Doubt it - most of the benefits - like sane drivers, optimizations and so on will trickle down.

And I think steam box will be set of requirements.

I hope you're right and we won't end up with even more incoherent binary blob dumps than we have now.

why would, say nvidia or AMD contribute their driver improvements upstream, especially if there isn't anything in it for them? unless there is some GPL clause requiring it of course.

Valve cannot magically produce a homogeneous experience across all Linux distributions. They need some degree of consistency in the environment in order for users to have a reasonable experience. It isn't their job to prop up every two-bit distribution.

Well, just perusing through the files in my computer's home/.steam folder, it seems as though the binaries are packaged with all required dependencies, so as long as the Steam client works, the games should work on any Linux distro.

Most games currently at Steam have no problems running at almost any modern Linux distro.

That's worlds away from certifying that all the Steam games will run on arbitrary Slackware boxes.

If the Steam client itself can be made to run on Slackware (I don't see why not, it runs on Arch just fine), the games will run as well. Steam installs all the dependencies, it's not dependant on distro-specific packaging...

Again, this is completely different from certifying or guaranteeing that all the games will run well.

Linux is Linux. As long as you have a display stack (ie. X) and graphics driver that provides OpenGL, Steam provides the rest of the dependencies. The Linux distro doesn't matter...

Really, I'm more optimistic. It seems like SteamOS is just going to be a tuned distro, but marketed towards publishers and studios as a new platform. The "new platform" part makes it easier for Valve to get AAA titles on board, but I doubt Valve has the manpower or the desire to make an entirely new (incompatible) fork that damages the potential to distribute games on other platforms.

Basically, I think it's a sly way to get studios and publishers to start developing for Linux.

Steam as it stands is officially focused on Ubuntu but I can run it on Arch without problem thanks to the work done by the Arch package maintainers.

SteamOS obviously differs since it's (by the sound of it) a whole distribution.

But I don't see why I wouldn't be able to continue using the Steam client just as I do now to play Steam games, the SteamOS is from what I understand the equivalent of a streamlined distro for Steam gaming, likely with optimizations for Steambox hardware configurations.

As an end user the choice is mine, use this streamlined distro for Steam gaming, or continue to use the Steam client from my distro of choice. I don't see the problem?

My thoughts exactly. Currently, gaming on Linux was fairly on the rise, since Steam supported Linux as one target platform and advertised it fairly substantially. If Steam renames all "Linux" entries as "SteamOS" and pushes general Linux to the sidelines, all that progress is lost.

"Linux" isn't a platform, "SteamOS" is though.

Having an undefined "general Linux" is impossible for them to support, especially since there's no real definition of a platform, just a kernel.

On Steam, the games are labelled as "supporting Linux", by which they usually mean some version of Ubuntu, which Steam runs on now. Other distributions often work too, usually with some small tweaks that can be googled.

If "SteamOS" becomes a target in the Steam app, this general "Linux" label may be pushed to the sidelines, and since SteamOS may contain more proprietary parts than general Ubuntu does, we may find it much more difficult to run the games on any distribution other than SteamOS itself. That was my point.

Steam seems to install Linux games in such a way that it'll run on any Linux distro. I know Steam works on Arch-based systems, openSUSE, Ubuntu-based systems, and likely more...

Also, from the sound of the announcement, Valve plans on keeping the OS bits open, so I see no reason they'd break compatibility with other Linux versions (and it wouldn't be in their interest since Linux is becoming more and more significant).

Agreed. I would imagine they will continue trying to support major linux distros such as Ubuntu, but it's not plausible for them to make sure it work on other Linux distro. Interested 3rd parties though will probably try to keep most things ported to other Linux distros though.

Even if that ends up being the case it should open the door for a competitor down the road with data and facts to get backing for their Linux-based system/distribution. This can be a big step in the right direction, regardless of how well this current iteration plays out.

Nothing new. Commercial software has targeted "Red Hat" since the '90s, forcing the entire Linux world to deal with RPMs and whatever nonsense Red Hat was doing at the time.

not just hardware, it might also lead to game developers forcing people to use steam to get/play their games which otherwise would have been free.