Given many new handhelds coming on the scene and general disinterest of Microsoft to support the market, do you think SteamOS will take place of default OS the same way Android did on phones some time ago?
For the future of PC gaming I sure as hell hope so. People stick to and defend Windows as their go-to 'till the bitter end, likely not realizing Linux could be everything their Windows machine is and there is a real industry player with a lot of money making this reality right now. If we just let it.
If we would just give Linux the critical mass, we could free the last locked aspect of PC gaming, the OS itself. That way we would no longer be at the whims of Microsoft’s decisions because let’s face it, even Windows users hate the shit they do.
Linux, currently, cannot handle everything Windows can unfortunately. Windows also has a massive software support advantage. Valve are in the best place to try and give Linux to the masses, but that’s a lot of work and it won’t have much return for them. Windows getting worse is the way Linux will get more market share, but most people are not power users and will probably just use Windows anyway as it ‘just works’.
The reason Valve is so heavily investing in Linux is that they know that Microsoft could - in theory - flip a switch and kill their business, especially because Microsoft themselves is a competitor to Valve in the form of Xbox and Gamepass.
It’s a defensive tactic, not a money-making venture.
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Note: You can actually play Halo on a Steam Deck. I’ve played it with friends over the internet and two of us were on a Steak Deck and Linux desktop. The other two were on Windows. It worked well.
(But, yeah, there still are a few other games that don’t have anti-cheat enabled, such as Fortnite and Destiny 2.)
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Most of the SteamOS features are also available on Windows by launching Steam in big picture mode.
No they aren’t. They’re vertically integrated. I don’t think you understand what the SteamOS features actually are. It’s more than just a GUI.
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