Steam Beta Client Available

[Munro]

There is a new
Steam
Client Beta available. To access it, go to File -> Settings and on the
Account tab choose "Steam Client Candidate" in the Beta participation section.
The specific changes include:

• 
  Fixed downloads becoming paused
• Improved download speeds
• Decreased application launch time
• Fixed URL links in chats to not include trailing punctuation as part of the
  link
• Changed group event notifications to open at most 8 dialogs

[br]Make sure you comment in our forums to let us know how it's working for you!

 

[Mess]

anyone know if this can work in conjunction with the SDK beta?

 

[Rapstah]

Currently doesn't.

 

[-Psy-]

Fixed downloads becoming paused.

YES YES YES YES.

 

[PvtRyan]

Excellent

It really is much faster with both downloading and starting up. Feels more responsive too (opening My Games took longer before I think).

 

[Evo]

Going to give this a go now

 

[Shamrock]

I don't have anything to download, but it definitely starts up faster.

 

[Xendance]

Fixing the downloads pausing, hooray!

 

[joule]

I don't have anything to download, but it definitely starts up faster.

Help by downloading (or delete and re-download) a large game and see if the entire thing completes without issue.

 

[Pesmerga]

No increase in DL speeds for moi, as far as I can tell. It's a very small sample selection, but the download rate seems to be, on average, the same.

Some people have reported double speeds in beta client.

Didn't seem to start up any faster, either.

 

[FoxFire]

I noticed a large increase. It's taking advantage of all my bandwidth at times. I've gotten it to peak at 2.5MB/s so far when downloading Portal, but for the most part my download speeds are around 1.8MB/s which is a rather large improvement.
Game launch time has improved slightly, but I noticed a large decrease in exit time.
So far, I approve

 

[DigiQ8]

woah! large increase in download speed and its start faster now

GO VALVE!

 

[Xendance]

No increase in DL speeds for moi, as far as I can tell. It's a very small sample selection, but the download rate seems to be, on average, the same.

Some people have reported double speeds in beta client.

Didn't seem to start up any faster, either.

I think it meant launching a game, not Steam itself.

 

[joule]

I think it meant launching a game, not Steam itself.

I think it's both actually.

 

[Iron_cube]

Not seeing a single difference on mine.

 

[hool10]

Not seeing a single difference on mine.

Same. I'm using Vista too btw.

 

[Blackthorn]

No difference in startup time.

Increased launch speed noticed.

Browsing in store/community now nearly instantaneous.

Unable to comment on download speeds.

(Using Vista)

 

[Xendance]

Well it was good for me. I usually get a peak of 170kb/s - 220kb/s.

Now:

 

[whoisrich]

My download speed increased, before it was maxing out at 500-600kb.

 

[Citrus]

I see no change.. in anything.

 

[Absinthe]

I could have sworn my startup and app launch times were increased, but I'm not sure I'm simply fooling myself. Can't comment on download speeds. Shall investigate later.

 

[staticprimer]

Startup increased drastically for me, download speed increased from ~400kb/s to ~1.8MB/s. Excellent changes!

 

[Druckles]

• 
  Fixed downloads becoming paused
• Improved download speeds
• Decreased application launch time
• Fixed URL links in chats to not include trailing punctuation as part of the
  link
• Changed group event notifications to open at most 8 dialogs

Normally I'm not too fussed about the latest updates as they don't tend to effect me, but this bar the last one is brilliant. I think most people would appreciate the second and third the most. Any idea on how much faster it is?

Edit: Heheh... read the second page.

 

[Deleted member 56031]

The beta option doesn't appear for me under the beta participation section

Is it over? Or is it only in the US?

 

[Xendance]

The beta option doesn't appear for me under the beta participation section

Is it over? Or is it only in the US?

It's over.

 

[Druckles]

The beta option doesn't appear for me under the beta participation section

Is it over? Or is it only in the US?

Beta's out. I was expecting an announcement.

It would also explain why my download speed hadn't changed