@Nitex: Have you actually looked at the thing? I've been using Windows 8 as I said earlier and there is a desktop. The Metro UI thing replaces the start menu, not the desktop. Honestly I'd kind of like the ability to use the old start menu, but that's just because I'm not as used to this set-up.

It's even fast and easy to get to the desktop. Just hit Enter when on the Start Menu.

Wasn't this $70,000 wearable computer part of the loophole Axel Gembe exploited to leak HL2?

I'm not saying that I think Windows 8 will be great but wasn't Steam a catastrophe when it first came out?

Microsoft delivering a shoddy product?! I can't believe it.

How the hell these assholes stay in business I'll never understand.

I never like a new windows. Im still using XP and i wont change until it is forced upon me.

Now there's a PC gamer if I ever did see one!

@Freakydemon: You are absolutely right. It is basically the same thing Nintendo tried with the N64, with it´s difficult to use co-processor and memory restrictions, that was exactly Yamauchis plan (to keep "less talented developers away from it") as he said himself after unveiling the Gamecube. And we all know how that turned out.

@TheLastOne: But.....I like the start menu.

I haven't seen Windows 8 but I'm hearing from friends in the beta, and commenters here, is not exciting me at all. I fear that I will be clinging to Windows 7 until Windows 8 has passed, like many of us did with XP when Vista came along. As a former Mac user, I would be super bummed to see PC to the closed system route. Ah well.

Why does anything that come out of this man's mouth get classified as news?

@SammiYin

Do retards like yourself have to make inane troll comments?

Windows 8 sucks for a power user, not many businesses will be changing over.

When he means it's a catastrophe for PC OEMs, I think he's worried about the new form factors (tablets and slate PCs) gaining too much market share. They're not traditionally PC Gaming friendly, and the desktop market drops every year. The OS itself works just fine, I've got Steam up and running on the latest beta without hiccup. The app store is mostly so they can offer smooth transition to the new RT tablets (x86 based software won't work on ARM), on the PC end I'm hardly in metro and won't be using those apps anyway.

Steam gets games on linux ...... and I can finally walk away from M$ Windows forever without a single regret. (Read: The only thing keeping me using Windows is that most games don't support other OS (Mac|Linux))

@PalinRMA

Well that does follow the pattern Starting with

Win98 - Good
WinME - Bad
WinXP - Good
WinVista - Bad
Win7 - Good
Win8 - If history holds true goto bad

Gabe Newell is one of the few people in the world I still have much respect for.

Honestly I almost can't wait for wearable computers.

@Scuffles: Why did those versions suck? What was bad about them?

I've always thought Valve should just create a linux based "SteamOS". When I build a gaming rig...that's all it really is. If i could just download SteamOS, slap it on (hell, even dual boot), and download my library to my new rig...It would be glorious.

Look at all the noise (good and bad) that came about from the steam console rumor. I think there is a gap in the market that can be filled with something along those lines.

I also understand the whole GPU drivers kerfluffle, but if anyone can do anything about this, it's valve.

Pffft...Now that I've seen the Half-Life 3 logo in the background, I can't see anything else. It's like the FedEx arrow. Might as well have just stabbed me in the eyes with those knives.

I just upgraded to Windows 7, and I'll stick to it thank you very much.

Truer words have never been spoken, Gaben.

@indigit4l: For what is worth, I worked on IT Support at the time Millenium was released. And can vouch that it sucked compared to 98 and XP. 95 wasn't that bad compared to 3.11, but that one was hardly an OS, more like a make-up layer over MS-DOS...

looks like a knee-jerk reaction to something new and different

windows for retards obviously can't please gabe newell

Having worked with both the developer preview and the later consumer preview I will say that windows 8 sucked balls. I would also like to point out that people also really need to understand that Windows 8 also includes an edition known as Windows RT. Windows RT is the start of the end of Desktop PC's.

Windows RT is for any device that uses an ARM processor instead of an x86. ARM processors are basically going into all your portable devices (Not yet but very soon). Windows RT will include MS Office, but no other desktop apps can be installed on ARM machines. Anything and everything else will have to be installed from a "Metro Apps" store run by MS.

Desktop PC sales have been going down the tubes because everyone wants a portable device. Intel has been unsuccessfully trying to get into the "Ultrathin" segment for laptops and notebooks for a while, but they can't get the price down cheap enough for large exposure.

Microsoft has been so irritated by what it's OEM partners have put out for mobile devices that it's branding it's own hardware now. This puts MS in direct competition with HP, Dell, Lenovo, ASUS, etc.

So fast forward a few years and either Microsoft is taking a 30% cut of all PC game sales or the only games being produced are for an ever shrinking desktop user base, or some bad combination of the two.

Linux is looking better every day.

@hermes: I'll take your word for it. ME did seems like it was targeted to home users and all, but perhaps that was the type of support you were doing. I still don't know why it sucked to people. Maybe it crashed more often? Hell until Vista they all had bigger BSOD occurrences.

^ ah ha! Someone who is not an ignorant windows spoilt user lol

First, Gabe has it out of Microsoft in general. So take that how you will.

Second, Windows 8 is a beefier version of the current XBL dash -which is a piece of shit, itself.

So overall, its no wonder he said this, both out of personal bias and what could be seen as hard fact.

Windows 8 = Microsoft Bob

To young to know what that is? google it. you will not be disappoint.

lulz PC gaming is dying =/

Those comparing this to the PS3 thing need to remember that the PS3 dev pipeline has vastly improved since launch, and he adapted his stance on the matter to match. Windows 8 might improve as well, but Newell is talking about how it's looking right now. It's just an assessment, and one I'm prone to trust since he worked at Microsoft for 13 years and is familiar with their practices.

Dear author: way to miss the meat of the story. Windows 8 is going to be all App Store like Apple which us in direct competition to Valve. Of course he thinks it will suck... For him.

That was @Freakydemon btw.

He's just scared that the windows store might suck sales away from steam. If Microsoft competently brings xbox live across to the PC there is a strong chance of that happening. As for the OEMs they suck because they've been making sucky hardware for decades and it pisses people off. They have only themselves to blame for declining sales.

More games for Nintendo and Sony?

@snaggletooth I think that's a tad paranoid. PCs as workstations aren't going anywhere, causal PC usage is going the way of mobile and has been for a while. While workstations and gaming PCs make up a small percentage of the market, that market isn't being forced out by any means. Right now, PC development is limited and is targeting a small user base so fearing a future exactly the same as our present doesn't make sense. There will still be PC games so long as customers want to game on their PC and companies can make money on them (see MMOs).

Also, as a Windows 8 user, I don't think it "sucks balls". It's Win7 with a new start screen. Parts of the change are welcome, others not so much. But I can say that for any OS update. On x86, the new form factors can bring TONS of possibilities. RT is limited, but that's not designed for us... that's designed for casuals.

I know 7 has been out for a while now, but it still feels new, and 8 just seems too rushed out.

I've only just switched to Win 7 and it's a pain in the ass to run older games but I'm slowly learning all the workarounds. No way am I starting over again with Win 8, especially if it's just a guise to sell apps and advertise shit I'm never going to buy. I just escaped that hell by abandoning the 360 in favour of PC.

LOL! and GTFO! to those claiming Gabe's scared MS will cut into Valve's business. Not long before Prototype 2 came out MS was still pricing Prototype 1 on XBL at near full price, same with Ass Creed 2 before Revelations released. MS could never compete with Steam sales as their greed wouldn't allow it.

gotta love how it says half Life 3 behind him