believe that valve is designing steam for the intent to be run on ubuntu.
USraging
July 26, 2012 at 10:58am
The most user friendly distro is ubuntu though i favor fedora. I also believe that valve is designing steam for the intent to be run on ubuntu.
Cy-Kill
July 26, 2012 at 10:10am
I am going to have to agree with Newell on this, I see Vista2 (aka: Windows 8) as a disaster. Metro should've never been introduced for desktop -- or laptop -- PCs, it should've only been for tablets & cell phones. I have no idea why MS thought it would be a good idea to shove it down desktop user's throats, as well as take away the start menu!
TechGoudy
July 26, 2012 at 1:41pm
He has a point the start menu is there, unfortunately it is the metro user interface that is the new start menu.
mellamojay
July 26, 2012 at 10:06am
You all are delusional if you think that Gabe's comments are founded on anything other than his concern of Microsoft entering the digital gaming distribution space. Gabe loves games BUT he is first and foremost a business man. Microsoft bringing in the ability to support native digital distribution in windows 8 is what is concerning him. If Microsoft can pull off a halfway decent store that is embedded in Windows 8 that challenges his market share. Even if it is inferior, it will have a natural advantage because it is already there. This is the same thing as Internet Explorer and other browsers. IE sucks in every way compared to third party browsers, YET over the past year IE (all versions) has a 38.31% market share compared to Chrome at 26.96% and Firefox at 25.99%. http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201106-201206-bar
This is the inherent advantage that Gabe is afraid of. Yes the man loves games but he also has to protect his business.
Neufeldt2002
July 26, 2012 at 8:54am
Just about every one of my family members are on Windows for the games. And I would be willing to bet that if they could game on Linux they would all switch. However, they would have to be able to play the vast majority of their games on Linux to make it worth while. Saying that I truly hope that Valve can convince other publishers to start porting their back catalog over.
bpstone
July 27, 2012 at 10:58am
I would imagine at first you would have to use Wine for an occasional title. Not a big deal. So long as most newer titles have native support. You would see that problem slowly phase out as the community expands with more people purchasing games. Theoretically Microsoft might try bribe companies into making a lot of new games exclusive for Windows in an attempt to stop it. That tactic would only work for a little while as demand continues to increase. Max.PC: You need to support what valve is doing instead of sitting idly by to see what happens. By proving that people are interested through their actions, the more companies will be persuaded into porting games over.
joeyjr
July 26, 2012 at 8:51am
Lets all remember that Gabe use to work for Microsoft but left to persue his gaming pashion on the PC. His team strives to give their customers the very best that they can in all they do. It seems Microsoft is more about controlling market share than the love of PC Gaming. Looking back in time there is plenty of evidence to support these facts. 1).xp 64, Vista DirectX10 and looses 3D sound,W7 DX11 but nut for Vista / net frame , and now talk of no more retal versions of Windows just a few that come to mind. Maybe the PC will become the new XBox and Steam looks like they are already on the ball. thanks!
