As you say I&#x27;m sure Valve saw the warning signs around Windows 8 and the possibility of Microsoft limiting 3rd party stores in some way.<p>I believe SteamOS probably gave them some bargaining power as a Dell AlienWare gaming machine was the only one Microsoft gave in to letting boot to something other than the Start Screen, it booted to Steam.<p>This was during the period where PC&#x2F;Laptop vendors were crying out to be allowed to boot to <i>anything</i> that helped users work out WTF was going on with their new PC :)<p>Valve are getting developers on board slowly with Steam OS, the new Street Fighter being a pretty big release that has a SteamOS port at launch. They seem happy to play it slow at the moment, as always ;)