
Gabe Newell: Linux is a “Get-out-of-jail free pass for our industry” - randywatkins
http://www.geekwire.com/2013/valve-cofounder-gabe-newell-linux-getoutofjail-free-pass-industry/
======
belorn
I suppose this is why the FSF has gone on and on about "free as in freedom",
and not about the practical benefits for developers in releasing source code
to the public.

I understand that Gabe does not want to play by the app-store rule, be that
Apple or Microsoft. They want to be free to develop their business, their
business model, free from dictated rules of a third party.

In a world where every user device is locked down under DRM, there won't be a
get-out-of-jail free pass called Linux. If all obvious and commonly used
aspects of computing are patented, then we won't have a Linux that can be
shipped by something like Steam. Anti-DRM and anti-patent clauses, like those
in GPLv3 and the Apache license are not anti-business. They are pro-freedom
for companies to decide their own fate.

If we want to keep this get-out-of-jail free pass for the industry, we need to
maintain it and banish DRM and patents to the dustheap. It's that simple
today. It won't be that simple tomorrow.

~~~
lucian1900
Minor nitpick: there are no anti-DRM clauses in the Apache license and the one
in the GPLv3 only refers to DRM preventing replacing of the GPLv3 software.

~~~
belorn
Thanks. I included Apache license because FSF copied the text regarding
patents from Apache and copy pasted it directly into GPLv3 (they later added a
trailing sentence about patent agreements).

------
Expez
For all my love for Steam, Valve, Linux and Newell himself, I cannot help but
gag a little every time he opens his mouth as of late.

Not a single fuck was given about Linux prior to the release of Win 8. Then,
suddenly, once Valve's profit margins and business model is threatened the
company shows some interest. This is all--of course--perfectly rational
behavior, but there's no need to be all righteous about it and feed into our
superiority complexes as Linux users. We don't want an 'us vs them' mentality
here. What we want is for all the Windows users to get curious and come
explore what Linux has to offer, not dig in and defend their OS just because
they were pissed off by smug flamebait rethoric.

~~~
ChrisNorstrom
Not really. Years ago people mentioned they found extra code for what looked
like a linux version somewhere in some steam package or development kit or
whatever it was. This was years and years ago. Valve downplayed it. Of course
now it's obvious they've been planning and experimenting with linux this whole
time. They've gotten higher frame rates in Left 4 Dead 2 on Linux than on
Windows on the same hardware so, they have quiet a vested interest in this
thing.

I think they're in this for the long run. The biggest threat to consoles is
Steam and consoles after all, are just crippled PCs.

------
charonn0
The explosion of Android as a platform has shown quite clearly both the power
and flexibility of the Linux kernel, and the usefulness of hiding the
complexity and providing a platform-neutral API. The VM-backed programming
environment is what Valve perceive as the new gaming market here: they don't
want just a console, they want their own iDevice or Kindle Fire.

Mr. Newell mentioned that Valve's games were shifting to a free-to-play
scheme. The Steam Box might be something like this: a Linux-based OS, some
sort of runtime/VM, a game-writing API (Source-based API?) and an online, on-
console marketplace. Whether the VM is Android or even based on Java at all
would remain to be seen.

The basic Source (or successor) engine might be distributed built into the
Steam Box, with expansions ranging from full-on games to amusing hats
available for immediate purchase and automatic delivery. Probably some back-
catalog goodies will ship with the box/be registered to your Steam account,
too.

~~~
FaddiCat
Would game developers really want to make games for a VM? Don't most big games
usually try to squeeze as much out of the hardware as possible? (Genuinely
curious... I know next to nothing about the gaming world.)

~~~
krautsourced
And what would the point be? Massive loss of performance by going through a VM
- only to save 30 bucks on licence cost for e.g. Windows? Any game dev wants
the most performance they can get their hands on.

~~~
PeterisP
If the gatekeeper (apple/ms/whatever) decides to tighten the screws, taking
not 30% of your revenue, but, say, 70% revenue - then fsck the performance, it
may be quite reasonable to do major changes in art, gameplay and coding
practices just to fit to a more lucrative market model.

