Thursday, July 26th 2012
Windows 8 a Catastrophe, Want Linux to Thrive: Gabe Newell
Gabe Newell is part of the crowd that's not impressed with Microsoft Windows 8, or the direction in which it's going to take PC gaming. Newell's concerns, expressed in an interview to VentureBeat, go beyond the God-awful UI, and predict that Windows 8 could reshape the computing industry in a way that's bad for high-performance desktops, at least those sold by major OEMs, which could affect game developers and distributors such as Valve, which took roots in the PC platform.
"I think that Windows 8 is kind of a catastrophe for everybody in the PC space. I think that we're going to lose some of the top-tier PC [original equipment manufacturers]. They'll exit the market. I think margins are going to be destroyed for a bunch of people. If that's true, it's going to be a good idea to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality," said Newell.
The alternatives he is referring to are the other platforms Valve is setting up its Steam content distribution platform. The company already has Steam client for Apple OS X, with quite a few of its games ported to, and enabled to existing buyers using SteamPlay. The company also recently announced that its client for desktop Linux (Ubuntu, to be precise), is up and running, and that it sees a future for PC gaming on Linux.
Moving the PC gaming to Linux is not a herculean task, and is just going to need a few few big companies to take initiatives. One of them is Valve, the others include companies governing Linux distributions, hardware vendors getting their act together and releasing fully-functional drivers, and lastly, for game developers to see the potential in all of it. The move to Linux doesn't change the machine, it only changes the software.
"One, we're trying to make sure that Linux thrives. Our perception is that one of the big problems holding Linux back is the absence of games. I think that a lot of people - in their thinking about platforms - don't realize how critical games are as a consumer driver of purchases and usage. So we're going to continue working with the Linux distribution guys, shipping Steam, shipping our games, and making it as easy as possible for anybody who's engaged with us - putting their games on Steam and getting those running on Linux, as well. It's a hedging strategy," said Newell.
Source:
VentureBeat
"I think that Windows 8 is kind of a catastrophe for everybody in the PC space. I think that we're going to lose some of the top-tier PC [original equipment manufacturers]. They'll exit the market. I think margins are going to be destroyed for a bunch of people. If that's true, it's going to be a good idea to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality," said Newell.
Moving the PC gaming to Linux is not a herculean task, and is just going to need a few few big companies to take initiatives. One of them is Valve, the others include companies governing Linux distributions, hardware vendors getting their act together and releasing fully-functional drivers, and lastly, for game developers to see the potential in all of it. The move to Linux doesn't change the machine, it only changes the software.
"One, we're trying to make sure that Linux thrives. Our perception is that one of the big problems holding Linux back is the absence of games. I think that a lot of people - in their thinking about platforms - don't realize how critical games are as a consumer driver of purchases and usage. So we're going to continue working with the Linux distribution guys, shipping Steam, shipping our games, and making it as easy as possible for anybody who's engaged with us - putting their games on Steam and getting those running on Linux, as well. It's a hedging strategy," said Newell.
110 Comments on Windows 8 a Catastrophe, Want Linux to Thrive: Gabe Newell
...I think there are some gamers here...
www.engadget.com/2012/06/18/microsoft-surface-tablets-the-differences-between-rt-and-window/
But I find it strange that Blizzard has had a working Linux version of WoW for some time, but never released it. Why? And will they release it now?
It was irritating enough to switch to Win 7 and I still prefer Win XP SP3 much more than Win7.
I agree with the fat guy OP if I wanted to cloud everything and loose my data I would and if the internet in the USA was capable of properly handling a skype video conference then sure cloud it.
Everyone knows the internet with more user will get more shitty so cloud anything will get worse and no one has the cash or the competence to do anything worthwhile to upgrade the infrastructure unless you stay in "Internet Heaven EU / Japan" vs 3rd world primitive USA internet.
Their migration to Win8 and the millions of problems that Win8 will have is not worth it so they might as well skip to Win9.
Win7 is irritating enough but okay for now and just got used to it / can finally use it for more than 20 days on my new pc without having to formatting the hard drive so why change to another useless Microsoft product ?
And NO the NSA "Microsoft / facebook" is not reasons enough to make me change plus the economy will crash again before 2013.
And if you're having issues with Win7 it's either driver error or third party. It is quite rock solid, probably the most stable of MS OS's.
Besides the fact that ~75% of users agree on this forum and the fact that most of the game industry AND media agrees with Gabe Newell, I think you are way out of touch. Furthermore, who are you to say that Gabe Newell "hes not an important enough figure to be listening to end of story."
I mean good God if the president and co-founder of Valve, owner of steam and other best selling PC titles isn't important enough of a figure in your mind, well the who the hell is, and furthermore, who the hell are you? Lol...
:slap:
Yeah you need to be a big free thinker to think Windows 8 is good.:roll:I swear I think your internal HDD resets everyday.
:laugh: