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In an unsurprising move, Steam has replaced the Linux icon of "tux" with their own SteamOS icon. I completely understand why they did this, but it does make things confusing.
I can see plenty of people getting confused about what the icon is for, as it's so close to Steam's own icon. At least Tux was a clear separation to the Windows and Mac icons. I hope people don't get confused by it, but I can guarantee people will be.
They do need their own clear SteamOS branding of course, as they need to constantly keep it in gamers and developers minds. The problem is, how long before SteamOS is the only "distribution" supported on Steam? I hope game developers and Valve don't become that silly, but there are some problematic developers out there already. At least as long as Valve keep the Steam Runtime working as it is now, other distributions shouldn't have any problems.
For those that don't have the new version:
Looks like that little saying going around of "No tux no bux" is going to have to be tweaked?
I'm still excited to see what happens with SteamOS and Steam Machines, and what would happen if they fail miserably. I hope they don't of course, but they obviously won't be an overnight success. I will eat a tux teddy live on air if they are an overnight success (please don't hold me to that).
Well, at least it still says "SteamOS + Linux" right? Let's hope there's never a hint of Microsoft style "embrace extend extinguish".
It's easily possible this change will be reverted though, as certain parts of the site keep breaking, like the title now being "#title_welcome_to_steam". Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I can see plenty of people getting confused about what the icon is for, as it's so close to Steam's own icon. At least Tux was a clear separation to the Windows and Mac icons. I hope people don't get confused by it, but I can guarantee people will be.
They do need their own clear SteamOS branding of course, as they need to constantly keep it in gamers and developers minds. The problem is, how long before SteamOS is the only "distribution" supported on Steam? I hope game developers and Valve don't become that silly, but there are some problematic developers out there already. At least as long as Valve keep the Steam Runtime working as it is now, other distributions shouldn't have any problems.
For those that don't have the new version:
Looks like that little saying going around of "No tux no bux" is going to have to be tweaked?
I'm still excited to see what happens with SteamOS and Steam Machines, and what would happen if they fail miserably. I hope they don't of course, but they obviously won't be an overnight success. I will eat a tux teddy live on air if they are an overnight success (please don't hold me to that).
Well, at least it still says "SteamOS + Linux" right? Let's hope there's never a hint of Microsoft style "embrace extend extinguish".
It's easily possible this change will be reverted though, as certain parts of the site keep breaking, like the title now being "#title_welcome_to_steam". Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Quoting: pbQuoting: liamdaweQuoting: adolsonIt has been this way for a long, long time. Visit Steam in a browser, and it's still Tux.
No it's not, that's your cache keeping the tux icon. Do a hard refresh.
Screenshot after ctrl+shift+r in Firefox: http://s1.zrzut.pl/f6GiOdD.png
Also you didn't discover anything new, maybe you just switched from Firefox to Chrome?
http://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/2y07g8/did_steam_just_switch_the_tux_logo_to_a_steam_logo/
Herp derp disable enhanced steam.
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Quoting: nitroflowHerp derp disable enhanced steam.
Ah, so that might be the reason I guess.
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Im RMS hardcore kinda of linux user... just to put on perspective this comment im about to do...
Im not only okay with this... i would accept much more distance from us... (no need right now and/or to create a barrier for the shake of it but if the need arise...)
This push gotta work no matter what... even if not perfect... allow to valve do their magic... if it does, we are going to win more games and support in the end...
Just looking at the hostility to game on linux ive seen on r/games (not r/gaming but r/games) from windows users ... im afraid valve is going to work very hard on this one... this is going to be almost impossible to pull off.
Please, remember we are spreading our money pretty thin with so many games realeases lately... Lots of new developers coming are going to see very small % of revenue and confirm their biased opinion of linux... we need more users if this is going to work
Im not only okay with this... i would accept much more distance from us... (no need right now and/or to create a barrier for the shake of it but if the need arise...)
This push gotta work no matter what... even if not perfect... allow to valve do their magic... if it does, we are going to win more games and support in the end...
Just looking at the hostility to game on linux ive seen on r/games (not r/gaming but r/games) from windows users ... im afraid valve is going to work very hard on this one... this is going to be almost impossible to pull off.
Please, remember we are spreading our money pretty thin with so many games realeases lately... Lots of new developers coming are going to see very small % of revenue and confirm their biased opinion of linux... we need more users if this is going to work
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Honestly though how many linuxus distros has a tux in it's logo?
