> Usually when stuff breaks in the NVidia drivers, it's because of a combination of a kernel update and sloppy package management by the distribution. None of this should be an issue if Valve decides to release some kind of Linux based 'Steam loader' that boots directly to the game itself, or make their own Linux distro with tight control over the kernel and GPU drivers.

I'd say the best option here is to work with Canonical to make Ubuntu a stable gaming platform. Valve has the gaming expertise and Canonical has the Linux expertise and community mindshare, so I could definitely see them working it out.

> "None of this should be an issue if Valve decides to release some kind of Linux based 'Steam loader' that boots directly to the game itself"

That's a pretty interesting angle. But it might be a bridge too far. Gamers would almost certainly follow Valve to Linux. But asking them to give up their mp3 players, chat programs and background tasks while they're gaming?

Only if it were a living room solution, which has its own "day 1" sorts of challenges. (e.g. the number of titles with not only gamepad support, but where you truly do not need the keyboard/mouse to play.)

>But asking them to give up their mp3 players, chat programs and background tasks while they're gaming?

Wat.

Linux programs like Pidgin have support for almost all IM protocols known to man, it can handle any Portable Media Player with sane behavior (read: identifies as removable storage, which pretty much all players except the shitty Apple ones do) and last time I checked, Linux is capable of multitasking, too.

>identifies as removable storage

Managing your music collection as a distinct set of files and folders is a rather 90's concept. What matters is how the files are presented to the end user - they can be all slapped into a single folder and given GUID names as long as the resultant database presents them in a clear and meaningful way.

(Only partly kidding - I think your criterion for a "shitty" music player will find a great deal of dissent :3)

>Linux programs like Pidgin have support for almost all IM protocols known to man

Weak support. Anything beyond simple chatting almost universally doesn't work. File transfers, picture syncing, god forbid voice and video chat.

The thing about identifying as removable storage is that it allows you to use whatever music syncing tool or library program you want, and aren't locked into the universally horrible vendor-supplied excuses for an application. Files in a directory structure are a universal API that almost any program can understand and make use of.

As for the IM protocols, maybe this will prompt people to migrate to better protocols like XMPP. ICQ, MSN, AIM and all those other proprietary protocols with their ad-laden, bloated clients (which I classify as nothing short of malware) should have died years ago.

I was specifically referring to the suggestion Valve could have an option to boot a machine directly to a given game. Which would imply no other third party software would be running.

So the current (in)existence of other Linux software would be irrelevant.