I was a diehard Windows user since 3.0 - I was an MCSE/MSCD as well as a Microsoft trainer. I’d been tinkering with Linux since the 90’s but switched to it completely when the shitstorm that was Windows 8 came out (and no: 10 and 11 are not better). It took time to get to a point where I was as proficient with with Linux as I was with Windows, but it was more than worth it.
I game on Linux and use it for everything. I only use Windows/Mac at work when forced by management - both are equally horrible. There are so many things I can do on Linux that were practically or completely impossible on Windows - from simple things like radically alter the UI to fit my needs to more complex stuff like full disk encryption with integrity checking, alter my OS to run entirely in ram with no physical media (for a special project) and countless other things. Never having to bother with activation, product keys, integrated spyware, and advertisements are just icing on the cake.
“Stats” show Linux now a viable game platform
Stats “show” Linux now a viable game platform
Stats show “Linux” now a viable game platform
Stats show Linux “now” a viable game platform
Stats show Linux now a “viable” game platform
Stats show Linux now a viable “game” platform
Stats show Linux now a viable game “platform”
It’s probably possible a write a crappy article about any of these variations
That’s very similar to me. I’ve been a die-hard windows user since 3.0/3.1. I stuck with it till my Win7 computer died and I couldn’t reinstall Windows. I bought a new SSD and toss an Ubuntu distro on there and that was the beginning of the end for Windows for me.
I stopped using Windows completely when my Win8 system wouldn’t stop sucking and running never-ending scans.
This new system I’m on is dual-boot with Win11 and Manjaro. So far the only reason I see to use Win11 is to play Solitare (and occasionally a client will need me to work in Word). Otherwise, I’m just so much happier in Linux.
I’m not going to argue religiously here, but I will say this, Linux is just about as easy to install as windows is nowadays, and if you set up steam to just run all games in compatibility mode, it’ll do the proton work and a surprising number of games will just work for you out of the box.
The biggest exception nowadays is , basically, anti-cheat. And that’s because most anti-cheat software is ring 0 / root level spy kits and keyloggers and memory scanners that invade the shit out of your privacy, and Linux intentionally doesn’t make that easily doable at userspace.
The only thing really stopping me was game compatability, and with it edging over 80%, thats pretty much there.
Have tried moving to linux several times in the past, but it was always the games support that kicked me back.
I initially backed the steam deck on the idea i could fall back to windows if required. But it’s looking increasingly likely i won’t need to.
The only issues i need to look into is running obscure older windows titles… And the deck is looking like a great device to try this on.
If i get them running i’ll be very likely to just ditch windows on my main PC
I have to support Windows computers here at the library because that’s what we have (although I’ve received the go ahead to make our upcoming maker space Linux territory.) Before this, the last time I had to do much with Windows was Win7, so the intrusiveness and advertising built into the OS was a real shock when I started working with Windows again. I kill as much of Cortana and other Clippy decendants, which helps, but I’m still a bit surprised how much MS goes out of the way to remind you that you do not own this software.
All that said, I’m an absolute supporter of people (and organizations) using whatever OS / software suits their requirements as they see them. For a library, I actually do think software as a service is the way to go, I just wish Windows wasn’t so much form over function and didn’t feel so primitive and clunky.
I think it’s hard to say Linux is a viable game platform not because we don’t have tools to make Windows games work well enough but that most people don’t want to change over. The only reason I’m tempted to take the plunge is that my older games are having trouble running under Windows 10 of all things. I think it’s clear there’s going to be a generation or two of games that were crafted for Windows 95 and earlier that won’t work anymore fairly soon much like you have to use DOS Box or other such emulators to run DOS games under Windows.
Edit - After rereading your post I see you weren’t actually suggesting DOSBox for Windows games, which is what I thought when I wrote the following.
Do not use DOSBox for Windows games! DOSBox isn’t designed for it and the authors have clearly stated that any compatibility is purely accidental.
Use DOSBox-X. It is designed to run Windows 3.x, 9x, etc. Better driver support and more flexible disk options. You can use parent/child qcow2 disk images to create a single OS disk with child disks for each game - i.e. each game gets a pristine copy of windows, but without the wasted space of multiple windows disk images. Very helpful for early Windows games where games would stomp all over each other’s support libraries: e.g. Quicktime for Windows, and Direct-X.
Mainly because the mainstream benchmark seems to be “Don’t get used to anything because our basic paradigms of how we think you should use your computer will be redefined as bad and wrong and made impossible in the next version on a semi-random and entirely un-appealable basis.”
Although, to be fair, it seems like the Gnome project is making great headway on that front.
Maybe in the olden days I can see that. Nowadays, “minor tweaks” is more “Oops, proton experimental broke this game, hard force it to use proton 6.13” and then it just works.
Seriously, I get the whole “Linux is difficult and for nerds only” mentality, but , the reality is in computing we’re all going to tablets, services in the cloud, gaming from the cloud, renting everything soon enough. The vast majority of computer users won’t even put up with Windows’ crap, much less Linux’s. And the difference between what we call the major operating systems now will vanish for all but the most technically minded and oriented person.
Handling this thing like a religious war is silly, since we’re all going to get subsumed under some mobile/tablet / streaming OS soon enough anyway
I work for a cloud provider, so I am never getting away from this.
They will have to pry my non-cloud client OS’s away from my cold, dead hands. Windows is going that way, but it is possible (ish) to De-Cloudify Win10. Win11 less so (so far). If need be I will switch to something unixy.