And, as is well known, simply the existence and theoretical threat of a plan B
(in Gabe's case, Linux) ensures a much better negotiation position and a
better (more fair?) plan A.

------
m0nastic
I'm not particularly into video games, but I thought his whole talk about
thinking of their games as a platform to enable their users commerce was very
interesting.

I also now understand their decision to hire an in-house economist. They're
looking at creating a much more sophisticated market.

------
slacka
I'm an IT pro,so I run Linux servers for my job, but I'm also a gamer, and
dual booting is a pain in the ass. Trust me, I would love to make Linux my
primary desktop, and every few months when I have some time, I give it another
serious shot. But I always end up back to dual booting.

Years ago, I was happy with OSS audio system, but that is controlled by one
company so the FOSSies have done their best to replace it with a far inferior
ALSA. This caused me so many headaches back in the day and still bothers me
with its high latency. But lately my issue has been with the graphics
subsystem. For my X1900 I have to chose between open source drivers with
terrible performance and bugs or proprietary drivers that don't work with
modern kernels.

Finally, X windows and gaming don't seem to mix. Here is a case, where I think
Linux needs to change the interface. I think Wayland may be the answer. If
not, at least X11 with decent full screen support would be a godsend.

So from my perspective for Linux to make it, it would have to use :

1) OSSv4 Audio Subsystem (FOSSies it's GPL'd already get over it)

2) Stable graphics driver interface ( or FOSSies stop breaking ATI and
Nvidia's drivers )

3) Modern Display Server - maybe Wayland or throwing out all the kruff in X11
and fixing Full Screen graphics in games

~~~
Qantourisc
1) You can actually install it and use it. Personally I had some difficulties
with some missing card-features, but other then that it worked fine.

2) Both NVidia/ATI and Foss is at fault: one should go open source, the other
should should do as you say :)

3) X11 is deemed beyond fixable. But you can run Wayland today. (It has X11
server-for-wayland.) The reason I didn't try yet is because it won't run my
WM. (Well as far as I know anyway.)

~~~
slacka
All good points. You're right, MS did remov hardware accelerated sound support
in Vista, but that doesn't exuse Other OS's for lacking it. Back when I was
composing and Mixing the "upgrade" to ALSA caused me a major headache,
eventually leading me to hacking it out. Where windows has always just worked.

For the video drivers, I'm running Visa driver under Win7. The kernel dev's
could take a cue from MS on this one. By breaking the proprietary drivers,
they've ensured I use windows for gaming on this setup.

------
doctorpangloss
We should all applaud the huge advance gaming will bring to Linux. Just the
side effects from the engineering are huge—nevermind the enormous political
and financial benefits that gaming brings to Linux.

Next up, naturally: Steam for Android.

~~~
moistgorilla
They already have an app, now they just need to actually sell stuff with it.

~~~
Aissen
They do sell stuff with it, just not for Android.

------
frendiversity
I'd love to see Valve bankroll some hefty Wine development and/or buy out
Cedega/WineX/Transgaming, in my opinion that's the holy grail for what needs
to be done.

Getting 99% of the games on Steam working out of the box with DirectX
compatibility layer with in-house testing can and should be done, and is a
better step than providing a VM layer right now.

I'd also like to see them contribute to OpenGL and get it up to DirectX
standards in terms of API ease of use and maturity. It simply isn't as good,
and until it is developers will continue to target DirectX.

------
krautsourced
While it's all well and good that Linux is getting more press in regards to
gaming these days, I'm still not seeing a massive push on the game developer
side. Yes, there are the indie developers who will jump on it, especially
those developing in Unity since it deploys to Linux and the others natively.
But look how long it takes the major developers to even publish on OSX - and
that has a much bigger (and much better known for customers willing to pay
extra) market share.

Personally I'm working on all three platforms and I have reasons (and personal
preferences) for each. I want my web servers to run Linux or BSD. I want my
mobile computer to run OSX. And I want my work machine to run Windows. In each
cases it's a mix of a need for certain applications and a preference for a
certain workflow. Sometimes it's even something ridiculous like hating
(HATING!) the way mouse acceleration works in OSX....

