APPLE's thoughts on STEAM
I wanted to jot down some of our thoughts on VALVE’s STEAM products so that customers and critics may better understand why we do not allow STEAM on Mac, iPhones, iPods and iPads. VALVE has characterized our decision as being primarily business driven – they say we want to protect our App Store – but in reality it is based on technology issues. VALVE claims that we are a closed system, and that STEAM is open, but in fact the opposite is true. Let me explain.
1st, there’s “Open”.
- VALVE’s STEAM products are 100% proprietary. They are only available from VALVE, and VALVE has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc.
2nd, there’s the “full game”.
- VALVE has repeatedly said that Apple Mac devices cannot access “the full game” because 75% of the best videogames on the web is in STEAM.
3th, Third, there’s reliability, security and performance.
-We also know first hand that STEAM is the number one reason Macs crash. We have been working with VALVE to fix these problems, but they have persisted for several years now. We don’t want to reduce the reliability and security of our Mac,iPhones, iPods and iPads by adding STEAM.
4th, there’s battery life.
- To achieve long battery life when playing video, Mac devices must decode the video in hardware. Decoding it in software uses too much power. When games re-encode their videos using blahblahblah, they can offer them in Apple without using STEAM at all. They play perfectly in Apple’s Mac without any plugins whatsoever, and look great on Mac, iPhones, iPods and iPads.
5th, there’s Touch.
-STEAM was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers.
6th, the most important reason.
-Besides the fact that STEAM is closed and proprietary, has major technical drawbacks, has major technical drawbacks, and doesn’t support touch based devices, there is an even more important reason we do not allow STEAM on Mac, iPhones, iPods and iPads.
VALVE also wants developers to adopt STEAM to create apps that run on Apple devices.
We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform.
New open standards created in the Apple's Devices era, such as HTML5, will win on Apple's devices (and PCs too). Perhaps VALVE should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.
Regards, Apple.
I wanted to jot down some of our thoughts on VALVE’s STEAM products so that customers and critics may better understand why we do not allow STEAM on Mac, iPhones, iPods and iPads. VALVE has characterized our decision as being primarily business driven – they say we want to protect our App Store – but in reality it is based on technology issues. VALVE claims that we are a closed system, and that STEAM is open, but in fact the opposite is true. Let me explain.
1st, there’s “Open”.
- VALVE’s STEAM products are 100% proprietary. They are only available from VALVE, and VALVE has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc.
2nd, there’s the “full game”.
- VALVE has repeatedly said that Apple Mac devices cannot access “the full game” because 75% of the best videogames on the web is in STEAM.
3th, Third, there’s reliability, security and performance.
-We also know first hand that STEAM is the number one reason Macs crash. We have been working with VALVE to fix these problems, but they have persisted for several years now. We don’t want to reduce the reliability and security of our Mac,iPhones, iPods and iPads by adding STEAM.
4th, there’s battery life.
- To achieve long battery life when playing video, Mac devices must decode the video in hardware. Decoding it in software uses too much power. When games re-encode their videos using blahblahblah, they can offer them in Apple without using STEAM at all. They play perfectly in Apple’s Mac without any plugins whatsoever, and look great on Mac, iPhones, iPods and iPads.
5th, there’s Touch.
-STEAM was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers.
6th, the most important reason.
-Besides the fact that STEAM is closed and proprietary, has major technical drawbacks, has major technical drawbacks, and doesn’t support touch based devices, there is an even more important reason we do not allow STEAM on Mac, iPhones, iPods and iPads.
VALVE also wants developers to adopt STEAM to create apps that run on Apple devices.
We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform.
New open standards created in the Apple's Devices era, such as HTML5, will win on Apple's devices (and PCs too). Perhaps VALVE should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.
Regards, Apple.
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