I agree that he's certainly not doing this for the Linux community purely out of the kindness of his heart. But why should he? He's running a business and has

I agree that he's certainly not doing this for the Linux community purely out of the kindness of his heart. But why should he? He's running a business and has to choose the profitable products to develop. Up until recently, Linux gaming has not had a huge amount of potential profit. It still might not for that matter. If you watch his presentation however, he does talk about a lot more than just the fact that the Windows/Mac app stores are all trying to take a cut. One of the key points he makes is that the largest proportion of innovation in the gaming scene is happening/originating on PC. Digital distribution, social gaming, free-to-play, community generated content and markets, etc. All these were primarily instigated on the PC, but are potentially in danger from closed, captive marketplaces. Are people going to generate new hats for Team Fortress (to pick a simple example), when the approval process for content in the various app stores could hold it up for weeks or months? If another innovation such as Social Gaming (farmville, etc.) were to come along, but all the platforms were locked down as to what features they can enable for the users; would it ever take off as a business model? So yeah, he's certainly doing it out of self-interest for Valve, but it's about far more than just the monetary cut they take. It's about the freedom to develop new and innovative ideas on an open platform without worrying about whether they'll pass the inspection of some opaque 3rd party authority. PS: It's quite ironic to complain about a person making good logical business decisions on a forum dedicated to startup companies, where the majority of people are trying their damndest to make their own businesses work...