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Steam update includes support for Linux; adds offline messaging

Steamforlinux

A new Steam client update has been released, that adds official support for Linux and some much needed improvements.Now you can send your friends messages while they’re offline, receiving them when they next log back in. It’s like instant message magic. A bit. 

Read more about it while you restart Steam, after the break:

The update notes from the Steam website show the meat of the new features:

– Added support for Linux
– Offline messaging: You can now send messages to users who are offline. They will receive the message when they next log in
– Opening a chat dialog with a friend will show some recent chat history
– A web chat interface is available, you can find it by navigating to the Steam Community Friend Activity page in your web browser
– Added a caps lock warning indicator to the login dialog password textbox
– Added support for better content sharing between games
– Improved performance and responsiveness of client UI
– Improved startup time for users with large screenshot folders
– Prevent users from selecting an invalid screenshots folder
– Suspend all downloads automatically when a game is launched
– Added third party Mod support for games on new content system
– Big Picture: Users can now add wallet funds and authorize microtransactions
– Big Picture: In-game overlay now moves back on ESC when appropriate rather than closing directly
– Added the date that SteamGuard was enabled in the settings dialog
– Improved handling of international characters

The most notable one is obviously the public release of the Linux client, giving Valve even more space to dominate the digital download market. What better way to kick it off than with a Steam sale dedicated to Linux supported games. Don’t forget that anyone not using Linux can also get in on this too, as you’re buying multiple formats e.g. Windows, Mac.