Valve is proving that LOTS of people would use Linux if it came in convenient preinstalled packaging.
“User-friendly? Pffftt… Do you mean noob enabling?”
- Toxic Linux fanatic
“I hate noobs. So glad I never was one.”
- That same toxic fanatic
One could make a similar argument with Google (Android/ChromeOS).
You could…
But then one is an open system where you can disable the UI put on top and have a working linux system, while the other is a closed blob destroying compatibility and trying hard to lock you out from accessing the underlying linux system.
Valve is doing this? Not Android since 2008?
Heck we know people don’t give a shit what’s under the covers since at least the switch between Windows 98 and 2000/XP, the latter being a very different OS. It could have been BSD or Linux and people wouldn’t have bat an eye if the start menu looked the same and Word, Corel Draw, Photoshop and AutoCAD worked.
Android is not (really) a desktop OS. Devices with preconfigured locked-up Linux installations have been around way before that, mainly networking equipment.
Neither is SteamOS.
Steam deck is great, no complaints, however the place Linux really shines and brighter than any other OS, is in the server space, I am in no way recommending this to anyone but self hosting is so amazing you can literally run your own internet, I personally barely use anything not hosted on my server in my browser, the only place this isn’t a valid option is in programs that have to be in real time and hardware intensive, like video games and I’ll be honest I never played my games on Linux anything that requires a desktop never felt reliable or worth it to me but now oh boy, I bought a steam deck thinking it would sit in a closet and never be used or I would end up putting windows on but nope, I was subconsciously pulled to it until it eventually became the only console in my living room, this is primarily thanks to emulation, once you get your emulators set up you never want to do it again and I can take the steam deck with me and hook it up to any screen with a single wire, but thanks to the steam deck I am down to one computer With windows on it and it is only used for games that are wholly incompatible it gets used about once a month.
Valve hasn’t sued anyone to give them a portion of their income forever. Valve also doesn’t pursue anti consumer goals on daily basis. Not that it has never done anything wrong but it has done enough good to be on my good side as little as it means
Valve also doesn’t pursue anti consumer goals on daily basis.
Valve pioneered lootboxes and marketing gambling to children, why does everyone forget that?