

New Steam beta replaces Trident/IE with WebKit - eswat
http://store.steampowered.com/news/3501/

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eswat
Here's some screenshots of the new client.

New games list: <http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_ui_library.jpg>

New store site: <http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_ui_store.jpg>

New in-game overlay and browser:
<http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_browser.jpg>

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mey
I wonder if this a step towards multi-platform Steam...

~~~
grumpyfart
It doesn't matter how Steam is cross-platform as soon as no one bothers to
develop games for other platforms.

BTW about 10 years later none-console gaming will be such a niche we'll see
less and less games, and only lemonade tycoon quality :)

~~~
InclinedPlane
I guess you've never heard of World of Warcraft.

Cue a post explaining in detail why that "doesn't count" in 3... 2... 1...

~~~
grumpyfart
I guess you can't understand difference between hundred thousand games and a
hundred games.

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kevingadd
Specifically, they're using the Chromium Embedded Framework:

<http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/>

[http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Chromium_Embedded_Fr...](http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Chromium_Embedded_Framework)

I'm looking forward to seeing them release the modified source. Always nice to
see a game studio participate in the open source community.

~~~
houseabsolute
One more bit of evidence that the GPL may not be the best thing for Open
Source software. Think about it: if CEF used GPL, Valve might not have used it
fearing that if they built Steam and decided they did not wish to release the
source, they would have no choice but to not distribute Steam. With the BSD
license, they could put in the work and decide once the project was complete
whether or not to release the source code. But now we get a shiny new Steam
and the source code. Epic win for everyone involved.

~~~
jmillikin
The GPL cannot force somebody to release their source code.

~~~
houseabsolute
You are mistaken if you believe that you can distribute an application built
using GPL code and not release the source code (and all derived code) as well.
In the event that you were confused by my wording, check again. I have
attempted to clarify.

~~~
jmillikin
That's not what your original post said, and even now that you've edited it,
it's still wrong. There is no requirement that Valve release source code for
an internal development build, and just because GPL'd code was at one point
used in Steam wouldn't prevent them from distributing it without source in the
future.

The GPL isn't some magical infective uber-license; it's just plain copyright.

~~~
houseabsolute
Right, it can't force them to release an internal build. But that's not what
this is, it's an external beta. At this point they could still back out from
releasing the source code if they wished, but not if they had used the GPL. If
they had used a GPL program, they would at this point have to sacrifice a
great deal of work to avoid releasing the source. That is my point. The GPL
can force you to plan for things that you have no way of knowing about (For
example, are we going to have to modify this program to couple with our
internal APIs at a level that we don't want documented? Is the source code
going to be ugly to an extent that it would be embarrassing to us to release
it? etc.).

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jpcx01
About time! I always wondered how such a successful product could lag so
behind in polish. That embedded IE control steam uses is an absolute pain in
the ass.

~~~
jsolson
Precisely because they had such a successful product. Initially that product
wasn't Steam, but Half-Life 2. Once other studious picked up on it as a
distribution model (because who doesn't want to take advantage of the entire
HL2 install-base to market their game?), they were golden.

Also, despite its lack of overall polish, occasional crashiness, and the
inconsistent and slow UI, for the most part Steam works exactly as advertised.
It lets me install my games anywhere as many times as I like for free, I can
play them offline if they're single player, and online I get a lovely Xbox-
Live style server browser and social management right in the client.

The worst I can say about it is that I'd be a little happier with it if it
were more polished, and I'd kill a man for a Mac port (including, obviously,
the games I care about).

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antipax
Why is the fact that they're switching to WebKit buried in the document so
deeply? That's like the best thing they did.

~~~
kevingadd
Their customers care more about the surface symptoms than the technical
details behind why it's an improvement. If you use the new UI, it's
immediately obvious why it's a big deal: Because the UI is vastly improved.
The fact that WebKit is involved isn't really important (though it is a cool
detail).

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dnorris10
Wow, that looks much better! Does anyone know how much better it performs
compared to the IE-based client?

~~~
kevingadd
As far as subjective measurements go, it's night and day. Repainting is
quicker, pages load faster, content (like images) streams in more quickly onto
the screen, and the UI in general pauses less. It helps that they also
overhauled the user interface so that it's easier to use, which makes it
_feel_ faster even if it actually isn't.

I always speculated that a lot of the random pauses/hangs in the Steam UI were
caused by IE, and now I'm fairly certain as most of them are gone in the new
one.

~~~
dnorris10
I tried using it earlier and it is a lot quicker. The only downside I've
noticed is that an individual game sometimes takes up to 5 seconds to load,
but I suspect it's my connection rather than the client itself.

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Super_Jambo
Anyone tell me if this allows you to choose different install directories for
different games?

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BasicObject
Huge win.

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malbiniak
Great! Maybe now they'll update counter-strike.

~~~
bugs
That will never be done, I played source for many years and for the year that
they updated it and ruined many competitive features it wasn't that great and
actually made me buy a new computer to even play the game with an HDR update.
Now I can see them release a new Counterstrike in a few years that looks and
plays tf2 but thats about it.

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dirtbox
Semi-related yet off-topic, but in not divulging their sales figures, Valve is
hurting the PC as a gaming platform in huge and undeniable ways. They are, in
essence, destroying it by making it appear that no one buys games for Windows.
All format charts are dominated by console titles and almost all games are
initially developed for those and pooly ported to the PC in what seems to be
an afterthought. Piracy is then blamed for those apparently falling sales
figures and the PC is no longer an attractive platform for development.

