Steam Survey Shows Linux Marketshare Hitting 1.0%

[FellowPenguin]

I am not happy with current linux gaming situation. I wish Valve and other companies intrested in linux desktop invest more resouces into making standard, backwards-compatible linux runtime that would allow games and other software to survive distribution upgrades. Most of older native ports no longer work, or have issues that make them unplayable.
Proton isn't a solution, it just makes things worse on that regard. Even Feral Interactive doesn't see native linux ports viable anymore.

1. Valve is working on compatibility, but it's a very hard problem to solve. Windows also has similar issues with maintaining compatibility, especially with older games. Watch this talk from FOSDEM 2020 conference if you want to know more about how Valve and Collabora are improving backward compatibility on Linux.
2. Having compatibility with tens of thousands of Windows games is much more important than just having some native Linux games. Windows gamers will not switch to Linux until close to 100% of all games will work.

[treba]

Can you please explain how being able to effortlessly deploy Full Disk Encryption is bad for users? Because that's what TPM2 allows for. Not only on Windows, but Linux too. You can finally forget about stupid "unlock keys" or even worse, USB keys, just let the TPM chip do the work.
...

IIUC using TPM without unlock key is not really safe, see https://twitter.com/XMPPwocky/status...27243172868097

[anarki2]

Windows will shrink.

The TPM 2.0 requirement will make a lot of people jump ship to Macs and Linux. Many of these computers which are incapable of running Windows 11 will be very powerful and not that old. These users will not be ready to give them up. Sure, most will just take the beating that Microsoft is dishing out, but there's always that sizeable amount who get frustrated and never come back to Microsoft-land.

Can you please explain how being able to effortlessly deploy Full Disk Encryption is bad for users? Because that's what TPM2 allows for. Not only on Windows, but Linux too. You can finally forget about stupid "unlock keys" or even worse, USB keys, just let the TPM chip do the work.

The majority of notebooks made in the last 3 years have a TPM2 chip. All Ryzen CPUs have a built-in fTPM too. Many existing desktop motherboards have a TPM2 header, too. Requiring TPM2 is a non-issue blown out of proportion by the paranoid ones. It's not a disadvantage, it's an advantage.

It's like complaining if a new WiFi standard made WPA3 support mandatory. It's about friggin' time!

[Mike Frett]

1.0%. We did it, guys. After 5+ years of being at 0.x%.

We've been at 1% before.

[FellowPenguin]

According to current stats from "Steam Hardware & Software Survey":
Windows share went from 96.57 to 96.49, which is a relative decrease of 0.08%.
Linux share went from 0.89% to 1%, which is a relative increase of 12%.

1% is a great achievement. Huge thanks to Valve for improving Linux's gaming capabilities.

[ElectricPrism]

Congratulations to everyone who has contributed to Linux & Open Source, Gamers & Developers to make this happen.

It's been a roller-coaster the last 10 years, very proud of what we've accomplished as a collective & thankful to Valve for all the awesome loot.

[mbrf]

Why would it? I have a 4 year old computer that was only mediocre when I bought it, and even that potato has a TPM 2 compatible chip. TPM 2 is around since 2014, if my quick google search is right. So unless you have a horribly outdated hardware, I think you'll be fine. And since we are talking about gamers here, outdated hardware isn't exactly the norm. Those who don't care about updating their hardware, will also not care about Windows 11. Just look at the numbers of users who still run Windows 7! So no, there won't be a drop with Win 11.

I am by no stretch of the imagination, a gamer, but I have a PC from 2015, that actually plays newer games rather well. TPM might be from around 2014, but didn't see wide adoption until around 2015. I don't know if my PC has it, but then I don't care, because when I remember to pick it up, I'm installing Linux on it, and will only be running Windows for MS office in a VM.
Also, my niece and my nephew do play a lot of games, but my sister can't really afford to buy them new computers, so their hardware is pretty far behind. This will be the case for quite a lot of people. Granted, by the time that windows 10 reaches end of life in 4-5 years, hardware that does not support TPM 2.0 will be 10+ years old. But then - this far, hardware hasn't gained *that* many massive performance gains over the past decade. New technology, sure - more cores, absolutely! - much more gaming capability, less so. But you can run some pretty new games using DirectX12, on hardware that doesn't support it, by using Wine/Proton on Linux, so all the new technology matters less - especially if your graphicscard works with Vulcan.

[StarterX4]

Even the growth (or comeback?) of the Chinese doesn't threat to the Linux growth.

[discordian]

So Steam Deck -> raise in Steam numbers. Marketing ploy was successful, now let it die and think about the next crap we can present for free press. Gabe wants to buy another yacht.
Rinse, repeat.

[yoshi314]

I am not happy with current linux gaming situation. I wish Valve and other companies intrested in linux desktop invest more resouces into making standard, backwards-compatible linux runtime that would allow games and other software to survive distribution upgrades. Most of older native ports no longer work, or have issues that make them unplayable.
Proton isn't a solution, it just makes things worse on that regard. Even Feral Interactive doesn't see native linux ports viable anymore.

i would not agree on the "most". because it is very relative to your own selection. i have many games that keep working without issues.

only problem i had recently was borderlands2:tps which had some odd libc issue, and planetary annihilation that gives me some cryptic 3d acceleration error. otherwise i have no issues.