So, anyway, the way Gabe Newell tries to force an OS-war with his rhetoric is
getting on my nerves. Steam is making him shitloads of money. And it'll
continue to do so, regardless of Windows 8. And I love that he's opening up
the market for Linux, but let's face it, Linux still isn't quite there as an
end user desktop system. And unless it is, why should people switch and start
purchasing their games on Linux, when they still do their everyday stuff in
Win and OSX.

~~~
rmk2
This is a hen-and-egg-problem. No games for Linux are published, hence no
market exists. And since no market exists, no games are published.

However, the Humble Bundles _strongly_ suggest that there is in fact a market
for Linux gaming, considering the Linux users consistently paid the most for
the bundles[1], often _significantly_ more than the Windows users and more
than even OS X users usually perceived to readily pay a premium.

[1]: <http://cheesetalks.twolofbees.com/humble/>

~~~
wreckimnaked
And still the Linux ports on the Humble Bundle are buggy and painful to play
(some examples here: <https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=154932>)

~~~
rmk2
That makes it even more interesting, doesn't it? They are willing to pay for
having _something at all_ , _even_ if it is somewhat bug-ridden or not quite
as fast or not quite as perfect as it could be.

That _should_ emphasise even more that it might be worth pouring additional
resources into development. Whether it will be done is another question,
steered by corporate politics, risk-assessment etc. etc.

------
bobsy
I have heard a number of times about how great Gabe is for bringing Steam to
Linux. Isn't it just the case that the only reason Steam is on Linux is
because Valve are making a console? Would Steam for Linux really exist without
this console?

Windows 8 is a fine gaming platform and the Windows store is... useless. It
brings crappy tablet games to the PC. I think he is over reacting to the
damage Windows 8 will do to his business. I think his motivation towards Linux
only came into existence when he saw the Windows Licensing cost on a console.

~~~
brownbat
> I think he is over reacting to the damage Windows 8 will do to his business.

He's not worried about everyone buying Windows 8, he's worried about no one
buying it:

[http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/other/display/20130204235238_Gl...](http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/other/display/20130204235238_Global_Adoption_of_Microsoft_Windows_8_Climbs_to_2_26_in_January_Report.html)

Windows 8 isn't an existential threat to Valve because there are some UI
tweaks, it's a threat because Valve is tethered to Microsoft, and for some,
Windows 8 has not inspired much confidence.

~~~
cdh
Thankfully, we don't have to guess about this particular metric, or use silly
results based on web-surfing of certain websites. Almost 9% of Steam users are
already on Windows 8:

<http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey#cat0>

8.76% is much higher than 2.26%.

~~~
brownbat
The salient point isn't "Win 8 adoption is x%."

> silly results

Please don't do this.

------
lenkite
For your AAA full-fledged games to work on Linux, it's not just Valve - the
Big-iron game engines such as RAGE, CryENGINE, FrostBite 2, etc also need to
be ported and supported. Only then will AAA game makers be able to support
Linux games.

------
emcl
An open platform with the accessibility and raw power of a living room console
can only lead to bold new forms of gameplay elements both in hardware and the
games. A common argument made in favour of strongly controlled console markets
is that it ensures quality, which i don't understand. I think good content
will always find its way to the players no matter how crowded the market is
with crappy titles. And Steam is not abandoning it's own storefront.

------
kedean
I feel like the title of this article was a little misleading, it makes it
sound like he's chiding the industry for relying on use of linux and open-
source software to make them look good (android is linux-based? yay it must be
the best!), which I would kind of agree with. He's actually saying that it's
there as a fail-safe for the possibility of Microsoft and Apple walling off
their ecosystems from tinkerers and developers (which I also agree with).

------
kabdib
Isn't the Sony PS3 operating system largely based on Linux?

This is much more about what you let customers do with machines. There's a
tension between "anything goes" (and rampant piracy and cheating) and total
lockdown. Big companies seem to go the route of sealing everything up. It's
unclear that this is totally necessary.

~~~
mpyne
AFAIK no, but it did have an option to install a gimped Linux OS for some
time, before Sony took that away.

