8 ms·

I'm going to take a guess that Valve is hedging their bets on a Windows 8 flop. I think it is very possible that Linux and OS X will become the two dominant des

by AJ007 14y ago

I'm going to take a guess that Valve is hedging their bets on a Windows 8 flop. I think it is very possible that Linux and OS X will become the two dominant desktop platforms over the next 5 years. Valve can not really enter the mobile marketplace in a meaningful way. Both Microsoft and Apple will likely try to put the squeeze on Valve with their own respective OS marketplaces. (I think neither will successfully be able reproduce Steam's high quality user experience and extras.)

duaneb 14y ago
I think that if Linux becomes the dominant desktop platform, it will be a new form (i.e. not based on Gnome or KDE). Just a (biased) hunch, though.
- freehunter 14y ago
  Ubuntu is positioning itself for that possibility. They've been playing the long game, and it's still not finished, but they've broken from Gnome, broken from X.org, and with the Software Center, are really steering away from the terminal. Of course, they've pissed off a lot of Linux traditionalists, but that could be a net gain for the desktop market.
jiggy2011 14y ago
Perhaps they want to port to platforms like the new chromebox (or a future variant). I think we are about to see a divergence in desktop/HTPC/semi-mobile platforms. For example, ChromeBook/Box , Raspberry Pi , Android , Ubuntu Devices and I'm sure many others as time goes on. it seems reasonable that people will want to run games on these platforms beyond what is currently possible just with JS/webGL. Now think about it, what do all of these plaftorms have in common? Another point to bear in mind , is that one of the significant advantages Steam has over OS specific marketplaces is that it allows you to sync the same games over different devices. For example it would be nice to be able to buy a game for your Windows PC and then be able to also run it on your HTPC or Tablet device which may well be running non Windows OS.
CamperBob2 14y ago
It's a bit more complicated than that. Valve is hedging their bets against a Windows 8 win. Microsoft is playing a longer game than most people can see. So is Valve.

by AJ007 14y ago

duaneb 14y ago

I think that if Linux becomes the dominant desktop platform, it will be a new form (i.e. not based on Gnome or KDE). Just a (biased) hunch, though.

freehunter 14y ago
Ubuntu is positioning itself for that possibility. They've been playing the long game, and it's still not finished, but they've broken from Gnome, broken from X.org, and with the Software Center, are really steering away from the terminal. Of course, they've pissed off a lot of Linux traditionalists, but that could be a net gain for the desktop market.

jiggy2011 14y ago

Perhaps they want to port to platforms like the new chromebox (or a future variant). I think we are about to see a divergence in desktop/HTPC/semi-mobile platforms. For example, ChromeBook/Box , Raspberry Pi , Android , Ubuntu Devices and I'm sure many others as time goes on. it seems reasonable that people will want to run games on these platforms beyond what is currently possible just with JS/webGL. Now think about it, what do all of these plaftorms have in common? Another point to bear in mind , is that one of the significant advantages Steam has over OS specific marketplaces is that it allows you to sync the same games over different devices. For example it would be nice to be able to buy a game for your Windows PC and then be able to also run it on your HTPC or Tablet device which may well be running non Windows OS.

CamperBob2 14y ago

It's a bit more complicated than that. Valve is hedging their bets against a Windows 8 win. Microsoft is playing a longer game than most people can see. So is Valve.