There's always arguments across many angles on what exactly Linux needs to succeed to become more mainstream and the answer, as we've long said, is pretty simple.

The biggest push may indeed come from the Steam Deck. A PC in a handheld form factor, that allows you to hook it up to a monitor for a full KDE Plasma desktop experience. Very exciting. If we see a lot of people enjoy it and the Steam Deck is a success, you can be almost guaranteed that more devices will come along and slap SteamOS 3 on it and then also have a KDE Plasma desktop available.

  • adrianmalacoda@lemmy.ml
    3·
    3 years ago

    In the mobile space, Linux is already pre-installed on what I believe to be the majority of devices. Those users are for the large part unaware they are even using Linux, and Linux fans often don’t consider it to be a “real form of Linux.” I’m talking about Android, of course.

    I think SteamOS could be the equivalent to Android for desktops, in that sense. It won’t be branded as Linux and it won’t be marketed towards Linux nerds, but it will be Linux (and far closer to Libre community GNU/Linux OS’s than Android is, thankfully) and any improvements made for it could also benefit the Libre software community.

    I’m not terribly excited for SteamOS itself or “Linux gaming” and I’m not really a “year of the Linux desktop” person, but I think this can benefit the Libre software ecosystem directly or indirectly.

    (ed: ChromeOS is also a thing, but I think considering it a desktop is sort of a stretch)