It seems my recent article about Valve removing the link to the Steam Machines page caused quite a stir, so Valve have now confirmed their continued support for Linux gaming.
Truthfully, I wasn't expecting my article to do anything, however I seem to have vastly underestimated just how many eyes there are on us now. Many larger tech and gaming sites picked it up from us like PC Gamer, Ars Technica (who amusingly called us a "fan site"), VG247 and so on. Many more sites then picked up the news from them (some claiming it was originally reported by others—oh well, can't win them all) and so it ended up as a much bigger story.
We've had quite a lot of emails and notifications about this, including a Valve rep emailing us directly to link us to this post by Pierre-Loup Griffais, where they state that the removal of the Steam Machines link was part of a "routine cleanup" where it was removed based on "user traffic".
They go on to state rather clearly, that their plans haven't really changed. They're still committed to making Linux a great place for games and applications, including those not using Steam. The most important part of their post, to me at least, is this:
At the same time, we're continuing to invest significant resources in supporting the Vulkan ecosystem, tooling and driver efforts. We also have other Linux initiatives in the pipe that we're not quite ready to talk about yet; SteamOS will continue to be our medium to deliver these improvements to our customers, and we think they will ultimately benefit the Linux ecosystem at large.
It's going to be very interesting to find out what these initiatives are that they're not currently ready to talk about, quite exciting.
It's really good to see a public comment from Valve on this, as I said constantly in the past that SteamOS and Steam Machines would never be an overnight success. Valve is clearly in it for the long game and so are we.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: orochi_kyoHow much you want to be this article or valve response aren't going to be featured on that site?
You should have checked before posting :-)
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/04/poorly-selling-steam-machines-finally-removed-from-steam-store-front-page/
Last edited by MaxPower on 4 April 2018 at 7:56 pm UTC
Luke_Nukem Apr 4, 2018
Quoting: BrisseQuoting: elbuglione"some trying to justify exclusives and lock-in as a valid methodology"
Sadly... is valid, because is working!
It has no place in FOSS-philosophy, even when there's a proprietary store front in middle.
People need to stop viewing Linux as FOSS-exclusive. It ain't, and it won't build the momentum required unless big-money gets behind it (as evidenced by Valve pushing it).
Last edited by Luke_Nukem on 4 April 2018 at 8:12 pm UTC
Quoting: BrisseEurogamer picked up the story as well.Nah, I'm fine. Already being all that bull**** adventure before I found Liam's "fan site" :P
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-04-04-its-true-steam-machines-arent-exactly-flying-off-the-shelves
You might want to not look in the comment section of the article if you find yourself easily triggered. Gotta say, I find a lot of the comments there extremely disturbing/disgusting/ignorant.
Quoting: Luke_NukemPeople need to stop viewing Linux as FOSS-exclusive. It ain't, and it won't build the momentum required unless big-money gets behind it (as evidenced by Valve pushing it).
I'd say people should stop using Apple mentality when it comes to Linux. It's not macOS. FOSS is quite central to Linux in general, and striving to use open tools and technologies is quite important. So stuff like lock-in and the like shouldn't be acceptable.
Last edited by Shmerl on 4 April 2018 at 8:35 pm UTC
Quoting: Luke_NukemQuoting: BrisseQuoting: elbuglione"some trying to justify exclusives and lock-in as a valid methodology"
Sadly... is valid, because is working!
It has no place in FOSS-philosophy, even when there's a proprietary store front in middle.
People need to stop viewing Linux as FOSS-exclusive. It ain't, and it won't build the momentum required unless big-money gets behind it (as evidenced by Valve pushing it).
Yes. As @mirv already pointed out, it is all about providing choice. Fortunately Linux does that. People running a FOSS exclusive system should be able to do so. Using non-FOSS software, like me using NVidia drivers and Steam, should also be "just OK" and accepted.
Extreme views "this and that should not be accepted" usually serves no one in the long term but only feeds useless religious discussions.
Last edited by jens on 4 April 2018 at 8:46 pm UTC
Quoting: GuestSo I would actually argue that at its core, the most fundamentally important aspect of GNU/Linux is the FOSS nature of it all, and that has allowed rapid innovation, development, and adoption.
Yeah! We need to highlight the strengths of the platform. Falling into traps like platform exclusivity only undermines those efforts.
Quoting: jensPeople running a FOSS exclusive system should be able to do so. Using non-FOSS software, like me using NVidia drivers and Steam, should also be "just OK" and accepted.
Extreme views "this and that should not be accepted" usually serves no one in the long term but only feeds useless religious discussions.
The discussion was not about what users are installing, but what is acceptable or not for developers to push on users. Something like CUDA from Nvidia should not be acceptable for example. Same goes for any other type of lock-in or exclusivity, which are simply anti-competitive practices. Trying to whitewash such kind of practice serves no good purpose.
Last edited by Shmerl on 4 April 2018 at 9:18 pm UTC
Quoting: Luke_NukemI am agree with that, but that people also need to realise that Linux foundation based on GPL, or Linux will end up like our friend, "Berkeley" today (propertization of free software).Quoting: BrisseQuoting: elbuglione"some trying to justify exclusives and lock-in as a valid methodology"
Sadly... is valid, because is working!
It has no place in FOSS-philosophy, even when there's a proprietary store front in middle.
People need to stop viewing Linux as FOSS-exclusive. It ain't, and it won't build the momentum required unless big-money gets behind it (as evidenced by Valve pushing it).
I'm fine with proprietary software in general but I'm absolutely hate somebody (especially certain companies) who always taking "free code", improve it for themselves but never contributing back to make it better. And to make it worse, some of them asking money to communities, devs and others for their "revised" code. WTF!
Quoting: ShmerlI'd say people should stop using Apple mentality when it comes to Linux. It's not macOS. FOSS is quite central to Linux in general, and striving to use open tools and technologies is quite important. So stuff like lock-in and the like shouldn't be acceptable.Sadly with FB + Cambridge Analytica fiasco happens right now, some of my family members and friends have opinion that "lock-in" is secure (as lock pad). Their opinion are, Linux = open source = everything "open and exposed" = not safe. 2 person I know already change Android device to iPhone no thanks on this "mentality".
What they doesn't know that "the Fruit" is major consumer of that unsafe"free code". They perception, all Apple software are made "in house" so the premium price they paid is for developers. LITTLE BIT TO ADD: And outside US (or maybe outside western world), Apple (quietly) always bowed to foreign government request to unlock their customers devices.
p/s: I don't know on Apple's track record on contributing free software except WebKit.
Last edited by tonR on 4 April 2018 at 9:27 pm UTC
Quoting: tonRp/s: I don't know on Apple's track record on contributing free software except WebKit.
Apple have some good contributions like llvm / clang, but in general their mentality is completely the opposite and is all about sickening and anti-competitive lock-in.
WebKit itself wasn't originated by Apple by the way. It's based on KHTML.
Last edited by Shmerl on 4 April 2018 at 9:25 pm UTC
Quoting: ShmerlApple have some good contributions like llvm / clang, but in general their mentality is completely the opposite and is all about sickening and anti-competitive lock-in.TIL something. Thank you Shmerl.
WebKit itself wasn't originated by Apple by the way. It's based on KHTML.
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