6 ms·

Valve has a golden opportunity, with little downside, to go next level: Extend SteamOS to seamlessly support other hardware beyond AMD (Nvidia, Intel), and, al

Valve has a golden opportunity, with little downside, to go next level: Extend SteamOS to seamlessly support other hardware beyond AMD (Nvidia, Intel), and, also offer a simple and clean Linux desktop environment on it. No one wants to upgrade from Windows 10. A free, a fully-featured Linux OS SteamOS would put a Steam Store on every PC with relatively little effort and huge potential gains.

wordofx 1y ago
Everyone has upgraded from windows 10 with the exception of like 3 people who are the same people who stayed on windows XP until their favourite game didn’t run on it.
- 0xTJ 1y ago
  That is factually wrong. According to [1], Windows 11 has only just about caught up to Windows 10 in marketshare. [1] https://www.pcworld.com/article/2834970/windows-11-has-nearly-caught-up-to-windows-10-with-market-share-spike.html https://www.pcworld.com/article/2834970/windows-11-has-nearl...
  - wordofx 1y ago
    And then there’s steam which sits at ~60% for windows 11. Or are we not talking about gaming?
    - 0xTJ 1y ago
      Your original comment did not specify gaming, but rather "everyone". Regardless, over 1/3 Windows users of Steam still being on Windows 10 is not "3" (even figuratively). Even that 60%, while a majority, isn't overwhelming.
- CyMonk 1y ago
  35,69% of steam users run windows 10 in june 2025 . https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/ https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/
  - wordofx 1y ago
    Thanks for proving my point.
    - 0xTJ 1y ago
      They very explicitly disproved your point.
- freehorse 1y ago
  I don't think the XP->Vista upgrade is a good example for the argument you make. Vista is ubiquitously considered a failure and disaster. Its adoption was slow and many who adopted early were disappointed, even though microsoft was running ad campaigns to get people to upgrade. People started upgrading only after windows 7. Similarly, windows 8 failed to get traction. Most people upgraded with windows 10 (and prob a lot of them due to eol fears). Should we also mention windows 2000? There is definitely sth with microsoft failing completely every 2 OS generations since then. Maybe they need the feedback to make sth that people wanted to use. I am less optimistic about the future, though, because I doubt they will double down on bloatware and monetising users, too much money at stake.
  - wqaatwt 1y ago
    Windows 2000 was pretty good, though? Basically XP with the old Windows 9x UI. MS just decided primarily target Millennium to consumers which wasn’t that great..
mentos 1y ago
Always hoped that Valve / Epic might find a way to collaborate on an operating system. The enemy of my enemy..
- fakedang 1y ago
  Nah, fuck Epic. They are against the Stop Killing Games movement.
- extraduder_ire 1y ago
  Epic have not been too keen on linux, and have even stopped supporting existing games on linux after buying them.
  - ahartmetz 1y ago
    It's really weird how Tim Sweeney is against Linux but also complains about MSFT tightening the screws. Dude, you're throwing away revenue and a better negotiating position against MSFT! Did Linux hurt you or something?
DrNosferatu 1y ago
Furthermore, Valve can spend one of its many billion USD in closing the hardware compatibility gaps via a compatibility layer to use official driver binary blobs. (for the time-being, in order to initially open the flood gates for non-AMD hardware users) Additionally, create a “Steam Store Apps” that’s compatible with, say - Flatpak, and curates free MSOffice and other popular productivity alternatives.
- benbristow 1y ago
  Steam already does software.
erikerikson 1y ago
I would love this. My wife has 11 and it's a hot mess. They've been pre-enshitifying 10. As EOL starts creeping up, I'm hoping to jump to Linux. I tried it in the past but it didn't feel ready. When I'm working I'm happy to deal with technical problems but when it's time to relax, I want it to just work and work well. The harder challenge is the pile of drivers and other for the edge cases.
- vallassy 1y ago
  If you're willing to make the jump before GabeN makes it easy for all of us, I can recommend CachyOS with KDE Plasma. I've recently made the jump and it seems to have stuck. This is at least the fifth time I've tried to switch over the last 20 years and it's the first time it even moderately feels like most things have just worked.

wordofx 1y ago

Everyone has upgraded from windows 10 with the exception of like 3 people who are the same people who stayed on windows XP until their favourite game didn’t run on it.

0xTJ 1y ago
That is factually wrong. According to [1], Windows 11 has only just about caught up to Windows 10 in marketshare. [1] https://www.pcworld.com/article/2834970/windows-11-has-nearly-caught-up-to-windows-10-with-market-share-spike.html https://www.pcworld.com/article/2834970/windows-11-has-nearl...
- wordofx 1y ago
  And then there’s steam which sits at ~60% for windows 11. Or are we not talking about gaming?
  - 0xTJ 1y ago
    Your original comment did not specify gaming, but rather "everyone". Regardless, over 1/3 Windows users of Steam still being on Windows 10 is not "3" (even figuratively). Even that 60%, while a majority, isn't overwhelming.
CyMonk 1y ago
35,69% of steam users run windows 10 in june 2025 . https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/ https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/
- wordofx 1y ago
  Thanks for proving my point.
  - 0xTJ 1y ago
    They very explicitly disproved your point.
freehorse 1y ago
I don't think the XP->Vista upgrade is a good example for the argument you make. Vista is ubiquitously considered a failure and disaster. Its adoption was slow and many who adopted early were disappointed, even though microsoft was running ad campaigns to get people to upgrade. People started upgrading only after windows 7. Similarly, windows 8 failed to get traction. Most people upgraded with windows 10 (and prob a lot of them due to eol fears). Should we also mention windows 2000? There is definitely sth with microsoft failing completely every 2 OS generations since then. Maybe they need the feedback to make sth that people wanted to use. I am less optimistic about the future, though, because I doubt they will double down on bloatware and monetising users, too much money at stake.
- wqaatwt 1y ago
  Windows 2000 was pretty good, though? Basically XP with the old Windows 9x UI. MS just decided primarily target Millennium to consumers which wasn’t that great..

mentos 1y ago

Always hoped that Valve / Epic might find a way to collaborate on an operating system. The enemy of my enemy..

fakedang 1y ago
Nah, fuck Epic. They are against the Stop Killing Games movement.
extraduder_ire 1y ago
Epic have not been too keen on linux, and have even stopped supporting existing games on linux after buying them.
- ahartmetz 1y ago
  It's really weird how Tim Sweeney is against Linux but also complains about MSFT tightening the screws. Dude, you're throwing away revenue and a better negotiating position against MSFT! Did Linux hurt you or something?

DrNosferatu 1y ago

Furthermore, Valve can spend one of its many billion USD in closing the hardware compatibility gaps via a compatibility layer to use official driver binary blobs. (for the time-being, in order to initially open the flood gates for non-AMD hardware users) Additionally, create a “Steam Store Apps” that’s compatible with, say - Flatpak, and curates free MSOffice and other popular productivity alternatives.

benbristow 1y ago
Steam already does software.

erikerikson 1y ago

I would love this. My wife has 11 and it's a hot mess. They've been pre-enshitifying 10. As EOL starts creeping up, I'm hoping to jump to Linux. I tried it in the past but it didn't feel ready. When I'm working I'm happy to deal with technical problems but when it's time to relax, I want it to just work and work well. The harder challenge is the pile of drivers and other for the edge cases.

vallassy 1y ago
If you're willing to make the jump before GabeN makes it easy for all of us, I can recommend CachyOS with KDE Plasma. I've recently made the jump and it seems to have stuck. This is at least the fifth time I've tried to switch over the last 20 years and it's the first time it even moderately feels like most things have just worked.