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> Until Linux gets more support, SteamOS will not be viable enough for people to buy. I don't see why this argument is reasonable. Windows is currently costing
by erikb 9y ago
> Until Linux gets more support, SteamOS will not be viable enough for people to buy.
I don't see why this argument is reasonable. Windows is currently costing you about $100. Linux is currently costing you exactly $0. Linux has come so far, I doubt there is any area where it doesn't make you at least 80% satisfied. So the choice would save you about $80 of value, two triple A games in a Steam sale.
And I don't know what your choice of games are, but while there may be really 90% of steam product listings without Windows support most people also wouldn't buy/play about 90% of the products. If you look at the interesting games the feeling is more like 80% of what we need is there as well. And the rest will certainly follow once the user demand for Linux is there.
So, please continue to think what the real reason for not switching is. The providers would certainly follow. Most already have a Linux deployment pipeline ready and just wait for users to ask for it.
- orionblastar 9y agoOk a better argument would be that GPU companies put driver priority on Windows drivers and don't do too much for Linux. Some popular games like Civilization VI have been ported to Linux but they run better on Windows and faster for some reason. I suspect the Windows drivers are better optimized. I triple boot Linux Mint, Windows 7 Pro, and Windows 10 Pro. Linux Mint seems to play the Civ 6 game slower than 10 or 7.
- the_af 9y agoDepending on your hardware (of course), many AAA games run fantastically well on Linux. I'm playing Mad Max for example, and it runs beautifully on a GTX960M, great framerate and no glitches that I can see.
- izacus 9y agoWe're talking about gaming here - Steam machines had to compete against consoles as well. And they were more expensive, ran significantly less games than PS4 or XB and were slower to boot.
- erikb 9y agoGood point actually. Maybe a huge part of the possible customers went for consoles instead.
- orionblastar 9y agoConsoles don't need someone to configure them and run system administratoon tasks on them. A video game console is less likely to break the OS and have a kernel panic or something.