After 14 months in beta, where does Valve's new platform push stand? For decades after Linux's early '90s debut, even the hardest of hardcore boosters for the open source operating system had to admit that it couldn't really compete in one important area of software: gaming. "Back in around 2010 you only had two choices for gaming on Linux," Che Dean, editor of Linux gaming news site Rootgamer recalls. "Play the few open source titles, Super Tux Kart and so on, or use WINE to play your Windows titles."

Ask anyone who was involved in the relatively tiny Linux gaming scene before this decade, and you'll get a similar response. "For a long time, it was just me porting games, and I did my best, but an industry that has an employee pool of one isn't a big industry," said veteran Linux programmer Ryan C. Gordon, who has worked on over 75 Linux gaming ports over the last 15 years. "It was slow for years on end with only a few decent commercial releases becoming available," Gaming on Linux site editor Liam Dawe agreed.