Gabe Newell and Valve Embrace Linux

At Casual Connect, a videogame conference recently held in Seattle, Gabe Newell unequivocally referred to Windows 8 as no less than "a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space," saying, "we'll lose some of the top-tier PC/OEMs, who will exit the market. I think margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people."

Newell went on to argue that the final barrier for a lot of users to switch over to Linux is, ultimately, the lack of games. In what the Valve honcho calls a "hedging strategy," the developer is working to bring Left 4 Dead 2 and other Steam games to the humble platform. Newell, who predicts unmitigated failure for Windows 8, is essentially setting up an "alternative" to hedge against that prediction if it comes true.

While Newell has been stating his distaste for the new Windows OS for some time, the built-in Windows Store brings with it some interesting concerns for him as well. For one, features like Xbox LIVE integration could make the store more appealing than Steam for gamers and developers. For another, there are the limitations a built-in Windows 8 store brings with it: Newell attributes the success of Steam to the openness of the PC and of the platform itself. But, he warns that that philosophy is being threatened by what the Windows Store brings with it, saying that the platform's developers "look at what they can accomplish when they limit the competitors’ access to the platform, and they say 'That's really exciting.'"

Via: Ars Technica

Image: Flickr/Jon Jordan