I notice there's one criticism that keeps on cropping up, even in positive reviews by people looking at it from a console perspective:
No apps for Netflix and similar webby multimedia stuff. That's something well within Valve's power to fix, they should get on it.

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Quoting: GuestThis actually applies to Linux too for whenever you need proprietary drivers, sure it depends on distro, but I went through hell trying to install the latest proprietary nvidia drivers in Linux Mint, and still failed.

Generally agree with most of your post, but this--I have to figure the key word here is "latest". Installing the proprietary nvidia drivers on Linux Mint that Linux Mint has available to install is easier than snapping your fingers (I'm actually kind of crap at snapping my fingers, but clicking the mouse, that I can do). I can well believe that if you want to go bleeding edge, it gets a lot harder. This is not quite the same as with Windows, where just installing a driver for some things at all is apparently often a pain (I don't know for sure, haven't tried to install Windows in many a year).

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Civ V, Civ: Beyond Earth, a little Crypt of the Necrodancer.

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This is a little off topic, but I just noticed something interesting:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/11/psa-pre-thanksgiving-one-day-sale-drops-a-steam-machines-price-to-300/

So apparently the Syber Steam Machines are all doing a $200-off sale today?
If this kind of thing crops up a fair amount, the price-point arguments are going to need rethinking.

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Quoting: ricki42

Quoting: Duckeenie

Quoting: adolsonWindows as a gaming console OS is crap.

Windows is not for me but I hate to see completely unqualified and unsubstantiated statements like: Windows as a gaming OS is crap, when any impartial person would tell you Windows is streets ahead in this regard.

I think 'console' is the operative word in what adolson is saying. Windows is better for PC gaming, with better driver support and more games developed for the OS. But as a console OS for hassle-free comfy couch gaming in the living room, it's less than ideal. A lot of that is due to MS's limitations on how much third-parties are allowed to modify the system (afaik the xb1 runs a Windows kernel, but since it's made by MS, they can modify the OS to suit their needs). That is where Linux has the advantage, Valve can do whatever they want, and all updates running through one central application that Valve controls makes it a lot easier to have a console-like experience.

Now this makes sense to me. There's a selling point here somewhere. I'm not sure, for example, if an Alpha boots straight into Big Picture. I'm not sure if you ever need to do any configuring in Windows--I don't configure things in Windows very often, but recently when I was wiping Windows 10 off my new laptop I had to boot into it and go into weird advanced option things just to get it to let me into the friggin' BIOS--sorry, "UEFI"--so I could turn off moronic Secure Boot. It was a pain and a half, I had to do some googling and watching instruction videos just to figure out where it hid the bloody option. If I had to work with that on an ongoing basis I'd go nuts.
And there is going to be a tendency for Windows to slow down over time, accumulate spyware, need virus protection fiddling (which will also slow it down) . . . these things can be used as browsers too, after all, so they'll be heir to everything on the internet that blights and slows down a Windows box. Then when they get to a certain point they'll need to clean it out or get the power user they know to do it for them. I understand there are measures you can take to keep this kind of thing to a minimum, but couch gamers strike me as including a lot of the kind of people who don't understand those measures. It'll be a pain. Then there will doubtless be weird Windows update shenanigans.

Unfortunately, this is not a simple or obvious sell. These are troubles that pop up gradually, down the road, not right when you buy. It's not instant (lack of) gratification.

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Quoting: CaldazarFor some reason people didn't quite listen to Gabe Newell when he stated what SteamOS was all about.
Did he claim better driver support? More Games? That DirectX 12 would suck over OpenGL 4?

No! What he claimed he will do is to end walled gardens. A machine and OS you own, meaning you won't get sued if you hack it to build a freaking robot with it. Hotz, anyone?

Unfortunately, that isn't a sales strategy or Gnu/Linux would rule the desktop.
And yes, I put the "Gnu" part in there to underline the point.

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Road Rage?

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Well if it's gonna exist, it seems appropriate that it be on Linux.

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I just hope they're good. You can always write more story if you don't have a ton, but if you release a crap story it's harder to take it back.

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Watching the release of the Steam Machine unfold, I don't know what to think. Part of me feels like I'm watching these pitiful little eggs and the incubator light is blinking on and off with lousy wiring and I'm just thinking "Come on, come on, you lousy piece of &^%!, just hold out long enough to hatch me some chickens!!!" and getting this sinking feeling that it won't.
Another part is starting to feel like rather than a release, I'm basically watching a huge beta. Which maybe means they'll be gathering info on what people felt was missing (IMO polish, multimedia) and they're going to roll out the upgrades and when Alienware's next generation is ready they'll basically do a relaunch.
Still another part thinks "Hell, for all we know despite all the tepid press, lack of big PR and bits of bad news like this, actually the massive Steam sales channel is quietly doing its magic and in the end sales will be quite big."
Just don't know what to think.

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