Steam Expands Beyond Games - Sensationalist Headlines

[QUOTE=Scotchair;37143538]Valve are turning Steam into such a massive monopoly... it's actually a tiny bit concerning.[/QUOTE] How is offering everyday computer services on steam make it a "massive monopoly" or something to be concerning?

[QUOTE=Coffee;37143598]Except it's not a monopoly. There are plenty of other digital distribution services out there for games and software, they all have a market share. Yes, Steam does have the largest market share for video games on PC, but that's because they provide a very good service and they're very active with the community. They are not a monopoly.[/QUOTE] To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if steam had some 80% of digital sales by now. Which would make them a monopoly in the the digital market.

[QUOTE=wraithcat;37144090]To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if steam had some 80% of digital sales by now. Which would make them a monopoly in the the digital market.[/QUOTE] You don't know what a monopoly is either. Keeping your products from being sold from anyone but yourself gives you a monopoly. Restricting products in your store to only be sold in your store, gives you a monopoly. Being the only one that delivers a certain content makes you a monopoly. Having a large market share within a market with lots of contestants does not make you a monopoly. it makes you a strong leader in the market. If Valve didn't sell their games in retail stores as well then they would have a monopoly on their own games since they only sell them on Steam. (having Steamworks or not is not valid for monopoly. Battlefield 3 (Origin) and Skyrim (Steamworks) are not monopolized titles)

[QUOTE=jordan10la;37142926]Steam [I]is[/I] DRM.[/QUOTE] This is a stupid thing to say SecuROM is DRM Steam is a content distribution platform that has DRM built in A car is not a chair because it has car seats in it

Third Party software may not have DRM. Could just be a method of distribution/updating. I believe there's a few games on Steam that do not require Steam to run.

[QUOTE=The Baconator;37145679]This is a stupid thing to say SecuROM is DRM Steam is a content distribution platform that has DRM built in A car is not a chair because it has car seats in it[/QUOTE] Steam is DRM. Certain games require you to download and install the client to play these games. It's a DRM solution, always has been and always will be.

I don't like the idea of general software for Steam. Seems pointless, really. However if it was something like the UDK (Real UDK not their silly joke that's on there now) or Unity or something of the like, I fully approve. Oh, and movies.

I wonder if Autodesk will get their software up on there

[QUOTE=Hellborg 65;37142384]Blech, Steam is good and all, but I don't want my other program's being bound to Steam. I bet if it was EA doing this, you would all be bitching about it.[/QUOTE] EA is all 'bout bitching.

it seems cool but I'm concerned how this will work, I use applications like vegas and shit without steam running and if say someone has a family PC it's going to suck if you have to use the same account. I think what valve should do is an "allpass" system, if you bought it on that specific PC, anyone can use it on any user, any time and steam does not need to be running. Also, I don't want a lot of people to know what I'm specifically doing, so hopefully you can go Incognito as well

[QUOTE=fruxodaily;37158401]it seems cool but I'm concerned how this will work, I use applications like vegas and shit without steam running and if say someone has a family PC it's going to suck if you have to use the same account. I think what valve should do is an "allpass" system, if you bought it on that specific PC, anyone can use it on any user, any time and steam does not need to be running. Also, I don't want a lot of people to know what I'm specifically doing, so hopefully you can go Incognito as well[/QUOTE] Or maybe just provide a key and install?

I'm wondering if some big-name game dev. programs will make it to Steam. Like Maya, 3Dstudiomax, etc. That would be pretty cool, especially if they get the same discounts and weekly deals treatment that Steam has for games.