Arch Linux anounces direct collaboration with Valve!

Source: https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/arch-dev-public@lists.archlinux.org/thread/RIZSKIBDSLY4S5J2E2STNP5DH4XZGJMR/

Screenshot for those who want to read without being redirected:

Here’s me hoping that the infrastructure impact might allow for official Arch Linux x86_64-v3 builds and other improvements.

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Two Valve Ws in one week, next their gonna tell us any anti cheat will work with steam deck and arch. :rofl:

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Dream land. Although, what’s the first Valve W in one week?

They got rid of arbitration in their user agreement, so you can take them to court if you have standing now.

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Sweet! Valve understands that Linux is the future! And arch is the spear in pushing Linux forward!

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Just saw that myself this morning.

This is, frankly, huge. It’s potentially a factor for a dedicated SteamOS version being released in a wider sense, beyond just the Steamdeck. And it also cements Arch as being a platform for gaming, further mitigating the risks of Windows. Great news all around!

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Valve scares the shit outta me since the very beginning of the company. They made us use a “cloud Service”! They made us use proprietary DRM shit with CS1.6! They got even bigger with all games on steam! They are a monopoly which is privately owned, so we don’t even know of the money stuff! Then they get even more greedier with the Steam Deck! Heck, they even steeled Arch from us! Their must be a caveat somewhere, somehow, they MUST be evil! No corp can support Linux and FLOSS, that is utterly nonsense!

While all of above is true, and Gabe sometimes is… “looking” shady, his (and Valve’s, that is) track record seems… kinda purely good? How can that be? Well, I personally switched over to Steam like 3 months ago, because it seems to be THAT good. They don’t delete old stuff, they open up their customer support thingy, they support the Steam Deck very good, they friggn do almost anything the right way. I DON’T GET IT, still, but now this? WHAT’S RIGHT WITH THOSE GUYS???

This is good to read today. Not only is this a benefit for Linux, Arch, and Valve but potentially links to other benefits such as wider adoption of Linux and increased market share.
There are a lot of people who stick to Windows just for games but this could bring more over via PC too.

With a wider market share this could bring other software such as graphical software over to Linux as a lot of people who play games also like to do art too or texture editing. Mostly looking at Serif’s Affinity photo for this push so they get ahead of Adobe.

I could be looking too much in to this but I hope a wider market share with this specific type of audience or increased user share in general, will help with these areas especially if the difference impacts Desktop/Laptop OSs. Valve themselves though I have always had an issue with regarding DRM, not owning a copy of the game you have (Like GOG where I try to get most of my games), but I can’t deny Valve has helped Linux adoption a lot via Proton.

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That’s pretty much it…

They didn’t get too greedy to go public early, so they now have an absolute shit ton of money so they don’t need to go public. And because they aren’t public, they don’t have to be evil just to satisfy dividend yields and shareholder interests in general.

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Privately owned. Not being beholden to shareholders make a difference.

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I don’t really get it…

That’s your answer: they’re privately owned and from the very beginning knew what they wanted to do.

To add to this: they stuck to their guns. The two founders, Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington were gaming fans and left Microsoft to make Valve. They were living good at Microsoft in the mid-late 90s. They came right out of the gate with a smash hit and didn’t stop until they made their legacy and still try to push it even now. They rewarded their community with mods becoming official and getting the Valve treatment. They put the PC platform back on the map of publishers during a time when PC sales were going down. They don’t exploit their position as much as they do currently and its issues are just so much different than what people against them think the issues are, honestly. They provide so much to developers, in both exposure and features and developer help that it is insane.

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If you sign a EULA for a service that says you have to arbitrate, that means you cannot take said company to court with a lawsuit. You would have to go through what they call an arbitrator, who a lot of times can be paid for by the company themselves and they have complete power on what decision they would come to, no jury. A good, although kind of sad and shitty example is that someone died at a Disney world restaurant after telling them about a food allergy and the restaurant said it should be fine even though on the Disney website they said they would have allergy free choices. They tried to sue Disney, but because the spouse of the person used a free trial of Disney plus, they agreed to arbitrate when it comes to anything Disney. Disney of course got so much shit that they gave an exception to be sued by this guy. TL:DR always read the EULA/Terms of Service.

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One word say’s it all “collaboration”!

So, basically, if they mess up legally, you can sue them and actually have a chance of winning?

Bingo

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I see. Thanks for explaining it!

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You read it here folks. Arch users really want to use EOS :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: :enos_flag: :rocketa_purple:

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