Steam Takes Huge Step Forward: SteamOS and Steam Machines Coming Out Friday

Valve’s ambitious SteamOS initiative just picked up a pivotal date. Tomorrow, the 1^st batch of prototype Steam Machines will be released to beta testers. At the same date, they will be releasing the very 1^st build of SteamOS.

The Steam Machine prototypes will come with the now famous dual trackpad Steam controllers, to 300 randomly selected testers in the US. Unfortunately, Steam was unable to include beta testers outside the US due to government regulations. If you applied as a tester and still qualify, you should find out if you got in today by 2 PM Pacific. You will also get a badge on your Steam account to identify you as one of the beta testers. Of course, Linux compatible games are also already being added to these beta testers’ Steam libraries.

SteamOS will become available when these prototypes ship, available to both OEMs and individuals. Valve also issues a warning that you probably should not try messing with this build unless you have already racked up some experience installing and using Linux OSes.

Valve promises more information on commercially available Steam Machines on January 6, at CES. They will also be revealing more information about in-home streaming soon.

If you want to have some idea how installing a SteamOS might play out, you can read this account from a fan who build his own Steam Machine based on Valve’s specs and installed Steam On Linux. He claims the whole process of moving to Linux, installing Steam and playing games can be done in a day. However, he does not detail what Linux OS he actually used or give an exact time frame.

Consider this anecdotal, but based on personal experience the Linux community has worked hard on reaching parity with Windows in making a consumer friendly desktop OS. There are several worthy desktop OS contenders already, but Linux still faces huge roadblocks, with something as simple as installing a new OS. Expect SteamOS to be difficult to get into at this point for even the most hardcore gamers, without prior knowledge of Linux. For all intents and purposes, very few gamers will be able to get involved in Steam’s huge step forward.