Last week Valve quietly put up a teaser page for what many assumed would be the Steam Box console. Surprisingly, the page made it clear that not one, but three announcements would be coming this week, and the first reveal is likely the operating system that will run Valve’s hardware — SteamOS. Steam’s first-party, stand-alone operating system will be Linux-based and completely free. Valve says that it “[has] achieved significant performance increases in graphics processing” for SteamOS as well, and is now working on “audio performance and reductions in input latency.”
Valve focuses on four key features on the launch page for SteamOS: In-home streaming of Windows and Mac games, media services such as movies and music, family sharing, and family-friendly options for controlling which titles appear for any given user. Valve did not announce a release date for the new OS, but the website states that it will be “available soon.”
