Happy Birthday To The Steam Linux Client

It was one year ago today that Valve first made available the Steam Linux beta! While Phoronix was exclusively covering Valve's Linux developments in the months prior, it was on 6 November 2012 that Valve began rolling out the Steam Linux beta to selected participants.

Following the semi-private beta testing one year ago, it was in December of last year when the open beta period began followed by the official client release this past February. Of course, most all Phoronix readers should now by now just how far Valve has taken it with now working on their own Linux-based SteamOS operating system and Linux-powered Steam Machines. [It sure is convenient with dates for the Steam Linux beta birthday having happened immediately before my birthday and now the Steam Machines / SteamOS historical marker coincidentally being the first full week of Oktoberfest. Or maybe that luck was because of all the beer I delivered to Valve's Linux developers ;) SI.]

It's great to see all the new games that have been released (or confirmed as coming) in the past year since Valve has fully tossed their weight behind supporting Linux. This year has certainly been the year of Linux gaming while 2014 will likely prove to be the maturity and advancement of Linux gaming.

Thanks to those that have supported and trusted Phoronix over time in delivering the exclusive news, etc. If you appreciate all of the work I put into Phoronix and in single-handedly writing hundreds of stories per month beyond the Linux benchmarking and hardware review work, please consider providing a PayPal tip or subscribing to Phoronix Premium to help out a bunch.

What are you best enjoying out of Valve's Linux actions? Is there some new game that's now native to Linux and you really enjoy? Or do you just like the extra attention now on graphics drivers because of the surplus of Linux games? Post your answers in the forums.