14 DAY TRIAL // Along with the launch of the Vulkan 1.0 specifications by the Khronos Group, Valve's boss Gabe Newell made some comments in which he takes another jab at Windows and DirectX 12.
It's no secret that Valve's founder and boss doesn't like the gaming monopoly of Microsoft and Windows. Ever since Microsoft announced its intentions of releasing games through the Windows Store, a few years back, Gabe has been working towards building some proper competition.
After calling Windows 8 the worst platform for gaming, Gabe put his plans in motion and Valve started to develop and eventually launch SteamOS. This is a Linux-based operating system that encourages studios and companies to release their games with Linux support. It's still a young OS, but it already prompted the launch of thousands of Linux games.
The biggest problem with Linux is the fact that it has been ignored as a gaming platform, and the developers are just now starting to catch up. Windows and DirectX have a fair advantage, but things are changing. It's becoming less lucrative to Nvidia, AMD, and Intel to only provide real support just for DirectX, and here is where the new Vulkan comes into play.
Vulkan is freedom
The effort around the development of Vulkan has been spearheaded by Valve, and that is apparent from the official announcement, which quotes the company before anything else. As it was to be expected, Gabe Newell made some comments about Windows, although he didn't name it.
"We are extremely pleased at the industry’s rapid execution on the Vulkan API initiative. Due to Vulkan’s cross platform availability, high performance and healthy open source ecosystem, we expect to see rapid uptake by software developers, far exceeding the adoption of similar APIs which are limited to specific operating systems," Gabe Newell said.
Of course, by "specific operating systems" he means Windows, and by "similar APIs" he means DirectX, but that can't be put into the Vulkan 1.0 announcement. Vulkan 1.0 is not designed for a specific platform and will work on Windows, Linux, Android, and Tizen.