Valve says Linux is the future of Gaming

[Spider]

[exploited]

Paragraph by paragraph:

Steambox would give you that option. Consoles don't.

So you'd rather buy two devices at a minimum of $400 a piece (but likely way more) than move a single device that does the job of both? And you think that buying one locked down PC like product and one open one is a good idea??? (Paragraph 2 and 3)

The idea is one less PC, actually.

I regularly use my PC in the living room. And regardless, the Steambox would let me use whatever I want wherever I want so I'd just switch between interfaces as I wanted.

The last two paragraphs perfectly describe what the Steambox is. Except for playing console games, of course that is because MS and Sony won't allow it.

The Steambox is for console gamers, not PC gamers, as should be perfectly obvious. Specifically, it is to get them adjusted to PC gaming so consoles can be destroyed. For you to not want Steambox because you already have a PC isn't an argument against Steambox... you already have one.

[Spider]

Just as long as we aren't still claiming that consoles and PCs are the same thing, I'm happy. I didn't really intend to get into a debate about Valve's coming sales disappointment. I'm just trying to point out that the things that make consoles and PC's different are very significant, and the things that make them similar are relatively meaningless...and that what things can or could or should be....is in fact completely irrelevant to a discussion about what they actually are.

For any meaningful computing task...it just doesn't work from the couch. I work with computers probably 40% of my workday, running parametric design software. I can't half ass that from the couch. Nor can anyone who needs to do anything more complicated than checking email and watching youtube. TV's and monitors are not at all the same things.

[exploited]

I find that a hilarious argument though. If I hook my PC up to my TV, and sit on my couch using a mouse and keyboard, working on ChromeOS... the logical conclusion of your argument is that it is not a PC. The same can be said about a PS3 running Ubuntu 8.10 with a mouse and keyboard hooked up to a monitor, sitting on a desk - even though it fits all your descriptions of what a PC is, it is a game console, not a PC.

This suggests something very wrong with your definition. The most glaring problem being that you are equivocating desktop computers with PCs. An HTPC is also a PC, and yet has specialized features not unlike a gaming console... and it is, in fact, meant to be used while hooked up to a TV.

I would say that a PC is any device capable of running the full spectrum of software, based on the x86 architecture, intended for individual use. That one might ship with a restrictive OS, that it may have a specialization, does not make it not a PC.

[eric]

I think you're defining a PC in terms of hardware components, whereas Spider is defining it in terms of use.

For example, it's like saying that your cell phone or tablets are PCs. Yeah, they are, but that categorization is too general. Especially considering you can (not easily, perhaps) do everything you mentioned with a PC, with a tablet or smartphone as well.

The actual difference between PCs (in general) and consoles more so stem from their intended use, and how their manufacturer supports them.

The Xbox One, for example, is intended as a device which does home entertainment really well, and for relatively inexpensive cost, with customer support from the manufacturer. That is possible because of the standardization of the components and services.

If you build your own PC, for instance, while you could theoretically do the exact same thing as the Xbox One (controller and all), you would still miss out on what really separates the two products, chiefly customer support, manufacturing standardization, and user experience/interface.

[exploited]

[eric]

It doesn't really help any argument. It's just a waste of time.

[exploited]

Good post.

[eric]

Well, it doesn't. That's not my fault. You're arguing a point that for the most part just doesn't matter because you're so blinded by what you want Steambox to be.

[exploited]

Yes, you have opened my eyes with your eloquence.