I guess we'll see just how powerful branding really is.

yup, unfortunately the #1 thing hindering linux adoption is that the steam deck is just about the only vaguely mainstream thing sold with a linux distro preinstalled, and almost no one can be arsed to install another OS on a device.

Theoretically if you could click a button and automatically install a distro that would make a decent amount of people switch, but then that would effectively be turbomalware and shouldn't exist.

The only real ways i see linux becoming significantly more popular in a short timespan is either more linux-native devices being sold, or a strong culture developing around having us nerds install linux on people's devices.

Among consumers, sure. But they also have put decades of effort into understanding how business buy and pay for software and computers.

Ah, there's Adobe and maybe some 3D modelling software

For anyone with two feet, dual boot instead of a single boot is highly recommended

I have used linux for about two years for gaming and it works for well most games but there is always a game that doesn't work right too, not to dissuade you from giving it a try. Just want to tell you my experience. I'd say 95% of games I've tried work in a basic sense. But sometimes a certain game just runs like crap or I have to fiddle getting a game to work with using lutris . Some games just can't work because of anti-cheat services. Etc... I've tried various OS and really enjoy POP_OS as well as good ole fedora. So, dual boot is recommended if you can do it. Ultimately, I've sadly moved back to windows just because I got tired of always having to troubleshoot stuff to the point of not wanting my computer to be a hobby. I love linux and want it to be my only OS but for me its just not quite there for no fuss gaming setup. I'm a parent and dont want my fleeting moments of free time to be troubleshooting while something isn't working.

This is the main problem right now.

People want to return to a lighter simple Windows OS, but Microsoft is making that increasingly hard to access. The LTSC version of Windows 10 is close(No AI, No Ads, and minimal telemetry that can be disabled), but they dont sell it to the public unless you buy 5 copies, and ~~there is no LTSC version of Windows 11 yet.~~ looks like they finally released it a couple months back, but people are unhappy with it.

Linux offers an alternative, but compatibility is still a huge issue despite the impressive gains Wine and Proton have made in the last few years.

The reality is that if you have a Windows PC you can basically guarantee that you can install anything you might want(barring hardware limitations). You can often make that software work on Linux too, but there is always some tinkering involved and the general public doesn't want to deal with that, nor do they want to change to a FOSS alternative.

Fuck kernel-level anticheat.

I refuse to buy or play any games with Kernel Anti-cheat.

And I will die on that hill.

is it really at all surprising when the rest of the industry keeps shitting on people, and meanwhile valve has consistently said "why on earth would we shit on people? let's just make nice things that people actively want to buy instead"

Am I missing something? The meme says "Windows bad" not "Valve is our friend."

I don't need Steam to win, I want windows to lose.

Because it's a Linux distribution. They're forced to be our friends because of a brilliant legal tactic that has been working marvelously. For Steam itself we have to trust a billionaire pinky promise that he won't enshittify. But if Linux becomes a major gaming platform, it could be a major turning point for free software adoption in general.

Years of Stockholm syndrome

I can't even remember the last time I had to fuck around with a Steam game, all the ones I want to play just work