Gabe Newell hailed as one of open source's best friends as Steam's convenience play gets dissected
esrtweet · x · 2026-10-21
A widely shared post pays tribute to Gabe Newell for refusing to mistreat customers and for his strong support of Linux, calling him "one of the best friends open source has ever had." The quoted thread adds two observations: Steam's early opposition over control of physical discs was overcome by sheer convenience — the basis for its 30% cut — and while piracy is effectively impossible to stop, readers still voluntarily pay creators, resenting only publishers that get in the way. Often cited in debates over platform cuts and the creator economy.
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