Steam's Hardware Survey Shows Not Much For Linux

[Brane215]

I think (big) part of the reason is relatively weak support.

I was very interested in Portal1/2 and tried to install Steam on my Gentoo, but that thing behaved very weirdly. And inconistently, so after a few hours of desperate attempts I deleted it.

Had it worked for me, I wouldn't have a problem byuing 3-4 games then.

[randomizer]

Lots of things. Microsoft conspires with NSA, and Windows is riddled with DRM, spyware, security holes and bloat. With security and privacy issues getting so much publicity thanks to Snowden, more people are bound to seek alternatives to Windows that give them better privacy.

Convenience is far more important than privacy and security to the vast majority of people. People will either not switch or switch right back when they realise that learning to use Linux is not as convenient as continuing to use Windows. Most people don't know or care about DRM, security holes or bloat.

[madrang]

I think more users will try linux as time goes. Today more and more devices are sold with OS based on linux systems. The Steam Box and Oculus Rift (which are made to be used together) when sold will help improve the user base. I don't really care if more people use linux, as long as there is good support for hardware and games. I've been using nightlies for a long time and lately i see lots of work toward game related drivers: Gamepads, Graphic Cards, Sound, Etc...

Developers now are starting to learn how to use technologies that are cross platform, more open and that will not lock them to a specific ecosystem. Also OpenGL is picking up some steam as it is now the best choice for any developer that would love to make a game run on: Android, Linux, Mac, PlayStation 4 and Windows.

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/159476-ps4-runs-orbis-os-a-modified-version-of-freebsd-thats-similar-to-linux

Yes the PS4 is running Orbis OS a fork of FreeBSD. Meaning no DirectX here, but OpenGL. Also that when a game is made for the PS4 it is very easy to run it on the Steam Box which will be running a very similar system. Once the Steam Box port is made, there isn't much left to do for a full Linux support. Managing dependencies would be the biggest problem but Steam is already working hard to make sure game developers don't have to.

[peppercats]

many windows games require steam to run, I have a few friends with steam accounts and only 1 or 2 games because they required steam.
I'd be interested to see which one spends more on average.

[zanny]

Convenience is far more important than privacy and security to the vast majority of people. People will either not switch or switch right back when they realise that learning to use Linux is not as convenient as continuing to use Windows. Most people don't know or care about DRM, security holes or bloat.

This is sadly true. The only way to see the mass adoption of Linux distros as a gaming platform is never going to be to do things the way Windows does - capture markets with lots of subsidizing and industry connections to have Windows on every PC on the line at the Best Buy.

It requires killer apps. Package management alone isn't enough, nor is the user security, personal security, ease of use with devices (since drivers are included), better resource usage, or customizability.

It takes 1. A better development platform that Windows (not hard, Windows is horribad to develop for outside .net projects, even then there is no way to pack distribute stuff unless you use a service like Steam), Unity is already here, for example. 2. Games people can't get on their Windows systems and 3. New systems with Linux as the default.

The last one demands that Canonical or Suse (the only real big corporate pushers of consumer linux in any way, Fedora is just a red hat test bed, and Mint doesn't have a strong corporate backing) get computers running their OSes in front of people at stores. That or hopefully a Steam Box platform will pop up, and will be some stripped down Linux on the inside that is cross compatible with current distros. We need Linux by default in peoples faces.

[shmerl]

These statistics aren't very useful, since Steam's Linux offering is a small fraction of their full catalog, these numbers however are cumulative for all their games. Plus, many avoid Steam because of opposition to DRM which is more common amongst Linux users, therefore Steam numbers don't reflect Linux gamers well at all and should not be used for evaluating the situation with Linux gaming.

Humble Bundle statistics are more interesting, because they are provided for DRM free cross platform games: http://cheesetalks.twolofbees.com/humble/

[Dukenukemx]

You could port the entire Steam library to Linux and it wouldn't change much. A small handful might switch, but an overwhelming majority would not. What is the incentive to leave Windows? What does Linux do better such that it would tempt somebody to come over?

