Valve becomes latest investor in The Linux Foundation

Russ Boswell

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Valve is nudging Linux towards bigger and better things by becoming one of the latest companies to support The Linux Foundation, a non-profit consortium that is dedicated to growing the Linux brand. The operating system is used in 98% of the world's super computers, the majority of worldwide financial trades, and is prevalent in most of the servers powering the internet. It's also a main component of Valve's upcoming "Steam Machines," which will make use of a Linux-based operating system featuring Steam compatibility. 

Valve's Mike Sartain spoke the following concerning the company's investment into the growing foundation:

"Joining the Linux Foundation is one of many ways Valve is investing in the advancement of Linux gaming.Through these efforts, we hope to contribute tools for developers building new experiences on Linux, compel hardware manufacturers to prioritize support for Linux, and ultimately deliver an elegant and open platform for Linux users."

There is no word on how much Valve is going to be investing into the group, but they won't be alone in their endeavor. Cloudius Systems, a start-up that is developing a new open source operating system for virtualized cloud workloads has also joined the line of investors. As has the HSA Foundation, a non-profit organization that is backed by some of the biggest names in technology, including, Qualcomm, ARM, AMD, Samsung, Imagination Technologies, and a slew of others.

You can get a first-hand look at Valve's Linux-based OS when developers begin shipping Steam Machines, including this console-priced adaptation from iBuyPower, due out next year. 

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If I wanted to start using a Linux OS, where would I start? Aren't there like a lot of variations in that OS? If there is a specific OS to use, what would that be? Thanks!
 
@ previous guest: Valve is making their own Linux Distribution called Steam OS. That will likely be your best option if you want to game. Otherwise Ubuntu is officially supported by their Steam Client. I'm anxious to see more gaming and driver support by developers. :)
 
@guest (first) - Personally I like Lubuntu, which is a less resource intensive flavor of Ubuntu. Lubuntu uses the LXDE desktop environment which IMHO looks more like the traditional Windows appearance (hence it should minimize the learning curve a little).
 
The biggest thing holding linux back are the users. They are not all snobs but enough are that newbies leave rather than deal with "google is your friend" and other "do it yourself, I did" answers. Good Luck to Steam
 
Ubuntu default setup is something akin to Windows 8 these days. I don't like it at all
 
Yes, there a lot of variations, just like cars. But, they all contain the Linux Kernel (engine).

How do you pick a car? You research it. A nice beginners distribution would be Linux Mint or Elementary OS. Look at them on the web to see which one you might like.
 
I tried several linux distributions and found that ubuntu was the easiest to learn on. Not the easiest to use, per say, but the easiest to learn linux on. And I stick with that.
 
As many have said already the best distro to start with is Ubuntu, its very mainstream and has a lot of support internally and through the forums and wiki. From there you learn a lot of the similarities with linux and can start experimenting with all the different distros to finally pick the one you like the most that offers you everything you want.
 
Linux mint 16 is polished. best ubuntu alternative but not annoying and slow.
 
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