Gabe Newell Thinks Windows 8 Is A “Catastrophe”

Last night, at a gaming event in Seattle, Valve CEO Gabe Newell went to tongue on Microsoft’s latest operation system Windows 8, calling it a “catastrophe” that will lead product manufacturers to abandon the platform in droves.

At the event, as reported by AllThingsD, Gabe placed his weight behind Linux, saying the only thing keeping it back is game development.

“The big problem that is holding back Linux is games. People don’t realize how critical games are in driving consumer purchasing behavior,” Newell said. “We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well. It’s a hedging strategy. I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space. I think we’ll lose some of the top-tier PC/OEMs, who will exit the market. I think margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people. If that’s true, then it will be good to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality.”

Newell isn’t the only PC man to lambast the product, with Stardock CEO Brad Wardell calling Windows 8 an “unusable nightmare” earlier in the year. If the same song is sung around the PC development community, it would not be a stretch to envision mass defecting towards Linux.

Newell also spoke about the current touchscreen phenomenon, calling it “short term”, believing instead computerized wristbands will be the way of the future.

“We think touch is short-term,” he said. “The mouse and keyboard were stable for 25 years, but I think touch will be stable for 10 years. Post-touch will be stable for a really long time, longer than 25 years.

There’s some crazy speculative stuff. This is super nerdy, and you can tease us years from now, but as it turns out, your tongue is one of the best mechanical systems to your brain, but it’s disconcerting to have the person sitting next you go blah, blah, blah, blah… I don’t think tongue input will happen, but I do think we will have bands on our wrists, and you’ll be doing something with your hands, which are really expressive.”

Thanks, Kotaku.