I don't expect a lot of people to switch over to Linux even if you could run all Windows apps perfectly on Linux. The key people are the PC enthusiasts. They're the reason why Windows 8 never had a chance. They are few, but are very loud. Without their support, no product will ever succeed.

Majority of people won't use Linux just cause Windows works. They don't wanna learn new things, when they don't see any real benefits. But for enthusiasts they have plenty of reasons.

#1 No CD key or activation. Gets annoying after a while.
#2 You get what you want, without the UI that Microsoft wants you to have.
#3 Total control of your PC. A lot of people feel that they've lost control of their Windows PC.
#4 Free. Can't argue with free.
#5 No need for an antivirus. At least not yet anyway.

These seem like minor points, but are big issues with enthusiasts. But Linux still lacks compatibility with Windows applications and performance for those apps. For a lot of Windows users looking to switch, that's what prevents that from switching. I know I use Windows 99.99% of the time. Only rarely switching to Mint.

[FateousMaximous]

Most people wont switch over.
Most people have Windows, and they are okay with that.
Most people don't know about Linux, and don't care about Linux and see no reason to switch to Linux.

Windows works for them.
They have no compelling reason to switch to Linux.
Linux have less game and in most cases worse gaming performance.
Switching is uncomfortable and requires them to learn new stuff.

Even if Linux had all the games Windows had, most people would still not switch.
Even if Linux was faster than Windows, people still wouldn't switch.

I'm not talking about everyone. There are quiet a few Linux users that dual boot and for the most part play games in Windows because they aren't available in Linux yet. I'm sure there are also people that do the same when a game they want to play doesn't support OS X. As far as incentive is concerned those already familiar with Linux just need the games. Also your point about switching is pretty ridiculous, I've seen people use something like Linux Mint or Ubuntu and not even know the difference between it and Windows. Yea it isn't the exact same thing, but one of the more major differences (at least in my mind) that an end user would deal with would be using a package manager instead of going to a website and downloading a program. Even this really isn't a big deal. OS X, Windows 8, Android, and IOS all use an app store, which is a package manager. I find it discouraging that on a Linux oriented forum there is someone so negative about Linux. Yes we all realize that Linux isn't going to overthrow Windows anytime soon, but every little step matters. A little step like booting into Windows less often may lead to more game devs noticing the Linux user base and eventually even better support for Linux Gaming.

[Sonadow]

=

Majority of people won't use Linux just cause Windows works. They don't wanna learn new things, when they don't see any real benefits. But for enthusiasts they have plenty of reasons.

#1 No CD key or activation. Gets annoying after a while.
#2 You get what you want, without the UI that Microsoft wants you to have.
#3 Total control of your PC. A lot of people feel that they've lost control of their Windows PC.
#4 Free. Can't argue with free.
#5 No need for an antivirus. At least not yet anyway.
.

No support for CrossFire, SLI, Lucid
No support for userspace core / multiplier overclocking
No support for the standard benchmarking tools (SuperPi, Futuremark, Furmark, IOMeter, HDBurn, etc etc)
Too many cobbled-on parts to track when updating official drivers (driver depends on X version of kernel and an older version of xserver which depends Z version of some other package which, more often than not, is totally not present in the repositories) unlike OS X and Windows; install 1 x driver EXE regardless of Windows version and that's it. Look at Haswell for Windows; just 1 driver package needed vs new kernel + new Mesa + new xserver needed just for full Linux Haswell support.
...and so on and so forth.

[leonmaxx]

You could port the entire Steam library to Linux and it wouldn't change much. A small handful might switch, but an overwhelming majority would not. What is the incentive to leave Windows? What does Linux do better such that it would tempt somebody to come over?

I moved to Linux because i'm tired to fight with viruses on M$ Windows. And with my help, 4 of my friends already switched to Linux too.