We joke but SteamOS could be a game changer just because of steam’s userbase.
It’ll take some time because they’d need to to outshine windows in every way, including ease to use and all the stuff wayland forgot to implement. Right now it’s good enough for the deck, but they’d have to coaxe Arch into working for everyone.
Having a big customer base you can market to could legitimately open up Linux to desktop as a serious market share.
Even 15 years ago, DEs were pretty solid along with software. It was the lack of OEMs selling hardware that ran Linux along with Microsoft’s monopoly that kept it that way.
Of course if you are brave enough, you can always try it yourself with Nobara or Bazzite, but having Valve put a dedicated team behind their own distro would be very appealing.
Honestly I think SteamOS is the crowbar forcing open the Desktop space. Microsoft’s dominance in the desktop space has been with Normies where they can use the power of their purse to maintain their position. Normies don’t care what OS they run. Normies just want the computer to “do the thing” that they need done. Console gaming is a great example of that. None of those gamers care what OS they run and they know nothing about it. If you look at IoT, Windows is free in that space, yet Linux dominates the market by about 80%.
Historically if a big volume OEM sells a PC they are required to sell a Windows license if they want to take advantage of Microsoft’s volume licensing discount. If you are selling 400 dollar and even 800 dollar laptops, a 100 dollar license is a huge chunk of the cost. You have no choice but to take the volume licensing discount as manufacturer. Especially if you also compete for government contracts. The knock-on effect, these OEMs will have to spend money on Windows engineering efforts for each of their devices. That’s drivers, software, and testing. And when you are competing on volume, that doesn’t leave much left over profit to have engineering efforts for a second or third operating system.
The kicker for Microsoft, Microsoft waved the license for Windows on devices with screens smaller than 9" in 2014. Which means, the new Lenovo Steam version should come with SteamOS. The Steam version will likely be the more popular version of the Legion Go S. Other OEMs will see that and begin to offer a Steam version of their device. That all means engineering efforts for Linux on all the handhelds. The same thing for Steam consoles, although I wonder how the 9" rule will apply. Game devs are supporting SteamOS more and more. The knock on effects will eventually lead to OEMs no longer taking the volume licensing discounts. You will see Linux machines in the big box stores, especially when these OEMs are spending money to support Linux for the console.
Microsoft doesn’t dominate any space other then the Desktop where they’ve had vendor lock’in for 30 years. The writing is on the wall. They are losing the handheld space and soon they will be #4 in the console space. Microsoft better have something big soon or pandora’s box will be opened.
If you are selling 400 dollar and even 800 dollar laptops, a 100 dollar license is a huge chunk of the cost.
Gonna note that, on those rare occasions I have the funds to madly research the most optimal PC build I can every like…7+ years…the “Oh man, forgot the OS is another $100+!” Always felt like such an insult!
Whelp, now with OpenSUSE Tumbleweed I’ll never have to worry about that again. :)
Yeah that extra Microsoft tax is a killer. Plus, you’ll notice your systems seems new and snappy for the life of the hardware, unlike Windows. Where your system gets slower and slower every year. I used a Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro with Ubuntu until a couple years ago. It was great until I just needed a ton more ram and tons of cores for my dev project. I basically out grew the system, it still works great, fast and snappy. Gave it to my cousin who uses it as a daily driver.
I’ve heard good thing about Tumbleweed. I’m that will keep your system feeling fast and new for life of the hardware.
Honestly steamdeck plus tpm module requirement for windows 11 is making me give a serious attempt to Linux for the new year. I do a very good job of taking care of my tech, it lasts decades.
I find it infuriating I have to change due to arbitrary OS decisions. I could’ve held onto my original pixel for quite some time, but it was no longer getting the security updates.
I feel like with the hardware requirements linux might see another bump come October
That’s actually the same reason I switched to Linux. I thought it was stupid that I would have to upgrade my hardware just to use the latest WindowsME. Switching to Linux back then. Let me enable all the new textures for Everquest. With Windows my system wasn’t performant enough. I though it stupid and I had perfectly good hardware that still ran for several more years just fine. The TPM thing is absolute B.S. and worse then why I switched.
Explorer being ridiculously slow even on a fairly fresh install with the addition of popup ads for black ops/MSFS was enough to make me finally jump over the fence a few weeks ago.
