You may have noticed that Valve’s slowly been dabbling with native support for the tinkerer’s operating system of choice, Linux. It’s not because he loves you- more because he hates the direction that Windows is going – going so far as to call it a catastrophe.
“I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space. I think we’ll lose some of the top tier PC / OEMs, who will exit the market,” he said to All Things SD. “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.”
Valve recently released Left 4 Dead 2 for Linux – without the need for WINE, or Direct X wrappers or any of that nonsense to run. It’s something Valve intends to continue – and you could soon see many people abandon Windows entirely. I know many who only keep windows alive because they need to to play their games.
“The big problem that is holding back Linux is games. People don’t realize how critical games are in driving consumer purchasing behavior.” Gabe said.“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.”
Windows 8 with its new Metro user interface is in preview – and is getting a mixed reception. Many feel that a change was needed – and it’s a step in the right direction. Others feel it’s too radical a departure. The rest use Linux.
Last Updated: July 26, 2012
