It's Official: Valve Releasing Steam, Source Engine For Linux!

[Svartalf]

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1678990

what do you guys think about this?

Mixed bag...

So i was speaking to a valve sales person and i asked why there is so little thought being put into the development of steam for linux based Distros, He told me this was not always the case but the thought died out as we could not see strong enough support to make it economical and the general vibe is that people who use linux based stuff will just pirate our games and hack our platform.

I DID warn you lot that was hacking on it to leave well enough alone. Even if it does come, we DID NOT help ourselves any when we insisted on messing with stuff that wasn't announced.

[Svartalf]

yes, reading the frozenbyte posts, this really looks promising ..

I can't say that it has anything to do with this story- but it's still an interesting response... The one Hothead gave about a Linux version of Deathspank/Deathspank:TOV was equally interesting...and relevant to the discussion.

They'd said we wouldn't get one until Steam was available on Linux, said in a manner that implied that it might be a subject of consideration.

[devius]

I don't know where these guys get the idea that linux users are all "pirates". Anyone care to enlighten me? Because it seems that if there is one platform with huge piracy numbers it's windows, not linux.

[yogi_berra]

I don't know where these guys get the idea that linux users are all "pirates". Anyone care to enlighten me? Because it seems that if there is one platform with huge piracy numbers it's windows, not linux.

It might have something to do with Thom Holwerda's lengthy rants in support of piracy that usually go unanswered by the rest of the "Linux" bloggers.

When was the last time you read a pro-copyright piece on a "Linux" blog?

[monraaf]

I don't know where these guys get the idea that linux users are all "pirates".

What makes you think that? Just because some anonymous guy on the Internet claims some "valve sales person" said that to him, doesn't make it true.

[stevenaaus]

It might have something to do with Thom Holwerda's lengthy rants in support of piracy

Don't mention his name &^#!... OSNews isn't a bad idea, but T.H. is a bit of an idiot and wind**s fan-boy, and certainly too clueless to be an editor there.

On topic... i doubt the rants of a forum editor would make much difference.

[elanthis]

I don't know where these guys get the idea that linux users are all "pirates". Anyone care to enlighten me? Because it seems that if there is one platform with huge piracy numbers it's windows, not linux.

Little things like Loki making 50,000 copies of the Quake 3 for Linux, only selling 5,000 of them, and yet well over 50,000 Linux Quake 3 users could be found playing online after release.

This isn't all that out of line with Windows piracy rates, granted. Piracy is just a huge freaking problem in general.

[Svartalf]

Little things like Loki making 50,000 copies of the Quake 3 for Linux, only selling 5,000 of them, and yet well over 50,000 Linux Quake 3 users could be found playing online after release.

This isn't all that out of line with Windows piracy rates, granted. Piracy is just a huge freaking problem in general.

Heh... That's not QUITE what caused it... And it's my understanding that the numbers sold were quite a bit lower. What happened with Q3:A was that Loki got the publishing deal for the Linux version of the game and the CEO did something a bit stupid like ordering 50K units to be produced (risky... I'd have ordered 10k units, maybe 15k for that going out on a limb...) and then compounding the mistake by delaying the release of the game because he wanted the pre-order special edition tins for each and every one of those 50k units- on a game that anyone could have bought the Windows version and "patched" the install with the runtime binary sets for the Linux version.

In short, it wasn't piracy, but rather people buying the Windows version because they couldn't wait that caused the problems. Seriously.

[grantek]

Little things like Loki making 50,000 copies of the Quake 3 for Linux, only selling 5,000 of them, and yet well over 50,000 Linux Quake 3 users could be found playing online after release.

This isn't all that out of line with Windows piracy rates, granted. Piracy is just a huge freaking problem in general.

Quake 3 had a phone-home CD key check for online play, so almost all of the people playing online had a genuine license.

[numasan]

Same here, I bought the Windows-version to play on Linux, and my "linux friends" did the same back then.

If they could track how many players were on Linux online, isn't that the important statistic? Retail boxes with "For Linux" on them seem outdated IMO. All games should just be cross platform from start