There are many other paths that could have been taken instead of building the client to be run inside a web browser, but Valve probably chose this route since all the rest of Steam's front-end is a website. Given that the average computer can churn through the wasted processing power and memory with the CEF route, it was the trivial path to take given that, clearly, they had a lot of web developers.

I hope that this trend dies out sooner rather than later. VGUI was abandoned, but there are a myriad of alternative GUI frameworks that exist and are cross-platform (e.g. Qt, which they already used for Source 2 Hammer). The problem is that the client would have to be rewritten from scratch for the second time, and I'm sure that makes it very low on their priority list.

Despite the slim odds it would make a difference, I support this idea more than you can imagine. To this day I'm having issues with the client precisely because of poor choices like this, and I'm running a supported operating system. Folks running legacy OSes for compatibility, nostalgia, less privacy invasion or other issues have been gutted precisely because CEF ended support for them a while ago, and it continues to be an annoying hurdle for those who continue running Steam on them.

Maybe in another 15 years yeah.

I mean ... it'd even give them more control over the ing advertising bar (what's new) in the library ... like ... surely winwin for team steam.

...

But, yeah, this is a great post ... and it's rare to see that these days, so, thanks for the concientious approach. :-)
I agree, too, with all of that ... I just think ... if you're going out of your WAY to make a whole OS for this thing ... why settle for a gimped interface?
...
Or at least provide an AMAZING non-CEF / privacy concerning one for your OS (/mostLinuxDistros) to make people consider switching to your OS for gaming.

Like ... if SteamOS was considered the defacto way to game, it would literally be a dual-boot situation for everyone that has a PC.

Heck ... if they could enable a way to access an OS on another drive from WITHIN SteamOS whilst still maintaining FULL data privacy?? Well ... no-one would ever need to leave SteamOS ever again!

plss need xp steam help me

Originally posted by レックス:

plss need xp steam help me

1. Limited accounts can't gain XP.

2. This has nothing to do with the topic.

The day it stops being maximally profitable is the day it changes.

It will take an event of catalysmic proportions to unseat the blink autocracy, which was carefully engineered over the course of a decade to ensure its dominance for another three decades at minimum. Only a visceral threat to Valve's survival will cause them to abandon their mutually beneficial participation in such a plan.

Here's a pre-emptive reply to any stans who want to quote me and argue: 1) Take a break. 2) Reality is reality, regardless of whether or not you are capable of seeing it. Now have fun flaming me for your own sport.

Harsh, but fair, @TiberiumFusion!
I'd only argue that they'd be way more profitable if they just ... found another way.
However, I do accept that I am largely pissing into the wind with my tiny, tiny, voice.

Originally posted by eliotcole:

Harsh, but fair, @TiberiumFusion!
I'd only argue that they'd be way more profitable if they just ... found another way.
However, I do accept that I am largely pissing into the wind with my tiny, tiny, voice.

Only 3 browser technologies of any relevance exist currently: Google's Chromium (~82%, Chrome alone ~72%), Apples WebKit (14%, primarily Safari) and Firefox's Gecko (~2.5%, primarily Firefox). Both Webkit's and Gecko's market share have been shrinking for a long time. Unless some major development happen, the future is Chromium's.

Which is highly unlikely to change without government/market regulator interference as Google basically has monopoly on web advertisement and web searches.

Only way I see someone else entering the market is for market regulators declaring Google a monopoly and them breaking up the company. Google has too big a stranglehold on major web technologies for anyone to seriously compete with it.

I'm talking about not using browser technology at all.

Originally posted by Anonymous Helper:

Only 3 browser technologies ...

Originally posted by eliotcole:

I'm talking about not using browser technology at all.

Well Valve isn't going to make one up from scratch themselves so if they moved away from CEF, the only alternatives they would have are Gecko or Webkit so... and no, they won't make one without embedded browser either.

yeah u'rerigth guys xD