Valve’s open SteamOS will challenge the status quo for PCs and consoles

Just like that, Valve is challenging Microsoft and other console makers on a host of fronts in the gaming business with the announcement of  SteamOS, a Linux-based operating system focused on games and entertainment.

While Valve is known as both the creator of Steam digital distribution platform and the maker of blockbuster games like Portal and Half-Life, it has also staked out its claim as the steward for a community of hardcore game fans who want openness. As such, it represents a very credible threat to Microsoft, which is often viewed with suspicion in that community for having corporate interests at its heart. If Valve can marshal community support for the SteamOS, through the grassroots from the bottom up, it could loosen the grip that Microsoft and other console makers have on hardcore game fans in the living room. And if Valve gets gamers, it could very well get fans of TV and music as well.