I said I was more excited about the Steam console, not that I would buy one instead should MS lock down the 720. I'm excited because Valve has traditionally made some truly excellent games. If they can translate that excellence into the hardware arena then we could see something interesting and new.

The 720 is a generational upgrade, but is not, strictly speaking, new. The Valve console, on the other hand, is from someone whom I have developed a good deal of respect for over the years. I'm curious to see what they come up with.

The fate of the steam box is rather dependent on how much support there is for developing/porting to linux.

I think you read too much into their post.

I read it as: If MS locks it down, it would be on even footing with the Steam console, in which case his preference is for Steam.

Yes, that's a perfectly valid but far less entertaining interpretation of the comment I replied to.