I hear you, but at the same time, you can't deny the amount of improvements the Linux ecosystem has seen due to Valve's involvement: tons of AMD-related improvements in the kernel, tons of mesa/radeon improvements, massive improvements in KDE, improvements to Arch etc. Not to mention lots of other contributors riding the wave and contributing things like drivers for gamepads and other bits, making power user tools like LACT/OCCT etc.

Linux hardware compatibility has never been as good, and I suspect a lot of it is due to so many gamers trying Linux on a myriad of systems and submitting bug reports. I've also seen some folks in some communities go from complete Linux noobs to actually making FOSS software. We've also seen some very innovative distros being born as a result of all this hype (Bazzite, the uBlue family, CachyOS etc). So you can't deny the massive impact Valve has had on the overall ecosystem, and personally I think that's a good thing - even if Proton doesn't exactly sit well with FOSS ideals.

Great more distros, just what The Year of Linux Desktop needs.

Great more sarcasm, just want the HN community needs.

Yes, because many in the Linux community tend to focus on the wrong stuff, regarding adoption, and that is why one ends up with Proton.

You keep bringing up Proton but you forget that Proton is just Wine + a couple of other existing FOSS projects + some of Valve's patches. Wine is really what makes the magic happen, and Wine existed as far back as 1993, and there was barely a Linux community back then. So you can't really blame the community for Proton, it's just a natural result of things. Even before Proton came along, there were similar projects to make Wine gaming easier, such as PlayOnLinux, CrossOver etc. So Proton is nothing new, its just a natural evolution of an ecosystem that's been evolving over three decades.

Because that is ultimately what makes Windows games run on Linux, and represents Valve's failure to change the culture of game studios to consider GNU/Linux worth targeting, even when they have Android/NDK builds that they could easily use as starting point.

Indeed nothing is new, rebooting the Linux Desktop every couple of years, and I still cannot buy a GNU/Linux powered desktop at the shopping mall, with 100% everything working, unless it comes packaged on a VM running on top of macOS or Windows.

And when a problem is found in sleep modes, graphics, audio, fingerprint reader or whatever, there is always that person replying like being in some Linux forum powered by phpBB during the early 2000's.

Windows games work on Linux, until Microsoft decides it is time to do something about it, ROG XBox Ally is only the first step, and lets not forget current Valve's management won't live forever.

So it remains to be seen if the new owners when it comes to be, will be that willing to keep the same culture.

> Because that is ultimately what makes Windows games run on Linux, and represents Valve's failure to change the culture of game studios to consider GNU/Linux worth targeting

Unfortunately, eliminating the diversity of the Linux ecosystem would also be eliminating one of its strengths. Proton covers up that diversity, making it easier for game developers to target Linux (whether they do so intentionally or incidentally). While a few Linux gamers may be bothered by the Windows API providing that abstraction layer, I doubt that many are.

> I still cannot buy a GNU/Linux powered desktop at the shopping mall, with 100% everything working

If you tried installing Windows from official media on one of those shopping mall computers, you would likely find that significant pieces of hardware would not work. Sometimes, it is difficult to proceed through the install process due to this. (I have a laptop where neither the trackpad nor touch screen will work until drivers are installed, so you have to navigate through the installer with a keyboard or attach a mouse). Other times, it is theoretically impossible to complete the install process unless drivers are installed during the installation process or you temporarily add supported hardware to the machine. (Windows does not support the network adapter out of the box on the aforementioned laptop, so you theoretically get stuck at the network connection screen of the OOBE.) Do the same with Linux, and the only unsupported piece of hardware out of the box is the fingerprint reader. Heck, even the printer and scanner works out of the box. I haven't managed to get the printer or scanner working consistently under Windows even with the vendor's software installed. It's also worth mentioning that none of this hardware is obscure. (Lenovo Yoga laptop, Epson printer.)

I realize that this is misinterpreting your point, that you can walk into a store and buy a Windows laptop and you cannot do the same with Linux. At least from a major retailer. Yes, that is a valid point. On the other hand, the infrastructure is already in place. The thing that is missing is consumer demand.

> lets not forget current Valve's management won't live forever

I'm not even sure how that's relevant here. You could easily argue the same thing about Microsoft. If anything, the situation for Microsoft is worse since Linux, WINE, etc. isn't controlled by a single entity. Valve is, so the convenience of Steam could vanish. On the other hand, there are open source projects that aim to create Windows game launchers that are not tied to Valve.

They've sold ~8 million units. Well past the technical argument and the devs who can't be told, that's 8 million Windows licenses they haven't bought. I thin they've more than paid off the salaries of the few people they've hired to make Proton a reality.

Not sure I see your comparison to Netbooks; they failed because ultra-cheap laptops are inherently bad. You cut that many corners, you lose quality. They lost out to tablets, better phones, and Chromebooks, each doing something a netbook did but better. Steam Decks are a format that will persist.