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Meh. The one and only question that matters is "how many Linux users would buy my game that would not have bought it on either OS X or Windows". That number is

Meh. The one and only question that matters is "how many Linux users would buy my game that would not have bought it on either OS X or Windows". That number is significantly smaller than 2%. I'm very excited at the prospects of SteamBox and can't wait to learn more. I'm not sure Steam on desktop linux will ever be meaningful. I do wonder what happens if Steambox comes out with some flavor of Linux included but installing Windows grants an automatic 20% performance increase due to drivers. Hell, I'd install Windows even if it were only a 5% increase.

spacelizard 14y ago
A naive look would make it seem that Steambox is vaporware (no pun intended).
optymizer 14y ago
Wasn't there a post form Valve that showed they can already get 20% improvement on Linux? Given that they're also working to improve the graphics drivers for Linux, I don't really see where that "automatic 20% performance increase" for Windows would come from. Sure, the driver itself might be 20% slower, but the Linux stack is already faster than the Windows stack AND there is room for improvement.
r0s 14y ago
That question doesn't matter at all, because that's the current status quo.
armored_mammal 14y ago
I think it's more likely that Linux will end up having a small performance benefit over Windows all other things being equal.
Spittie 14y ago
See http://www.fortressofdoors.com/2013/02/steam-linux-sale-results.html http://www.fortressofdoors.com/2013/02/steam-linux-sale-resu... They may just got lucky, but ~7% of their total sales comes from users running Linux. While it's not an huge number, it's still significant, and it's likely to grow in the future.
cookiecaper 14y ago
Steambox sounds like it is just going to be running a desktop Linux, with some hacks to make Steam the primary interface. So, I doubt it will be considered "non-meaningful". Microsoft is teetering and everything else around us is standardizing on Linux. It shouldn't be long until home computers start to move to it in significant numbers, ESPECIALLY with gaming consoles that run Linux getting thrown in the mix.

spacelizard 14y ago

A naive look would make it seem that Steambox is vaporware (no pun intended).

optymizer 14y ago

Wasn't there a post form Valve that showed they can already get 20% improvement on Linux? Given that they're also working to improve the graphics drivers for Linux, I don't really see where that "automatic 20% performance increase" for Windows would come from. Sure, the driver itself might be 20% slower, but the Linux stack is already faster than the Windows stack AND there is room for improvement.

r0s 14y ago

That question doesn't matter at all, because that's the current status quo.

armored_mammal 14y ago

I think it's more likely that Linux will end up having a small performance benefit over Windows all other things being equal.

Spittie 14y ago

See http://www.fortressofdoors.com/2013/02/steam-linux-sale-results.html http://www.fortressofdoors.com/2013/02/steam-linux-sale-resu... They may just got lucky, but ~7% of their total sales comes from users running Linux. While it's not an huge number, it's still significant, and it's likely to grow in the future.

cookiecaper 14y ago

Steambox sounds like it is just going to be running a desktop Linux, with some hacks to make Steam the primary interface. So, I doubt it will be considered "non-meaningful". Microsoft is teetering and everything else around us is standardizing on Linux. It shouldn't be long until home computers start to move to it in significant numbers, ESPECIALLY with gaming consoles that run Linux getting thrown in the mix.