Valve has announced the Steam operating system, a Linux-based OS "designed for the TV and living room."

In a post on its website, Valve says SteamOS "combines the rock-solid architecture of Linux with a gaming experience built for the big screen." The game developer claims its new operating system provides "significant performance increases in graphics processing," which it claims game developers are already taking advantage of for their upcoming titles.

Gaming won't be the only capability of SteamOS, however, as the company is positioning the operating system as a multimedia mainstay, including support for "media services you know and love," though no deals have been announced yet. Game streaming will also be available, allowing users to play their Windows or Mac games from a SteamOS computer.

Valve says the operating system will be available for download "soon" for free, though no specific release date was provided.

Two additional Valve announcements are scheduled for this week, with one likely being the company's "Steam Box" initiative that will see it partner with hardware manufacturers for low-cost living room PCs. Valve previously said it would allow partners to use either a Linux or Windows operating system for the computers, though it's been critical of Microsoft's latest operating system in the past year.

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell famously called Windows 8 "this giant sadness" and a "catastrophe" that would make users "rage quit gaming." Newell, a former Microsoft employee, has repeatedly stated that the operating system's new interface isn't intuitive and marks a step backward from Microsoft's previous Windows versions.

Posted: Sep 23, 2013 1:27 pm
Related Forum: PC General Forum

Source: http://www.neowin.net/news/valve-announces-linux-based-steam-os