Dual booting has existed for a long time. Microsoft keeps making it more annoying to do. For my next PC, I'm not even keeping a dual boot around as a safety net; I'm just doing Linux.

when Windows "challenges" others, they don't compete on merit... it's easier to blackmail game developers by threatening to kick them out of Windows / Xbox platforms if they develop for Linux... this is how we ended up with "windows is the only os for gaming" back in the 90s

Do you have a source for that? As far as I know, Microsoft never gave much of a damn about making Linux versions of games. They did have an Xbox parity clause for games that came to other consoles, but that's pretty different than what you're saying.

Dual booting has existed for a long time but this same boost in performance when using SteamOS might not appear on desktops.

I haven't tracked the performance in Proton for a long time, because I already used that information to make my purchasing decisions, but single digit percentage improvements in performance when running games via Proton has also been the case on desktops for a long time. If there's any further improvement to be seen from SteamOS's game mode rather than regular desktop, you should see it in Bazzite as well.

The imagine if their cloud runs the game using proton. The provider with the lowest overhead would have lower costs and thus a cheaper service. If Microsoft doesn't do it, someone else could.

I would rather bet that most people have no clue what an operating system is and that the one they (unknowingly) use is made by Microsoft. On the other hand if they play games (on that PC), they will know Steam, because they actively had to install it and click its icon frequently.

I learnt most of the story from this book Renegades of the Empire

The story is summarized here: https://gist.github.com/kirkegaard/1055336

It's all about how DirectX/Direct3D was launching and competing with OpenGL (the open standard).

In a nutshell, MS literally ported games for free to Windows (Doom95 being the flagship example) and/or subsidized the development of games for Direct3D so there would be no appetite for OpenGL.

This is equivalent to Amazon or Walmart selling their stuff at a loss until all competitors go bankrupt

Well, the truth of that is quite a bit different than how you put it, and it's also more carrot than stick. There were efforts to make Linux versions of games after this adoption of DirectX, and they didn't take; I have a Linux disc for Unreal Tournament 2004 that came in the same box as the Windows one. What Microsoft did surely sucked for everyone, but fortunately, we live in a world where their recent efforts to do similar things aren't working. They didn't manage to siphon PC gaming over the Windows Store, and Windows handhelds are demonstrably worse and sell worse than the Linux ones. Consoles' walled gardens are slowly crumbling from natural market forces to the openness of PC, and that includes a PC where almost all of those games work on Linux.

Microsoft does not have a position of strength here right now, and they know it, so they instead pivoted to just being an enormous publisher with a subscription service that's lucrative but has already plateaued.

Funny how much ms bitches that secure boot is REQUIRED for win 11. Then you can just turn it off after installing

Well, the truth of that is quite a bit different than how you put it, and it’s also more carrot than stick.

True, I misremembered... however, this is anti-competitive practice 101 anyway

What Microsoft did surely sucked for everyone, but fortunately, we live in a world where their recent efforts to do similar things aren’t working.

But the fact they keep trying these anti-competitive strategies and have no consequences for them is a problem. We cannot rely on "it didn't work for them this time" as if that is a solution because next time it would work for them and then we are all fucked for another few decades

That's the magic of proton, and all of the tools that make it work.

DXVK alone is incredible.

The performance gains are from all the tweaks people have done to proton to fix the games. Running regular programs through wine will only be slower.

Yes but that's it right, they are not developing for Linux, Steam is doing it for the developer. There is nothing stopping Windows of saying sell exclusively through my Store, though I believe they have tried.

But I do understand were you are coming from Windows is definitely not the most ethical company and definitely they are not up for fair fight, what I'm trying to say is that I hope the game developers focus more in the mobile market and optimize the games more.

The Steam Deck was the way of bringing SteamOS to the masses, now the HW developers will sell their devices in Walmart just by the Switch and the other consoles, it will be cheaper due to the 0 license cost (or, you know, pocketing the difference) with a big, ever expanding, catalog.

About the Switch 2, the hype is there definitely and it is a known brand, mainly sold to families and casual gamers. But even PlayStation and Xbox are not competing with Nintendo.

I agree with everything you said, but I still don’t think that will change the decision of someone on the fence. The Deck is the odd one out.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Deck and SteamOS and want it to succeed, and expect them to to a certain degree, but I just know the average consumer and they’ll just look at the SteamOS handhelds as a weird knockoff gaming computer.

We all know how special it is because we were the target market. But when all is said and done, it comes down to what people know.

If Valve was advertising like the big guys do, maybe, but with no ad support, not a chance.

I think the issue here is DirectX, so unless there's meaningful changes to how DX works internally, DXVK at this point can always be a step ahead with all the changes it can make without tech debt to worry about. I wouldn't be surprised if that's why Series X despite being stronger than PS5 on paper, struggles to match performance in non zero count of games.

As an ally owner, this is rather unfortunate

Unfortunate why? It just means Asus sold you a pretty well optimized product.

I suppose there's no reason to take the time and remove windows from it