this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2026
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Android is a Linux distribution like that and once notarisation requirement is implemented it’ll be indistinguishable from iOS. SteamOS will also likely become gradually more like iOS to appease creators of popular multiplayer games.
I can’t imagine Valve making that kind of heel turn on their (mostly) open-source philosophy. They’re marketing their whole hardware line as your hardware to do whatever you want with, going closed garden after the fact would throw away a lot of good will.
It would be very hard to imagine that Android would look as it does now 15 years ago when it was almost fully open source and AOSP had all necessities included sans device-specific firmware blobs.
I haven’t seen any indication that Valve sells their Steam Machine as an open platform, more that they dishonestly advertise it as „runs all your Steam games” (but they don’t include Windows license to actually do that).
Locking down SteamOS won’t appear as a heel flip when it comes because it’ll happen gradually. Introduce little friction here and there, slowly herding people towards preferred but optional measures, until they’re no longer optional.