If they themselves don't have the resources, that's fine. In that case release the Galaxy client under the GPL and let talented Linux programmers do the rest, that's the beauty of Free Software. It would be a great step forward.

While I don't disagree that GoG could do more to ensure games work on Linux, I don't see the relevance of the discontinuation of Windows 10.

Windows 11 is essentially Windows 10 with a new skin. Essentially, it's 2022's version of Windows XP compared to Windows 2000; in the same way that anything that works on Windows 2000 works on Windows XP; anything that works on Windows 10 works on 11.

If they were doing an Apple and doing an insane abandoning of X86-64 in favour of RISC (because their flirting with Power-PC's RISC chips in the 1990s worked out so well) and removing support for 32-bit applications, then I'd see it being more relevant.

this, this is how you grow something to full potential

Because people aren't fond of the changes Windows 11 brought in terms of UI, it's reliance on a Microsoft account, and the addition of worse spyware than even Windows 10. This coupled with the Steam Deck's use of Arch Linux as it's base, could signal a turn in the PC gaming world. From here on out, I believe Linux will start to grow in it's marketshare and will eventually eclipse Mac OS as the 2nd place runner-up. Not a major victory, but it'll happen.

The Steam Deck is a niche product for a niche audience. It is not going to trigger any major change. People who bought a Switch or a PlayStation Portable never cared about the system powering them.

Linux has been a great platform for everything including video games for at least a decade. Windows has been awful at everything since its inception. So no, nothing changed recently, and we should not expect "market shares" to change either.

But who really cares about that anyway? We already have a great system that can run tens of thousands of games, and is better than Windows at everything. Hey, thanks to softwares like WINE + DXVK we already get better performances than people playing with native DirectX on Windows, including with AAA games!

People and entreprises are not using Windows for any intrinsic quality, but because Microsoft spends more in marketing and legal than they do in software development. No sane Linux distributor would try to fight them on these fronts (I do not count Google as either sane nor a Linux distributor, despite Android).

Perhaps, but every Steam Deck sold is another Linux gamer. It's a way of advertising Linux to those who would otherwise never use it, and may inspire them to look into it if Windows 11 isn't their cup of tea. I feel that DXVK, Proton or any other compatibility layer acts as a double-edged sword. On one hand it allows any Linux gamer to tap into the rich, existing library of Windows PC games, but on the other hand it makes devs complacent and continues the status quo. Why bother ever developing native Linux games if Proton exists anyway?. It gives them the wrong idea.

I Wish someone would've explained that to me when I first started using this site a year and a half ago when one of the first games I got from here made my laptop have a freak out. out of all the games I have from here only maybe 3 games have had compatibility problems except star trek voyager that is the only game that made my laptop hard lock and then freak out I thought my laptop had been corrupted. Although a simple developer patch seemingly would fix several problems with games just not starting its what they did with the original Metal Gear from how I had it explained to me when I wondered why I was being made to download a patch from here.

I'm not sure it will make a difference. The internet tends to be a huge echo chamber and I'd note that GoG does naturally attract a higher % of linux users than exist in the general population (most likely due to the DRM free aspect)

First off, it would be interesting to see of the people who complained about the reliance on the Microsoft account, how many already used Linux on at least one PC or laptop (not counting devices as niche products like the Steam Deck don't count, nor do Android phones and tablets). Of the remainder (who weren't already linux users), how many actually made a switch? I suspect it isn't many as most people will just go "Oh, that's annoying, but I link my phone to an account, so why not my PC".

Secondly, people have always hated Windows UI changes (apart from Windows 7). Everyone hated XP at the time because it looked childish compared to the clean look of 2000 (or Me for users coming from a non NT system). People didn't like Vista because it wasn't XP. Everyone hated 8 (well, it was crap). 10 got away with it because 8 was genuinely terrible. 11 isn't actually that bad - yes, the right click menu being changed is annoying, but everything else is okay - especially as you can move start back to the left hand side.

Finally, there's inertia. Outside of niche or specialist roles (typically creative and a minority of IT roles) most major businesses use Windows exclusively. This is a two main reasons. Firstly, when procuring software, having a big, American company like Microsoft sat on the other side of the desk is very reassuring Secondly, you don't need to train people on how to use Windows. Your staff already know how to use it. Shifting to Linux would be too disruptive for most businesses to contemplate. Add to this, when people go to the shop to buy a computer, it comes with Windows on it (excepting of course Chrome books and Apple products) - most OEMs just don't ship with Linux and most users wouldn't install a different OS. Home builds are slightly different, but from my perspective, I wouldn't want to spend time learning a new OS (and jumping through hoops to install nVidia drivers) because I didn't like a UI or even thought I could get a couple more FPS.

For Linux to really start taking market share for home PCs, it would need to overcome those issues; I'm not saying it can't, but it's not going to be easy.

(I'd also add that the Xbox essentially runs on a system that has Windows at its core, so if we start talking about the Steamdeck pushing Linux adoption, I'd argue that the Xbox hasn't pushed Windows adoption, so I don't think it's likely to happen)

Sadly it does not work like that. Look at all the people using Android phones, are they really aware that Linux is a thing, and that they could use it instead of Windows? Same for PlayStation owners and FreeBSD…

Steam Deck is not increasing Linux awareness in any way. The only awareness it could improve is Steam’s, but that would not be a good thing for anyone.

Let’s not forget that Proton is a marketing ploy, the real software is called WINE and it has been available for almost as long as Linux itself ;)

The real issue here is that Valve encourages developers to drop native ports in favour of compatibility with their WINE fork. And the "gamers" usually being an echo chamber for what Valve says, they now request "Proton compatibility" from developers, not Linux compatibility. So what they are actually asking for… is Steam compatibility.

This might be a good time to remember that Valve is not and has never been pro-Linux. Never. They are pro-Valve, and anti-Microsoft. But the only interest they see in Linux is that it is a free to use system for them to ensure their independence from things like the Windows Store. And in doing so, strengthen their de-facto control on the whole PC video games market.

In that particular regard: after a short exploration some 20 years ago, I never ever bothered with Norton AV again.

Uninstalled it from my system - and then never even looked at newer versions of that program.

Norton may be good when it comes to AV measures, but it bogs down your system and is responsible for so many failures when it comes to start other programs (like games), that these failures outweight the benefits in regard to AV by far.

If I would give you a single advice: get rid of Norton.

We don't intend to touch W11, not even with so much as a barge pole. Think W8 redux.

Go Crypto/NFT or die. Too many big players out there, Steam, Amazon, Epic, Ubi, EA, Sony, Microsoft, GreenMan etc.

MS is offering BlockChain Nodes these days.

Ah yes, the often repeated "This is the year of Linux!" line... which has been used over-optimistically and unsucessfully for how many years in a row now? =P It'd take something drastic for it to overtake even the much more mainstream MacOs in daily/general-use PCs. The Steam Deck is a very niche platform and unlikely to move the needle much at all.

Think all the way back some 2-3 decades, Sun Micro, and the Unix OS. Scott McNealy where have you gone?

Not saying your lying, but I have over 1400 games. Only 2 do not work on windows 11 for me. Just a little advice to anyone, RivaTuner causes a lot starting issues with old games. You might want to check if any third party apps are causing issues.