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I'll once again assume the role of the forum a**hole and point out Valve don't have to and don't need to do anything :). It is entirely in their power to promote their own distro. From their point of view Steam OS is the only thing that matters. Other than possibly serving as guinea pigs other distributions have little to no value for them (yeah, they don't give a damn for that 1% of the market). If Canonical can erase completely the word Linux from their website and Google can promote Android as this separate thing, then why shouldn't Valve? I don't think there is point in worrying that support for other distributions might suffer. They are currently only officially supporting Steam OS and Ubuntu anyway. Worst case scenario - they'll drop official support for Ubuntu, which they won't, especially if Samsung ends up buying AMD. Nothing will change for people using Debian, Arch, Fedora etc.
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Making SteamOS a stable platform is a practical move. What constitutes "Linux" is unclear; developers need a well-defined platform (at least in terms of software, although preferably hardware as well) that they can feasibly test against. QA, especially porting QA, can be easily outnumbered by the sheer number of drivers*distro combinations alone, and then there are hardware and other peculiarities that come into play.
This is at odds with the freedom of choice that the free software is based upon, however, one can say that FOSS in general and Linux "platform" (which is in fact a family of closely related operating systems that happen to share the kernel and certain software) in particular is not geared towards mass-scale software distribution at all - even in source form, but especially so in binary. Every user is granted the ability to create their own "software soup", with this comes the responsibility for making it work.
Linux gaming community - and I am assuming commercial gaming here - should help developers reconcile this discrepancy if we want to see commercial games on our hardware. And by "helping" I mean consciously limiting the number of independent variables and accepting the fact that there are no guarantees that things work on a setup that is too different from developer's.
This is at odds with the freedom of choice that the free software is based upon, however, one can say that FOSS in general and Linux "platform" (which is in fact a family of closely related operating systems that happen to share the kernel and certain software) in particular is not geared towards mass-scale software distribution at all - even in source form, but especially so in binary. Every user is granted the ability to create their own "software soup", with this comes the responsibility for making it work.
Linux gaming community - and I am assuming commercial gaming here - should help developers reconcile this discrepancy if we want to see commercial games on our hardware. And by "helping" I mean consciously limiting the number of independent variables and accepting the fact that there are no guarantees that things work on a setup that is too different from developer's.
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One of my work friends has a pair of shoes with the tux logo on. I once told her about it to which her response was to call me a geek and tell me she didn't care. Very few people give a damn about that penguin really.
This move had to be expected as we get closer to the full SteamOS launch and I wouldn't be too surprised if Steam further distances itself from the association with Linux, at least in the short term. Rightly or wrongly, Linux gaming has a reputation for being inferior in the eyes of a huge percentage of gamers and launching a console with a close association with that reputation wouldn't make much sense.
This move had to be expected as we get closer to the full SteamOS launch and I wouldn't be too surprised if Steam further distances itself from the association with Linux, at least in the short term. Rightly or wrongly, Linux gaming has a reputation for being inferior in the eyes of a huge percentage of gamers and launching a console with a close association with that reputation wouldn't make much sense.
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Insperatus May 28, 2015
I think it makes sense for Steam to change the branding, we may be huge fans of the kernel and various desktop distros but that isn't really the pitch they're making to consumers, developers, and hardware manufacturers. They want system branding to represent an alternative living room gaming platform first and foremost and people casually familiar with "linux" don't exactly make that kind of association.
Personally I believe Gabe and Valve are interested in an open platform because they understand it's best for consumers, developers, hardware manufacturers, AND their own economic interests, thus I have no concerns Steam will stop running on other distros. Another smart company taking linux to new heights and profits.
EDIT: This is also exciting because it (at least symbolically) means Valve is fully adopting linux, the Steam logo now means linux.
Personally I believe Gabe and Valve are interested in an open platform because they understand it's best for consumers, developers, hardware manufacturers, AND their own economic interests, thus I have no concerns Steam will stop running on other distros. Another smart company taking linux to new heights and profits.
EDIT: This is also exciting because it (at least symbolically) means Valve is fully adopting linux, the Steam logo now means linux.
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Mountain Man May 28, 2015
Eh, I'll miss the Tux logo, but this isn't a big deal. There are enough people who don't realize that SteamOS is actually Linux, and having a penguin represent SteamOS just confuses them, so this change makes sense.
However, I agree that Valve needs something more distinctive than the same logo that's plastered all across Steam since that can be confusing as well. Maybe some kind of gear icon to associate it with Steam Machines.
However, I agree that Valve needs something more distinctive than the same logo that's plastered all across Steam since that can be confusing as well. Maybe some kind of gear icon to associate it with Steam Machines.
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