- cross-posted to:
- steamdeck@sopuli.xyz
- zocken@feddit.org
- cross-posted to:
- steamdeck@sopuli.xyz
- zocken@feddit.org
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I have a theory for some time now, But it’s highly speculative.
Microsoft hasn’t been making a lot of money with Windows for a couple of years now and I think they’re pretty aware of the shit show they released with Windows 11. And they already integrated the WSL. So what what if Windows dumps It’s kernel and switches to Linux? The current windows UI could be switched to either native implementations or running through wine while keeping the familiar look and feel. Microsoft would then also need to push patches to the wine project Including their hidden and undocumented, APIs In order to get all the stuff running, they currently need in windows. This would drive the compatibility of Wine and Proton even further.
The windows API are so old and full of legacy stuff that this might a big opportunity for Microsoft to properly abstract them and be done with it.
Windows would be changed to a package based distribution, making updates much less cumbersome.
The remaining capacities could be put where Microsoft earns most of its money: cloud and business applications.
Win(dows)-Win, right?
Microsoft has been steadily moving away from backwards compatibility and trying to be a one-stop shop for everything. They just want Windows to be focused on data collection and spying at this point. And your gaming data isn’t as valuable as you might think.
If they don’t have one for it already, they’ll just want to make a compatible Xbox app to run on Linux. If Linux can serve the gaming folks, and they get their data with an Xbox sign-in, it’s way less work and cost for them to keep Windows running the games well. I doubt they feel threatened at all.
Imagine gaming with no windos OS…. The future is better!
No need to imagine!
I’m waiting for a MS vs Steam lawsuit where MS tries to sue over the usage of the Windows api
They would have a hell of a time trying to say they want to control API usage after letting everyone and their mother use it free and unrestricted for decades. But I wouldn’t put it past them to try.
This is the final hurdle keeping me on windows, a seamless gaming experience. If SteamOS can hammer everything out, there’s zero reason to stay.
I would argue that at this point, today, its already a fairly seamless experience.
The only singular issue is MMOs with invasive rootkit anticheats. All the MMO’s i’ve played have worked like a charm with zero issues, but thats because I actively avoid games that use invasive rootkit anticheat systems… and I did that on windows, too, so its never been a big issue for me.
Might be an issue if you love your korean mmos though.
and I’m not, like, a sysadmin with 2 decades of linux experience or anything. I’m just a random idiot.
I dont say this to proselytize or try to get you to convert/install today. Just a vewpoint from general everyday user.
Nope, I’m almost exclusively single player at this point. How’s the performance and everything? Is there any drop off?
Check for the games you play here, it will tell you if there’s good linux support for it currently
Everything runs about as good or better than on windows.
That doesnt mean there arent games that run bad… but those games run bad because of something wrong with the game, and not because of running it on Linux or Windows. Cities Skylines 2 and Starfield being prime examples of games that run like ass, because they are ass, and not because of running it on Linux or proton. . . Just for full disclosures sake.
I will say that I run a gaming specific distro (I personally use nobara, but I’ve also heard good things about other gaming distros like bazzite) that takes care of a lot of the headache and has all the annoying shit setup and installed ready to go. It would definitely be more headache trying to get to the same point on, say, ubuntu.
My biggest issue is I work in IT and by the time I’m done for the day I absolutely don’t want to screw with it. I just wanna fire up and go. It seems that I might need to do some research, as things have progressed further than I’d realized.
Thats pretty much my experience with every game I play anymore. Its just click and go.
The only extra step, is something you only have to do once upon fresh install of steam, and thats go into settings > Compatibility > Enable steam play for all games, and set the default proton to use for them to proton experimental.
after that every windows game you download will automatically use proton experimental and should just run right off the bat.
Its genuinely amazing how far proton has come just in this last year alone, and gaming on steam in general… and for that latter part, a lot of the progress is simply due to the gaming focus distros that have everything pre installed, configured, and setup ready to go.
The only problem I have gaming on Linux these days is anti-cheat on a couple titles. Everything else is seamless already. The steam client works just as it does on Windows.
SteamOS will let you pay games from GOG, right?
Because they’re DRM free, they’re super easy to install too! Another install method is Heroic
Yes you just have to sideload the client. I believe Lutris makes it easy but I don’t use GOG myself.
Heroic makes it even easier
I’m legitimately curious how many half-baked ad-filled second-to-the-punch products will be too many for Microsoft before they finally capitulate.
