WTH, part Deu... Steam IS coming to Linux!

[Edvard]

I realize I'm a little late reporting this (as of April 25) but...
As I lamented here, the head honchos at Steam/Valve announced flatly they wouldn't be supporting Linux.

What's that I hear?  Seems someone's tune has changed...

At long last, Valve has confirmed that Linux ports of both Steam and the Source engine are in active development, and should be released later this year. These are native solutions that run directly on Linux, without any kind of Wine-like emulation. Left 4 Dead 2 will be the first Source-based title on Linux, but once the engine has been successfully ported other AAA games will surely follow.

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/127475-valve-confirms-steam-and-source-for-linux-signals-low-confidence-for-windows-8

OOOHHH!! REAL PORTS, NOT WINE HACKS!! I'm as giddy as a school girl with a new iPhone!! 

Perhaps they saw the writing on the wall with the advent of competing content-delivery platforms like Desura (Windows/Mac/Linux) and Gameolith (all-Linux) or maybe they finally woke up the the statistics the HIB's were showing about how much money Linux gamers were willing to spend, who knows?

Either way... it's about damn time. 

[Carol Haynes]

Saw this a while back - be interesting to see which distros they support 'cos I can't see it being open source to be compiled on any distro?

[4wd]

They're probably anticipating the downfall and mad rush away from Windows 8 

[KynloStephen66515]

Saw this a while back - be interesting to see which distros they support 'cos I can't see it being open source to be compiled on any distro?

Probably just Debian and Ubuntu

[Carol Haynes]

Gabe Newell has already trashed Windows 8 in the press!

Interesting if Left4Dead is going to be the first port to Linux - why wouldn't they choose some of there most recent games first?

[lanux128]

come on Gabe! give us HL3 (or HL2 Ep.3) already!

[wraith808]

Gabe Newell has already trashed Windows 8 in the press!

Interesting if Left4Dead is going to be the first port to Linux - why wouldn't they choose some of there most recent games first?

From http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=valve_linux_dampfnudeln&num=1

Right now the game they have been working on the most for their Linux client is Left 4 Dead 2. Why L4D2? Basically because it is a stable code-base to do for their initial porting.

[Edvard]

AFAIK, in a stable system (nudge, wink) as long as the binary is compiled correctly and calls the right versions of supporting libraries (which can be statically linked, if need be) then it'll work just fine.
I have, in times of desperation, used Red Hat and Slackware binaries on my system when Debian didn't have what I needed, without serious repercussion. 
So, it's very possible, but one can fairly reliably predict a new Steam/Valve forum section dedicated to posts like "[game] isn't working on [Linux distro]"...

[wraith808]

They're probably anticipating the downfall and mad rush away from Windows 8 

WinME was an unmitigated train wreck.  The numbers for Linux didn't improve.  Windows Vista wasn't much better.  And had the same results.  Considering that the largest issue that anyone can talk about is the Metro UI, I don't see that the same results won't be forthcoming.

What MS seems to be doing (to me) is to not really work on a Windows 8 UI.  They're working on a Windows 8 Kernel (including ARM support), but a Tablet/Phone shell.  What they could really do to salvage the PR disaster that's bearing down on them is to be forthcoming with this, i.e. Metro = iOS, and quit referring to the standard interface as the 'Classic Shell', but rather the 'Desktop Shell' or something similar.  Default to the 'Desktop Shell' on the desktop, and the Metro Shell on devices its meant for.  But leave the ability to switch between- which gives them a leg up on the whole iOS/MacOS dichotomy that Apple has created.

Just my opinion, of course.  I'm upgrading to 7 on my XP machines right now, so I know I'll be skipping for a while in any case, as I think I'll be looking at Clojure before delving into WinRT unless forced.

AFAIK, in a stable system (nudge, wink) as long as the binary is compiled correctly and calls the right versions of supporting libraries (which can be statically linked, if need be) then it'll work just fine.
I have, in times of desperation, used Red Hat and Slackware binaries on my system when Debian didn't have what I needed, without serious repercussion. 
So, it's very possible, but one can fairly reliably predict a new Steam/Valve forum section dedicated to posts like "[game] isn't working on [Linux distro]"...

Stable code base is quite a different thing from stable system.  Every version of the source engine is not the same.  They've finished and cleaned up the L4D2 version of the source engine, that would seem the logical choice to use, especially if they're still currently working on the most recent version of the source engine.

[Edvard]

Relevant:
http://www.thepowerbase.com/2012/08/the-uphill-climb-of-linux-gaming/