14 DAY TRIAL // The Steam Machines are coming in November, and they will be powered by the SteamOS, a Debian-based Linux distribution, but it looks like Alienware doesn't have enough confidence to bring the Linux version to E3 2015.
E3 2015 is now in full swing, and a ton of announcements have been made already. As some of you might know, Valve is not participating in E3, but this is rather normal for them. The company hasn't been doing this kind of events for a while, despite the fact that they are planning to have a major release in November. The new consoles powered by SteamOS are scheduled for a November launch, but that wasn't enough for Valve.
On the other hand, two Steam Machines have been confirmed already, one from Alienware and one from Syber, and those companies are not restricted to participate to E3. That's why an Alienware console was present at E3 2015 and some media outlets, including CNET, managed to get their hands on it. The really sad news is that the tested one had Windows installed on it and not SteamOS, which is a real shame.
SteamOS still doesn't take front stage
If you take a closer look at the video posted by CNET, you will notice that some of the games in the library are Windows only. Both Steam and SteamOS are smart enough to show the games for that particular platform by default.
Another important thing, not really talked about, is that users can install anything they want on the Steam Machines and it's quite likely that some of the companies will choose to ship their consoles in two versions, one with SteamOS and one with Windows by default. It's unlikely that Valve will be able to stop them from doing this, but the fact that Alienware chose to display the Windows version is not a good sign.
Update: We were contacted by a Dell representative (Dell is the company that own Alienware) who explained that it was a Steam Machine running SteamOS in the video and that we were mistaken.
"Alienware’s Steam Machine currently runs and will be shipping with the Linux-based Valve SteamOS, and is available now for pre-order through GameStop. We’ve been working with Valve for several years and have a strong partnership with the company.