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Comment by noisy_boy

3 months ago

Seems to me that there is a fourth platform emerging: Windows, Mac, Linux and now, Steam.

PS: I know its custom Arch Linux under the hood, I'm talking about mass market nomenclature.

The main problem with Linux as a platform, is that it isn't. Linux is a kernel, with a platform built on top of it. And that's the real issue: Gnome and KDE are separate platforms; but so are Ubuntu and Fedora; but so are Flatpak and Snap; etc. Depending on your application, you will have to support several combinations.

For gaming, Steam OS fixes that. You can't target "Linux", but you can target Steam on Linux.

  • Which is fine, its a much better situation than the current status quo, If all devs build around steam OS's 'platform' its not that big of a deal for any Linux enthusiast to run in their custom made setup, the main concern is the layman, the enthusiast love these types of problems.