Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark • Hacker News Board

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#361

Post by gchamonlive » Mon, Nov 03, 2025, 1:46 AM UTC

krferriter wrote: post #359

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only thing windows has focused on has been dark patterns to force users towards cloud and figuring out more and more ways to collect data to sell ads. And backwards compatibility. They're really good at it. And I'd say that's the reason Windows is still dominant. There's this unfathomably long tail of niche software that people need or want to run.

Linux also doesn't have as good hardware support. While Linux will probably run on most hardware. It doesn't run well. Like you may just immediately give up half or more of your laptop battery life if you switch from Windows to Linux on a particular machine, even if you use a lightweight and up-to-date environment and use TLP and whatever else to tweak kernel settings. I used Linux on my personal laptops for many yea…

> Linux also doesn't have as good hardware support.

I once had to patch uvc to support a webcam that wouldn't work natively on Linux. It would advertise one version of the API but implement another. That didn't affect windows which probably already knew and had proper patched drivers for it.

We can all but wonder why, but my guess isn't that there is some sloppy dev there and windows is just making up for it. It all seems very deliberate to undermine Linux. And it's plausible given Microsoft's bottomless pockets.

So it wouldn't surprise me that these companies are actively hindering Linux compatibility. So much for a free market with open competition.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#362

Post by senectus1 » Mon, Nov 03, 2025, 1:48 AM UTC

My son and I made the cut over to Fedora about a year an a half ago.

Neither of us miss windows at all. There are some games we cant play but at the end of the day... I dont really want what they offer (in the kernel level shenanigans.), so I cant say I miss them much.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#363

Post by dangus » Mon, Nov 03, 2025, 1:51 AM UTC

gmueckl wrote: post #207

dangus wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what application is it like this? I don’t find this true at all. It’s a completely customizable sidebar.

Office has a particularly annoying dark pattern when saving a file. It hides the regular save dialog behind a tiny button in a confusing UI embedded in the main window that is designed to misdirect the user into saving files on OneDrive. Many other programs do still open the standard file dialog directly, but even there, the local drive amd directory hierarchy is hidden behind a folded "This Computer" node in the tre…

Yeah, this is the only Microsoft application I am aware of that does this, and I actually think that most Office users want to save to OneDrive and that it makes sense in this context.

The median Office user is using it at work and your employer doesn’t want you saving documents in places you will lose them.

Ditto for universities and schools that provide 365.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#364

Post by rmrf100 » Mon, Nov 03, 2025, 2:05 AM UTC

I contributed 2 devices of Linux Steam devices, I can now play windows only game, such as black myth: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2358720/Black_Myth_Wukong...

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#365

Post by dangus » Mon, Nov 03, 2025, 2:09 AM UTC

evilduck wrote: post #182

dangus wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree that Microsoft has not been the greatest at delivering customer-friendly stuff, and has built in a lot of revenue streams to their (mostly not-paying) users like Bing and cloud upsells, I think that your take is overly cynical to the software. Windows 11 has some really legitimate improvements that make it a really solid OS. It’s not surprising that Microsoft isn’t focusing on Windows as a server OS as…

> I don’t find that windows has forced me to cloud Have you tried performing a fresh Home install recently without command line hacks? It's now impossible for a normal person to set up Windows without creating a MS account, forcing them to dip a toe into their cloud service connectivity and facilitate taking the next step towards paying them. They don't "force" you, but they sure will nag you incessantly about it, pl…

A lot of this isn't very relevant to my personal use case and/or has not been my experience.

- I have had my Microsoft account connected since early in the Windows 10 days so that I can use my Xbox library. For my personal use case it doesn't really bother me that I have to login. Sure, most competing commercial OSes don't straight up force you to login, but as an example I never really used my Mac laptop without the Apple ID logged in because it has some pretty clear benefits and essentially no discernible downsides. It has some downsides that mostly boil down to what-if scenarios and thought experiments. To me, Microsoft forcing you to login with an account is not a big deal in the context of commercial paid software with a paid license. I can certainly understand why it might be a big deal in a different context. I can certainly see why my own Linux laptop is more appealing to not have this requirement. However, I specifically use Windows for a lot of commercial stuff - Steam, Xbox, etc. Being logged in was going to happen anyway, at least for me.

- As far as being nagged to pay, use Edge/Bing, or buy cloud stuff from Microsoft, all of that has been extremely easy to dismiss permanently. I have not needed to use any power user tools or scripts.

