Ah, that second link makes more sense. I didn't understand what you were getting at with the first post.
I'll wait to see how things actually turn out at the end of the year, but the news is exciting if accurate. In fact, unless there is some kind of real letdown a Steam Machine looks like a no-brainer next time I buy a new console.
My only notable concern remaining is Steam OS and the (relatively) limited number of Steam games and multimedia applications that support Linux.
Currently I own about 150 Steam games but only about 60 playable using Steam OS (source:
https://steamdb.info/linux/). Suddenly having convenient access to 60 games is nothing to sneeze at, and the number missing is slightly misleading because it include many small pieces of content such as individual pinball tables, or episodic games. However, there are still a lot of highly desirable games in my account that Steam OS cannot play.
Additionally, Netflix support would be a meaningful selling point. I know there are many ways to get Netflix on a TV, but having access from a single device would be a boon.