Valve declares WIndows 8 "a catastrophe for PC", talks about migrating games to Linux

[Orcinus]

*shrug* I usually skip two or three Windows versions anyway.

Me too. Looked at Vista & hated it. Tried W7 Home premium 64 & hated that as well, if not more.

M$ apparently seeking to compel users to purchase via their store, irrespective of in which or in how many versions of W8, just means it will never be in my buy list. I hope the EC competition commission jumps all over them (again

[[GR]Operative]

Rembember people, when talking about windows: one good, one bad, one good, one bad...
If I remember correctly XP was good, Vista was bad, 7 was (is) good, then comes 8...

[Orcinus]

More like one-in-three IMO. E.g., Win 98 OK, ME not, Millennium a disaster.

[[GR]Operative]

Well, the pattern just needs to match and say that 8 is garbage to let me happy haha

[[FRL]Myke]

Erm, lads, topic title contains "Windows 8" and "Valve" to pick up the core topic. I see discussion about Windows but nothing about Valve and the original post.

So please, back to topic, can we?



I think if Valve will port their product portfolio to Linux, this OS might receive a significant boost which might also draw the attention of other game developers. Might end up pretty interesting.

[JdB]

I think if Valve will port their product portfolio to Linux, this OS might receive a significant boost which might also draw the attention of other game developers. Might end up pretty interesting.

Maybe, but I'm not so sure. It might if they made their games Windows ONLY, but not if they offer versions for Windows as well. The number of Windows 8 users through the sales of new computers (OEM) alone is expected to go over 300 million the first year after release. 95% of all people won't even know that there is an alternative to Windows, or won't have the technical knowledge to even install them (even though installing Ubuntu is just as easy as installing Windows imo). They will have Windows 8 to play games on, and Valve as a commercial entity will make products for the biggest customer base. Also three things that prevent me from switching to Linux completely are:

- Games hardly ever natively support it, partially due to DirectX requirement;
- Tricky to get some Windows applications to run for novice users, if at all;
- Filesharing with PCs running Windows;

That will only really be resolved if developers start to release Linux versions of their products. If Valve were to start doing it, it might provide a significant boost, though I am not expecting it to effectively make Linux replace Windows as the dominant OS, an increase in market share for Linux distros of let's say even 10% would be a unrealistic imo. For that you would need to break the power of the major manufacturers and crack-down on their deals with MS to provide new products with OEM versions of Windows. I find it odd that for example the European Commission did rule that installing Internet Explorer by default on every PC is forcing other products out of the market, but that the forced purchase of Windows with every new PC that is not home-built is somehow not an unfair business practice ...

Once people have a free choice between OS's when they go to buy a new system and they see that a basic PC running Linux is 15% cheaper and can run all of their favorite programs, they will choose Linux no doubt.

Valve can be a big factor in alternatives to Windows, but imo it remains to be seen whether they'll actually go through with this, and if so for what percentage of their new titles, or whether MS will "persuade" them to stay away from anything not Windows.

[NeMeSiS]

(even though installing Ubuntu is just as easy as installing Windows imo).

Seeing as most PC users (even of 'our' generation) still think PCs are magic and installing windows seems to hard, ths isnt even a counterargument.

[ReconTeam]

Windows 7 is the new XP. It won't be going anywhere for a long time. Windows 8 in its current form seems to be destined to failure.

I had Windows Vista SP2 when I first got my current (since upgraded several times) gaming computer. Honestly I did not have many problems with it once I got used to the interface. Windows 7 in my experience has largely been "product improved Vista".

[Sickboy]

mine too. I'm sure that win8 would be a good OS for mobile devices but I can't imagine working with it. Win7 introfduced some very nive features that made it more productive (imho the best OS to date) and now comes this...
I guess M$ just see this as a way to make more cash by placing their store app and similiar stzff right on your new Desktop.

All that made Win7 great is still available in Win8. My suggestion would be to put preconceptions and other people's opinions (/pre-conceptions) aside, and try out an evaluation version of Windows 8, e.g Release Preview, or once RTM, and make up your own mind.
Easiest and least intrusive is by trying it in a Virtual Machine.

There are a lot of positive aspects to Window 8 as well, it isn't all about Metro, and Metro Start-Screen isn't that bad even when you're mostly using the Desktop.

---------- Post added at 10:53 ---------- Previous post was at 10:51 ----------

Ok that's it, I'll skip win8 I guess I'll get a key via my university but I won't install it. To me it seems as if MS tries to turn PC's into "consoles"
I won't support this.

Windows RT (for ARM) is of no concern to us PC users.
It is like Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, iOS, etc, intented for limited Tablets (and probably also forms the basis for Windows Phone 8).
Similar approaches are consoles like PS3 or XBOX360.

Such limitations are pretty standard these days, apart from maybe Android, and whatever Gabe claims, there are also good reasons why to do this.

Windows 8 (for PC) itself has no such limits, and there are also high-end (Intel/AMD based) tablets that will not use Windows RT, but Windows 8.

---------- Post added at 10:59 ---------- Previous post was at 10:53 ----------

It's also kinda hypocrite for one (sort-of) Monopolist (Steam) to complain about another (Microsoft).
IMO this stunt has another side; creating an even larger monopoly position for Steam Think about it...

[Tonci87]

I did try win 8 on my VM and I really see no reason to upgrade. And the new UI wasn't really helpfull at all.