14 DAY TRIAL // A new Beta version of the Steam distribution platform has been released and it looks like the developers are working very hard to implement all sorts of new features and to fix some of the problems that appeared since the previous stable update.
Valve usually goes through quite a few Beta versions before a new stable release is made, but most of these intermediary builds are usually rather small. For some reason, some of the previous releases have been quite large, which prompted the developers to launch stable versions much faster.
From the changes that have been made so far to the Steam client we can deduce that a new major release is at hand, although it's not something set in stone. It's possible for problems that can delay the release to pop up at any time.
The new Steam Beta is quite impressive, changes and fixes for everyone
The changelogs for new Steam release don't usually include features and fixes for all the aspects of the application, but there is a first in everything.
The developers have explained that several rare crashes in the client (not specifically mentioned) have been fixed, a SetRichPresence API crash with empty key names has been fixed, a friend's nickname is now shown in the pop-up notification messages, if the nickname is available, the throbber/loading styles have been updated in several places, a regression from a few clients back where Big Picture could not get alt-tabbed to successfully has been fixed, the performance and smoothness during game launch for Big Picture Mode has been improved, and the AMD hardware encoding quality has been improved.
Also, a regression that was preventing Big Picture from responding after streaming a game has been corrected, a regression preventing streaming to NVIDIA Shield has been fixed, streaming audio from Linux will now use the default Pulse Audio, the "Repeat Once" option has been added to Steam Music, the functionality to automatically search for soundtracks when games are installed or deleted has been added, and the keyboard input for non-Latin languages in the Web view of the Linux client now works as it should.
You can find a more detailed list of changes in the official announcement.
How can you get all these changes right now?
If you don’t have the client, you can download the Steam for Linux installer from Softpedia. This is not the actual application, but a small tool provided by Valve that downloads the software and takes care of any dependencies.
After you install the Steam software, you can log into the main Steam Menu and click on Settings. You will see a Beta participation button, which has to be activated. The application will restart and you will now be using the Steam Beta. Be careful though, as this is still under development and you might encounter bugs.