Steam on Linux and its potential

Dear Logan, Pistol, Wendel and Qain, 

I have a few questions with regards to Steam and Steam on Linux. 

1. How long do you think it will take for Steam on Linux to evolve to a point where it is on par with the Windows based version?

2. What impact will the evolution of Steam on Linux have on the computing industry? ie. will gamers/enthusiasts move to linux, regular/hipster users (who can afford it) move to OS X and businesses stick with Windows [This is assuming of course that Microsoft continue down the touch screen optimised OS path of the Windows 8 'Metro' interface]. 

Cheers, 

Mullly

I know i'm not logan,wendel,qain or pistol but here is my view in the matter.

the day all games are available on Linux/ steam os will be the day all the pc gamer's switch to it, the business men have no reason to use linux as windows does them fine and hipsters will "hopefully" stick with apple

reson being at the current point the thing stopping gamers moving to steam os it the lack of games also its not as well know as windows so people are a bit more reluctant to switch. 

-alex

Thanks Alex

The problem is that the only market in which Steam is doing really well, is completely deaf and blind to all things linux on a consumer level, and that the game development industry does not thrive on PC games, not on Windows, not on Mac, and not on Linux, but they thrive on consoles, and the only growth market is mobile gaming (mostly on Linux, but not in C, but in Java), with it's brethren browser gaming.

The PC as a platform is losing ground, it's getting ever less attractive for game developers to invest in that severally hemorrhaging platform, they want to stay on the safe side, and invest in console and java development. Name on single awesome game that was released in 2013... QED!

It is not a coincidence that SteamOS is a console operating system!

The real switch to linux as a gaming platform will come when open platform consoles become more popular, because they can only run on linux. Basically, this is happening right now. It's perfectly conceivable that Microsoft, which already uses a Hypervisor in the XBoxOne, would sell the XBox virtual machine for use in a linux-based gaming console, for instance with SteamOS.

The other thing is that Steam is only dominant in the US. In Germany for instance, 88% of all games distribution is still through optical media in mortar-and-brick stores. The reality is that this puts PC gamers in a corner, because they still have to keep using Windows on their PC, when everybody else and their dog is migrating to linux or has already done so. Linux gaming is digital distribution-only! Linux was always digital distribution only, Linux was collaboratively developed through the Internet to start out with, it's been online distributed since 1991. Obviously there is no mortar-and-brick distribution in Linux, rule number one in Linux is never to install anything from external media or from a web browser, the only source for software is the distribution repository or for advanced users, git. Consoles are a good solution for many gamers, as they can migrate to Linux on their PC, and game on their console. Stats for the German gaming market can be found here: http://www.biu-online.de/de/presse/newsroom/newsroom-detail/datum/2014/03/05/neue-konsolen-sind-wachstumsmotor-fuer-den-markt.html... you won't like it if you're a PC gamer lolz!

Another thing is that Linux is open source. That means that they don't spend money on marketing. There is a reason why CS:GO is not on Linux yet... because it's a huge commercially sponsored e-sports attraction. And that's Valve itself that decides that... so they must make more on the commerce premium by keeping CS:GO on a locked down commercial platform, than they would on bringing it to SteamOS... and they can't bring it to Linux in e-sports, because it would bring a competitive advantage to those that play it on Linux in comparison to those that play it on Windows, and a lot of "gamer hardware" to solve typical graphical and audio problems, is not needed on Linux, so the whole marketing business would lose interest, because the marketing would revolve around the less well performing competitors, but they would make more money. You can't have the same money going 'round in e-sports events that are based on Linux, because there is no consumer marketing business involved.

I personally think that Linux is never going to make it as a mainstream gaming platform, but I also think that the PC is not going to stay a mainstream gaming platform, and the hard core group of "extreme gamers", that will keep using PC's to play extremely demanding games, will not stay happy with Windows. I'm convinced that a few years from now, Microsoft will have focused on the mobile devices market on the consumer level, and a Windows PC will not be as common any more, all PC's will just run Linux, but there will be a lot less PC's, and most consumers will use devices, that seamlessly work together with a console hooked up to a TV. The consumer software market will consequently focus on post-PC devices almost exclusively. This is already happening, Adobe is about to release Lightroom for Android, whereas they categorically refuse to even continue updating applications that they had released on linux in the past. The industry doesn't want clean linux, they want linux for the technical possibilities it offers, but not without a commercially locked down hardware abstraction layer and java environment on top of it, because they don't want open source, because migration to open source would put the power in the hands of the people that deserve it: the developers, and the corporate leadership wants to prevent that at all costs, in the same way that corporate leadership doesn't want the power in the music industry to lie with the people that make the music, or in the publishing industry with the authors of books.

A few years from now, home PC users will have diminished so enormously in numbers, that they will have become a marginal market altogether, just like it was before Windows 3.11. There was gaming in DOS, but most gaming was done on consoles. The same is going to return. There will be PC gaming, mostly in Linux, and mostly open source, but most gaming will be done on devices and consoles that offer a very integrated use experience with devices. As far as user experience integration of devices with PC's is concerned, linux is also the only viable choice, only Linux offers seamless integration functionality, with extended SplashTop functionality, KDE Connect, ADB, etc... and devices are going to dictate completely in what direction the PC market will go. That is just unavoidable, because devices will be used instead of money, instead of passports, etc... everybody will have to have them just to function normally, and right now, the majority of people can use devices for their entire computing interaction for work and daily life. PC's are just not necessary any more for most people, and they are not practical.

Wow, great response Zoltan. Thanks heaps.