Steam Machines Will Be as Open as Possible

[froggyboy604]

EA's Origin installed on a Steam Machine will be just fine for Gabe Newell.

If you assumed that Valve would prohibit and/or discourage EA from slapping its Origin client on Steam Machines, then think again. Valve Software head honcho Gabe Newell said on Thursday that he wants Steam Machines to be as open as possible, and if Electronic Arts wants to put Origin on the platform, he would be just peachy keen about it (my words, not his).

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This is good news for people who also buy downloadable games on EA Origin, GOG, Amazon, and the many other smaller download games stores.

I wonder would users would be able to install free software like Firefox, Libreoffice, Gimp, and other software on the Steam Machine to also use the Steam Machine like a desktop PC when a keyboard or mouse is plugged into it, so users can just own one Steam Machine, and don't need to also own a PC, or install a second OS like Ubuntu, Linux Mint, or Windows for non-gaming tasks like Office work, and web browsing.