Windows 8 is a "catastrophe" says Valve's Gabe Newell

The biggest problem with building games for linux (and by relation OSX) is the lack of a strong unified API collection. People often overlook how critically important DirectX is to developers in the PC space.

Porting these titles over to Linux/OSX generally results in devs having to rewrite parts of the software (specifically the parts that would be referencing the relevant API, obviously) support the only probably alternative at this point : OpenGL.
 
James said:
Windows 8 is a "catastrophe" says Valve's Gabe Newell
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Says the company having failed to produced episode 3... for how many years? Are they aiming to release another DNF ?

Valve moving into Linux to “to hedge against that eventuality”

He might have worked at Microsoft for thirteen years, but Valve boss Gabe Newell isn’t a big fan of the company’s new Windows OS at all, calling it a “catastrophe” in a recent interview.

On the subject of Valve’s recent interest in Linux, Newell told All Things D that “The big problem that is holding back Linux is games. People don’t realise how critical games are in driving consumer purchasing behavior.”

The big idea then is to put Steam on Linux so if Windows 8 bombs, the company has other options.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well. It’s a hedging strategy,” he explained. “I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space. I think 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. If that’s true, then it will be good to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality.”

Windows 8 launches in October. Steam for Linux launches whenever it’s ready. Who will triumph? Stay tuned.
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Would have been nice to know what his opinion is based on over just saying it is kak. If there is no relevant argument then his opinion is moot. Seems that the whole point of the retort was to punt the issues with Linux and games.
 
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Well the biggest new feature Windows 8 is brining to the table is Metro and metro is a closed system. Afaik you can only buy/sell Metro apps through Microsoft's App marketplace, hence if you want to develop in that space you are forced into an ecosystem which is basically counter to everything good about PCs.
 
MOnk said:
Well the biggest new feature Windows 8 is brining to the table is Metro and metro is a closed system. Afaik you can only buy/sell Metro apps through Microsoft's App marketplace, hence if you want to develop in that space you are forced into an ecosystem which is basically counter to everything good about PCs.
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And iTune apps works on my xbox, nds or pc?

Still waiting for this awestruck argument against windows 8. Sure if it has valid reasons lets pass on windows 8, but if there is none it is fail.

I can't help to feel that this is just joined in by stoepkakkertjies without looking at the facts first.

Again who is forcing you to buy it?

Going to play with the rtm as soon as it hits msdn or the 7 seas.
 
MOnk said:
Well the biggest new feature Windows 8 is brining to the table is Metro and metro is a closed system. Afaik you can only buy/sell Metro apps through Microsoft's App marketplace, hence if you want to develop in that space you are forced into an ecosystem which is basically counter to everything good about PCs.
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But you don't -have- to use metro afaik? It's completely optional, so you can still switch to the classic Windows UI if you want? Or am I wrong here?
 
Pr⊕phet said:
And iTune apps works on my xbox, nds or pc?
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I think you may need a few more words to explain yourself more clearly. In any case comparing it to iOS is exactly the problem iOS is a closed system and in that system you would never get a GoG, Steam, Origin, Gamersgate, ect... because they just wouldn't be allowed.

Any time you have a gatekeeper dictating what is and isn't allowed it will slow progress and innovation but most importantly stifle competition.

Strifehart said:
But you don't -have- to use metro afaik? It's completely optional, so you can still switch to the classic Windows UI if you want? Or am I wrong here?
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No you don't have to use Metro but it's the main feature of Windows 8 and if a developer wants to develop metro apps because customers want a metro app, they are forced to work under Microsoft's rule.
 
Viva Valve!

What excites me about this is the possibility that I may never have to pay Microsoft close to R1000 to play commercial games on my PC ever again.
 
Interesting, there are other people saying that microsoft has pulled an apple.
 
czc said:
Interesting, there are other people saying that microsoft has pulled an apple.
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People are always going to either love or hate a drastically new design to something familiar. Having not tried Win 8 I cant comment personally but our head of technology got to play with it a bit and said it was clunky and not at all user friendly. Luckily I dont have to worry, work PC runs win 7 and my home one Mac OS X. Either way I wont have to worry about Win 8 until it comes to work upgrade time.
 
Pr⊕phet said:
And iTune apps works on my xbox, nds or pc?