- It's an outdated notion that OneDrive is tossed in the menu bar forever. In Windows 11, OneDrive can be uninstalled entirely like a standard app. When I open my Start Menu and search for "OneDrive," nothing comes up besides an obscure tangentially-related system setting. It's literally not there.

- Sure, various new things have been presented to me along with new updates, like Copilot and the like, but I have been forced into none of it. When I visit Settings > Apps > AI Components, nothing is installed. When I type "Copilot" into the Start Menu, nothing comes up besids Windows Store search suggestions (apps I have not installed) and a keyboard key customization setting. Copilot is literally not there.

- I think there’s actually a good argument that upsells like OneDrive/Copilot (again, in my experience easy to dismiss once a year and uninstall permanently) that solve complicated problems for the median user (secure backups, document storage, AI assistant) is a decently tasteful way to fund a commercial operating system. All of that stuff is optional, and I can just say no, while paying for annual point releases (e.g. Mac OS X) kinda sucked.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#366

Post by JamesBrooks » Mon, Nov 03, 2025, 2:24 AM UTC

WD-42 wrote: post #338

JamesBrooks wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and some tinkering needed for Diablo 4/Battle.net Funnily this is the same thing I tried to do just last month, Installed CachyOS after not having Linux on my desktop for a very long time, tried installing Battle.net and just ran into too many issues and haven't come back yet (to be honest I didn't try too many avenues to fix it). If you don't mind me asking what was the tinkering you had to do to make this work? T…

I added the battle.net installer as a non steam game in steam and it just worked. Proton is really good.

I was trying to do it through Lutris, I'll give a non-steam game in Steam a shot, thanks a lot!

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#367

Post by collias » Mon, Nov 03, 2025, 2:25 AM UTC

jjcm wrote: post #231

As strange as it sounds, I think Valve is extremely well-positioned to ship what becomes one of the first true Linux desktop experiences. There's a huge demand for gaming x ai development, both of which have similar hardware requirements, and Valve is already polishing their linux experience with Steam Deck. If they launch their own desktop with a properly managed OS and hardware, I think it would legitimately become…

I'm totally on board with a gaming-focused distro from Valve. I'll switch the second they get proper Nvidia GPU support. So far, no luck with that.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#368

Post by BLACKCRAB » Mon, Nov 03, 2025, 2:26 AM UTC

TACIXAT wrote: post #26

I just made the switch. I had been developing on Windows for the last couple of years, mostly to get used to the ecosystem. I wanted to be able to write C and C++ like I do on Linux, without an IDE and with the native toolchain (i.e. no cygwin). On top of that, I play Overwatch every night. Windows just seems to have zero focus on performance though. React based start menu with visible lag, file Explorer (buggily) pa…

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Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#369

Post by wiredpancake » Mon, Nov 03, 2025, 2:34 AM UTC

zamalek wrote: post #340

lwansbrough wrote: post #185

Biggest hurdle for me to do this is just multiplayer games. I wish Linux would offer a solution to that. No idea what it would look like though. Contrary to most Linux advocates I’m a big believer in giving studios the tools they need to defeat cheaters and I don’t care much about system integrity if it means fairer games.

The only sure-fire way to defeat cheats is with something like Counter Strike's overwatch system: have humans vet replays. Cheats are a ludicrous business, there is simply far too much incentive to defeat software-based systems.

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Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#370

Post by ThrowawayB7 » Mon, Nov 03, 2025, 2:36 AM UTC

cyberax wrote: post #342

ThrowawayB7 wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> " My tech friends always joke that pretty soon we’re going to see “the year of the Linux Windows”, where windows will just be an OS on top of the Linux kernel. " There's no need because the Year Of Linux On The Desktop™ already happened and it's called WSL2. Meanwhile, the opposite has also already actually happened: SteamOS + Proton is a distro whose main purpose is to be a launcher for Windows apps on a Linux ker…

Linux has won on phones (Android) and on the server side. I don't think Windows Server is seriously used for anything but Exchange/AD these days, outside of hosting specialized or legacy apps. Windows also comprehensively lost the "exclusivity" moat. Most of popular apps are now cross-platform, because they need to run on Android/iOS/macOS. So desktop Linux is often an easy addition: Slack, Discord, all the messenger…

Even if you consider running on tightly locked down devices to support a monopoly a win, the adoption of the Linux kernel for Android has the same basis as it does for server adoption: people love getting the hard work of others for free. It's basically buying market share. I mean, if Microsoft also started giving away Windows for free and took a bunch of market share away, would you consider that a legitimate win for them?