this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2025
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I hope that SteamOS finds more of its way into desktop computers. Sure, I don't trust Valve; just like I don't trust any other corporation. But it's like fighting a big cancer with a smaller meta-cancer, if they hurt Windows/Microsoft I'm happy.
Plus its current relationship with GNU/Linux is symbiotic.
Why is steam/valve bad?
They are a privately owned company with 100% focus on customer service and sustainably.
Yeah they charge like 10% of profit for the games on there, and more if you make it big. To be on the only platform where people actually shop for PC games...
Nobody has ever given me a real problem with Steam where some other company isn't already doing significantly worse shit in comparison.
Remember when Google's motto was "don't be evil"? Remember when Facebook was innovative? Remember when [insert any post-IPO platform] was privately owned?
Look at the past and future, not just the present. Corporations eventually go sour, and fight against the very users that they were supposed to serve. Give Steam/Valve enough power and it'll do the same. We don't need corporations serving us software; we need open systems.
That said Valve is situationally useful here because it's eroding Microsoft's power.
Valve has tons of power. Like, a lot. They seem to (for the most part) wield it responsibly. They're certainly not perfect but time and time again, given the choice, they choose to do the right thing. Look no further than the Steam Deck.
Imagine how easy it would have been to ship it with Windows. But they went through the pain-staking and expensive process of creating Proton and making everything work super smoothly on a completely open-source OS, and even funding the developers of said OS. Sure, they needed something to distance themselves from Microsoft but imagine how easy it would be for them to lock down the OS so that you could never leave Steam or install any competing stores or make any modifications. Or they could even create their own OS/ecosystem like XBOX and PS do.
Imagine how easy it would have been to be like every other OEM and glue it together and solder everything to the mobo and make it completely unrepairable/unupgradeable. Instead they gave it a removable back and updated it to use torx screws and partnered with iFixIt to ensure longevity out of respect for their consumers.
Imagine how easy it would be to just ignore Denuvo and EULAs and 3rd party accounts, but they force publishers to list them.
They also have an excellent track record for customer support.
Their customer support actually used to really suck. They made a concerted effort to improve it.
More like the EU made them.
Australia made them offer refunds thanks to our consumer law.
And instead of pushing back and doing their best to go around it... they made accommodations to follow those directives.
They're not perfect angels, but they're also not malevolent demons either. They tend more towards consumer friendly practices, even if they need a push sometimes, than most others in the field.
Well I did speak in the present tense.
You spoke of their track record, which is something specifically referring to past activities. Sure, their recent track record is good, but going back far enough it was terrible.
But they did improve. Which is why they have a good recent track record. They listened to criticism (and as others have stated) followed regulation to best suit the needs of their customer base.
Just experienced it this week, spend $30 on a game, asked for refund because the game does not look like screen images. Refunded, no questions asked.
Their policy is to refund games within a specific time period for any reason. Basically you can demo any game in the library. Although I suspect if you did it too often they would flag your account.
I've been buying all the new Sony games and then immediately refunding them and posting a bad review because of the PSN bullshit.