I hope to see this before the EoL date set for Windows 10 and a bunch of people throw out perfectly good machines to buy something that works with Windows 11.
Personally, I won’t use Windows 11 on my home machines. But my concern is that I install a distro this year and want to switch to SteamOS later, but would have to start over with customizations, etc. in the new distro. I wish SteamOS was available now for gaming rigs!
my concern is that I install a distro this year and want to switch to SteamOS later, but would have to start over with customizations, etc. in the new distro.
I wouldn’t sweat that at all.
I switched distros last week, didn’t like the new one as much as I thought I would, and switched again a few days later. It’s not that big of a deal. Install some apps, reload your files from a USB stick. It’s not a major commitment.
Steam is terrified of the Microsoft store. It’s part of why they’re moving to linux
Even MS hasn’t dared to release a version of Windows you can’t switch out of “S mode” yet, but the fact that it even exists would be troubling for them.
MS would love a walled garden like Apple have made, but there’s no way in hell it would ever pan out for them, and certainly not before regulation arrives (probably from the EU) that would stamp it out, and that’s before you take into account the business implications. Windows only exists because of all the pre-existing software. Flattening the only reason to stay would be suicide.
Sure, but Valve is terrified of the Microsoft store for a subtly, but importantly, different reason than why Microsoft should be terrified of Steam OS.
Microsoft should be terrified that Steam OS will destroy their monopoly by making it so users no longer have to use their product.
Valve is terrified that Microsoft will destroy their monopoly by making it so users no longer can use their product.
They probably give it the side eye every time it comes up
When most/all multiplayer games start working on Linux that’s when Linux can really start taking off.
They do. We’re already there.
The only titles that don’t work are the ones with kernel level anti-cheat, and that needs to die anyway.
Are you serious? Most games can be played on Linux? I don’t care about the kernel anti cheat games, since that shit is not going on my pc anyway
I played enshrouded and path of exile and Diablo and Elden ring coop and bg3 coop all with zero issues except on like the first few days of release if there are any.
The worst thing right now about Linux multiplayer gaming with anticheat is the release day experience. Or if it’s a AAA title with heavy graphics expectations, odds are they use some weird directx fuckery that’s not available in vulkan immediately and needs patching.
All of that gets fixed when Steam deck compatibility at launch day becomes more of a thing, so it’s just a matter of time tbh. I’ve been using Linux dual-boot since Hardy Heron and as my sole OS since 2018, 2025 may be honestly the year of the Linux desktop no joke.
I think Steam Machines would be successful now.
I just installed Linux and holy shit it is so much easier and more straight forward than a windows install. Really wish I would have done it sooner.
I had issues with drivers, like I would have to find them somewhere on the internet, trust a random stranger to download and install them. And even then some things required me to launch drivers manually every single time I wanted to use my hardware.
I had issues with games, constant crashes or some games flat out not working. Some even crashing the entire system occationally.
I had issues where my pc would randomly turn on. Going to sleep was funky and would break the system requiring restart. I had to find drivers for my audio systems to get them running.
I had to run around confusing settings and tweak them through different control panels made by random people that largely overlapped to fix basic issues.
Thankfully those issues were solved the moment I installed linux.
It’s funny because while some of it has to do with work to make Linux desktops better, a non-trivial amount of it is how worse Microsoft has made it to deal with Windows.
Creating an offline account to install windows is worse than installing 99% of the Linux distros out there.
Also, some (most) annoyances with installing Linux, still, is primarily due to Microsoft managing to fuck things up in subtle ways.
Because Windows is a data-mining and advertising tool these days, more than anything. So they want to make sure you have a MS account on day 1 and that you have to opt out of all of their services 34 times over before they let you use the damn thing.
Yep, and then have to opt out all over again the next week when an update decides you need to verify you really mean to opt out again…
And if you managed to not have an MS account when you installed, interrupt your login and say “you cannot proceed like you have been doing for the past year without adding an MS account now”, and then look up how to get out of that dialog without doing the MS account…
Yep 100% this kind of shit drove me away a couple years ago. It had nothing to do with Linux getting better and everything to do with Windows getting worse.
I hope the installer will be so easy that even non-gamers with little to no technical knowledge will be able to download it, double-click, and follow the wizard then end up with SteamOS installed. That would be the dream.
