Gabe Newell: Linux is a “Get-out-of-jail free pass for our industry”

"Not a single fuck was given about Linux prior to the release of Win 8. Then, suddenly, once Valve's profit margins and business model is threatened the company shows some interest."

Well, I don't think so. It has been a continuous move for no dependence on MS for a long time. It is just that the backend code for making their code multiplattform is not as visible as their recent announcements.

If I have to point milestones, they are: Android as a commercial(linux) viable product, companies that make Linux compatible hardware (Xi3), and of course the tremendous amount of demand for mobile devices(that will surpass desktop computers installed base this year), not just MS fear.

1)No need for that, ALSA works fine now. Windows sound system is not better than ALSA in latency terms and it works just right, they(MS) even removed some hardware acceleration for sound as they considered it was not worth the complexity pain.

2) This will come naturally if Linux becomes an option for gamers and 3D professionals(like architects and engineers). It is not that FOSS are breaking the drivers, but that Windows graphic drivers budget are tens or hundreds of times bigger than Linux.(e.g. nouveau drivers are made with less than 2 full time workers who have to reverse engineer everything, and Nvidia creates drivers with just their special customers[big studio animators] in mind).

3)This is basically dependent on 2. It is way easier to code a display server when your drivers work. They could only use open source drivers for this through, as companies like Nvidia had not collaborated with the Wayland people.

Not really. Years ago people mentioned they found extra code for what looked like a linux version somewhere in some steam package or development kit or whatever it was. This was years and years ago. Valve downplayed it. Of course now it's obvious they've been planning and experimenting with linux this whole time. They've gotten higher frame rates in Left 4 Dead 2 on Linux than on Windows on the same hardware so, they have quiet a vested interest in this thing.

I think they're in this for the long run. The biggest threat to consoles is Steam and consoles after all, are just crippled PCs.

I suppose this is why the FSF has gone on and on about "free as in freedom", and not about the practical benefits for developers in releasing source code to the public.

I understand that Gabe does not want to play by the app-store rule, be that Apple or Microsoft. They want to be free to develop their business, their business model, free from dictated rules of a third party.

In a world where every user device is locked down under DRM, there won't be a get-out-of-jail free pass called Linux. If all obvious and commonly used aspects of computing are patented, then we won't have a Linux that can be shipped by something like Steam. Anti-DRM and anti-patent clauses, like those in GPLv3 and the Apache license are not anti-business. They are pro-freedom for companies to decide their own fate.

If we want to keep this get-out-of-jail free pass for the industry, we need to maintain it and banish DRM and patents to the dustheap. It's that simple today. It won't be that simple tomorrow.

Minor nitpick: there are no anti-DRM clauses in the Apache license and the one in the GPLv3 only refers to DRM preventing replacing of the GPLv3 software.