It very interesting to me to think about Valve's motivations for doing this.
One theory is that they want to develop a console (which I have heard denounced as a far fetches rumour on here).
So if we assume that this is not the case, and that you have a smart and well established company like Valve porting their flagship products to the Linux platform; what does that say about how they see the future for Linux in the consumer space?
In other threads we have people worried that the coming UEFIgate will leave the majority of devices locked out of running a Linux OS. If this is the case then why would Valve now be deciding to take on the task of porting everything over to a platform that was as good as dead to the consumer?
In which case are they predicting a mass exodus of PC users from Windows to desktop Linux? Or are they more interested in creating a Linux port as a step towards porting it to future Linux based platforms (ChromeBook/Box?)?
If the future is ARM based devices and UEFI then people won't be able to install Linux even Windows 8 sucks to an obscene degree.
Think about what happens to PC hardware vendors if windows8 tanks. Windows8 could destroy the PC and PC gaming by forcing everyone to consoles, mobiles or Macs.
I think they're preparing in case Windows 8 does do well. If Microsoft can put a working app store into Windows 8, and require it for delivering everything signable to run on Windows 9, Steam's toast.
It very interesting to me to think about Valve's motivations for doing this. One theory is that they want to develop a console (which I have heard denounced as a far fetches rumour on here).
So if we assume that this is not the case, and that you have a smart and well established company like Valve porting their flagship products to the Linux platform; what does that say about how they see the future for Linux in the consumer space?
In other threads we have people worried that the coming UEFIgate will leave the majority of devices locked out of running a Linux OS. If this is the case then why would Valve now be deciding to take on the task of porting everything over to a platform that was as good as dead to the consumer?