Still waiting for this awestruck argument against windows 8. Sure if it has valid reasons lets pass on windows 8, but if there is none it is fail.

I can't help to feel that this is just joined in by stoepkakkertjies without looking at the facts first.

Again who is forcing you to buy it?

Going to play with the rtm as soon as it hits msdn or the 7 seas.
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Have you tried it yet?

I'm using Release Preview + Visual Studio 2012 beta..... and I hate it.

Especially as a dev, I'm forced to look at other ways of doing things because its incredibly restricted with its limited subset of .Net library access.
 
Pr⊕phet said:
Would have been nice to know what his opinion is based on over just saying it is kak.
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This. I'm not particularly keen on Metro, but after running Win 8 for like 2 months now I don't quite see where this catastrophe part is.

To me this smells more like the disaster part is on the Valve commercial side. i.e. Windows store competing against Steam.
 
MOnk said:
I think you may need a few more words to explain yourself more clearly. In any case comparing it to iOS is exactly the problem iOS is a closed system and in that system you would never get a GoG, Steam, Origin, Gamersgate, ect... because they just wouldn't be allowed.

Any time you have a gatekeeper dictating what is and isn't allowed it will slow progress and innovation but most importantly stifle competition.
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This fear for closed systems sometimes boggles my mind.

"open innovation" isn't always the answer. There is a lot of open projects that just tanks because every smart ass has his or her way of doing things and they never really integrate. Doesn't a good program make use of set standards and known environments/integration? You don't just do something because it is so cool and sweet, everybody else is doing it or for love of "open". The whole "open" sometimes feels like patchwork pullover.

This is way I do to a degree prefer a closed like the iOS.

If openness was the answer then where are all those "open" developers or community contributions hiding? Seems that monopoly is used as excuse but sometimes I do wonder if there is more reasons why for example linux isn't the no1 gaming platform or everybody just using android? Like everything else it has its place, but imho isn't the alpha and omega.

Getting back to windows 8 and metro... The whole of windows 8 is bad just because of metro being present? (++sensationalism ??)

What about the rest of the OS? Has a full scale comparison on all aspects been done against other offerings? Unless gabe or the article writer/relaying can supply this I'm still waiting for the awestruck argument.

Now metro is bad just because it is closed? Everything to a degree is closed systems for a very good reason, some just more than other. Why not expand a little more on why you think closed is so bad apart from just going dictator gatekeepers :)

phoenix said:
Viva Valve!

What excites me about this is the possibility that I may never have to pay Microsoft close to R1000 to play commercial games on my PC ever again.
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bark bark.

Nether said:
Have you tried it yet?

I'm using Release Preview + Visual Studio 2012 beta..... and I hate it.

Especially as a dev, I'm forced to look at other ways of doing things because its incredibly restricted with its limited subset of .Net library access.
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Slightly looked at the beta and the preview to just see what it looks like. Haven't gotten around to look at Visual Studio 2012. .Net 4.5 is still in RC, I wouldn't bet my F5 on it for being complete as it can still change. There is the after thought of what role Silverlight is going to play in or VS html 5.

If you want restricted go play with sharepoint 365...
 
HavocXphere said:
This. I'm not particularly keen on Metro, but after running Win 8 for like 2 months now I don't quite see where this catastrophe part is.

To me this smells more like the disaster part is on the Valve commercial side. i.e. Windows store competing against Steam.
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Seems valve is scraping to punt their system wants to be on linux. Maybe they should scrape more actively or open to release an actual title... like HL3. I'd bet we first see the day of L4d2 rebranded as L4d3 ;)
 
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I had the initial release of Windows 8 loaded with Visual Studio and very briefly went through it, but wasn't really impressed with the UI / navigation experience. It was quite a while ago and very briefly so with my short long-term memory, I can't really remember the details / reasons. I will however install it on a VM and do a more in-depth evaluation as soon as MS makes the RTM available on MSDN.

I'm usually pretty quick to jump on the latest versions when possible (Windows, Office, VS, etc.). The thing is, in this case however, is that Windows 7 is SO good and it even still has that "new car smell" so to speak. Perhaps if they waited a couple of years before releasing Windows 8 I'd be more eager for this, but at the moment, Windows 7 does everything what I want it to do, and it does it very well.
 
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