Game developer and distributor Valve has announced that come September 5, its online distribution platform Steam is to begin selling non-game software.
Applications distributed via Steam will benefit from its support for automatic updating and Cloud-storage for users' personal files so that they can be accessed from different internet-enabled computers, the latter feature currently being put to use for storing game save files.
Though no specific software has yet been announced, Valve will invite software developers to submit their programs through Steam Greenlight, a system that grants the Steam community a say in which titles will see eventual release.
Strictly speaking, the announcement constitutes an expansion of Steam's non-game catalog, as Valve already ships its (admittedly gamer-oriented) Source Filmmaker machinima-creation tool through the service.
Rumors that Microsoft is hurriedly building online team death match functionality into PowerPoint for Office 2013 in response to Valve's announcement are yet to be confirmed.
Source: Valve