I still have to dual boot for certain games and programs but I had enough of windows being my default environment
We joke but SteamOS could be a game changer just because of steam’s userbase.
It’ll take some time because they’d need to to outshine windows in every way, including ease to use and all the stuff wayland forgot to implement. Right now it’s good enough for the deck, but they’d have to coaxe Arch into working for everyone.
Having a big customer base you can market to could legitimately open up Linux to desktop as a serious market share.
Even 15 years ago, DEs were pretty solid along with software. It was the lack of OEMs selling hardware that ran Linux along with Microsoft’s monopoly that kept it that way.
Of course if you are brave enough, you can always try it yourself with Nobara or Bazzite, but having Valve put a dedicated team behind their own distro would be very appealing.
Honestly I think SteamOS is the crowbar forcing open the Desktop space. Microsoft’s dominance in the desktop space has been with Normies where they can use the power of their purse to maintain their position. Normies don’t care what OS they run. Normies just want the computer to “do the thing” that they need done. Console gaming is a great example of that. None of those gamers care what OS they run and they know nothing about it. If you look at IoT, Windows is free in that space, yet Linux dominates the market by about 80%.
Historically if a big volume OEM sells a PC they are required to sell a Windows license if they want to take advantage of Microsoft’s volume licensing discount. If you are selling 400 dollar and even 800 dollar laptops, a 100 dollar license is a huge chunk of the cost. You have no choice but to take the volume licensing discount as manufacturer. Especially if you also compete for government contracts. The knock-on effect, these OEMs will have to spend money on Windows engineering efforts for each of their devices. That’s drivers, software, and testing. And when you are competing on volume, that doesn’t leave much left over profit to have engineering efforts for a second or third operating system.
The kicker for Microsoft, Microsoft waved the license for Windows on devices with screens smaller than 9" in 2014. Which means, the new Lenovo Steam version should come with SteamOS. The Steam version will likely be the more popular version of the Legion Go S. Other OEMs will see that and begin to offer a Steam version of their device. That all means engineering efforts for Linux on all the handhelds. The same thing for Steam consoles, although I wonder how the 9" rule will apply. Game devs are supporting SteamOS more and more. The knock on effects will eventually lead to OEMs no longer taking the volume licensing discounts. You will see Linux machines in the big box stores, especially when these OEMs are spending money to support Linux for the console.
Microsoft doesn’t dominate any space other then the Desktop where they’ve had vendor lock’in for 30 years. The writing is on the wall. They are losing the handheld space and soon they will be #4 in the console space. Microsoft better have something big soon or pandora’s box will be opened.
Gonna note that, on those rare occasions I have the funds to madly research the most optimal PC build I can every like…7+ years…the “Oh man, forgot the OS is another $100+!” Always felt like such an insult!
Whelp, now with OpenSUSE Tumbleweed I’ll never have to worry about that again. :)
Yeah that extra Microsoft tax is a killer. Plus, you’ll notice your systems seems new and snappy for the life of the hardware, unlike Windows. Where your system gets slower and slower every year. I used a Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro with Ubuntu until a couple years ago. It was great until I just needed a ton more ram and tons of cores for my dev project. I basically out grew the system, it still works great, fast and snappy. Gave it to my cousin who uses it as a daily driver.
I’ve heard good thing about Tumbleweed. I’m that will keep your system feeling fast and new for life of the hardware.
Honestly steamdeck plus tpm module requirement for windows 11 is making me give a serious attempt to Linux for the new year. I do a very good job of taking care of my tech, it lasts decades.
I find it infuriating I have to change due to arbitrary OS decisions. I could’ve held onto my original pixel for quite some time, but it was no longer getting the security updates.
I feel like with the hardware requirements linux might see another bump come October
That’s actually the same reason I switched to Linux. I thought it was stupid that I would have to upgrade my hardware just to use the latest WindowsME. Switching to Linux back then. Let me enable all the new textures for Everquest. With Windows my system wasn’t performant enough. I though it stupid and I had perfectly good hardware that still ran for several more years just fine. The TPM thing is absolute B.S. and worse then why I switched.
Explorer being ridiculously slow even on a fairly fresh install with the addition of popup ads for black ops/MSFS was enough to make me finally jump over the fence a few weeks ago.
I still have to dual boot for certain games and programs but I had enough of windows being my default environment