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Microsoft is already responding to the potential shift. The upcoming ROG Xbox Ally X handheld from Microsoft and ASUS will reportedly ship with a gaming-optimized version of Windows 11 with a dedicated Xbox UI and interface that aims to streamline the experience while boosting in-game performance and overall handheld efficiency.
Given how much Microsoft wants to shove AI tools every where in Windows, I don't think this optimisation will make much of a difference.
Can I post a potentially controversial opinion? I think that the 'Game Bar' feature that Win11 has now is actually kinda good. It has really come a long, long way since Windows Gaming for PC. I think that whenever I switch to Linux, I would probably seek out something similarly as elegant.
Can I post a potentially controversial opinion?
NO, YOU CAN'T. (just kidding.)
Serious now: if I got it right, this game bar is an overlay showing FPS, CPU/GPU usage, screenshots/recording, stuff like this. It doesn't look too hard to implement in Linux, and apparently there's a GNOME extension in the makes for that. (If it's compatible with Cinnamon I'll be a happy camper. I'd rather not touch GNOME directly with a 3m pole, but the tools for GNOME are sometimes OK.)
Correct! And I appreciate the recommendation. I'm an XFCE4 man (sorry. It is just what I've been using for decades) and I think I could probably get that GNOME library running on that environment.
MS optimization = maximize revenue streams = more ads = more spyware
I don’t believe a thing MS says is ever meant to improve the customer experience.
Exactly... People love talking optimization and efficiency without realizing that they are being fucked over lol
They are optimizing at your expense
Given the popularity of the Steam Deck, the Xbox handheld would have to come free with the purchase of any Xbox exclusive game to stand a chance in that sphere, I think. The fact that it's Win11 immediately turns me off and I say this as someone who still uses Windows.
And if we take this as an actual attempt at a better handheld experience, then this is just further proof that competition breeds better products for consumers.
Yeah and honestly, whatever optimization they promise — or deliver, for that matter — won't sway me because it's the company itself and the country where it is based that I'm against at this point. So, there's no way I'm ever going to buy any MS handheld.
11% month on month expansion is fucking crazy. You can see from the data it's mostly Windows 10 users deciding to upgrade to Linux...and even OSX.
11% of 2% is nice but not "fucking crazy"
Steam has over 132 million monthly active users
That month on month Linux expansion is ~422,000 computers. That is a shitload of people switching in just a single month.
OSes are sticky as hell. People don't like switching. As Linux attracts these people away from Microsoft, MS is not going to get them back. And importantly, the adoption rate is high enough that many 3rd party companies are taking notice and releasing for both.
OSes are sticky as hell. People don’t like switching.
Every time they buy a new device they have to switch back to linux, because that device with very few exceptions ships with MS.
Switched to linux (popos - so far so good) this month because fuck microsoft. yeah, some things aren't perfect or require extra steps (modding, usually) but fuck microsoft. Fuck their AI shit, fuck their "recall" spyware, fuck their CEO that babbles about AI while laying off thousands of workers.
I'm a long-time Linux hacker and I'm currently running Pop! OS on my laptop and dev box. It's the best distro I've found yet that Just Works™ (but naturally still allows for all the customization I might want).
It was written in the scrolls. The day prophezised for hundreds of years: the year of the linux desktop.
The prophecy is being fulfilled, and our prophet Gabe made it possible.
Won't miss those years tweaking Windows to uninstall or disable bloatware and malware. I don't mind if more or less people migrate to Linux, I'm just grateful to those who are making and improving such amazingly good distros. 💪💛
If all you do is game, outside of a few key games (Destiny 2, uhh,couple others) the experience on Linux is better for many folks.
The success of Steam Deck has helped a lot. Prior to that Linux ports tended to be very perfunctory and they weren't tested or supported very well. I guess that now there are actual Linux gamers (via Steam Deck), that support has improved. That said, I think outside of Steam Deck and SteamOS, your experience of gaming is going to be extremely dependent on your GPU, driver support and a number of other factors. Things are far more likely to work well on Windows than they would for Linux.
For flat games this is true, there is still work to be done for the VR side of things, even that has advanced by leaps and bounds in just the last 2 or 3 years
How do you know if someone owns a Steam Deck? Don't worry, they'll tell you.
So anyway, a couple years ago I bought a Steam Deck. And since I bought it, virtually all of my gaming is on the Deck. Prior to that, virtually all of my game time was on a Windows PC. So, for me personally, there's been a big shift towards Linux for gaming.
The other big change that's coming for a lot of people I know: end of Windows 10 support. Honestly, the majority of people I know who still have a traditional Windows PC are using machines that can't be upgraded to Windows 11. These computers are perfectly functional and do everything the users need them to do, and they have no inclination to go out and buy a new computer just because. Especially in this economy. Additionally, there are quite a few people with computers that are capable of running Windows 11, but they have no desire to upgrade to a worse experience and an experience that is randomly different in a myriad different ways for no good reason. Both groups are ripe for the picking in terms of a switch to Linux. No, the year of the Linux desktop is not here, but the conditions for such a change are building. And this Steam data may present a picture of the larger trend. Who knows?
I've been running Bazzite OS on my living room big screen gaming PC since May. It's a really slick fedora-based distro that installs out of the box with Steam, proton, and graphics drivers ready-to-launch for gaming. It was really easy to use, and my games worked perfectly.
My high school age son got a new AMD proc/mb for his birthday, and I was surprised when he said he wanted to try dual booting Bazzite and Windows when we set it up. 2 weeks later, and he decided to kill the Windows boot and just use Bazzite full time. He has no linux experience and just figures it out.
Windows 11 is shit and Linux alternatives are prettier, easier to use, don't shove AI down your throat, and don't steal your data for profit. The time has come.
Glad to be part of a trend, for a change!
I've been using Arch for a little over a year, and it's been fun. I've learned so much more about computers and Linux itself. I highly recommend trying out Linux and you can do it here: https://distrosea.com/ - It's a website where you can try out different Linux distros in your web browser.
Common Windows L
It's not so much about users switching, it's more about the ones that will stick with it. And that we can't know for a few years yet.
I put KDE plasma on my elderly Mom's surface laptop. She uses it mostly for organising photos, and she's loving it. She complained that windows always "messes with her settings". If she gets it, you can too.
As people already stated in the comments, this may not be a permanent change for some (they find out something like destiny 2 refuses to work on Linux without bans, some other tools needed for certain use cases are not there yet or windows only), but I think is super important people understand there are alternatives, and not only windows or Mac. Hopefully gives more people awareness that something else is out there. And would be really cool if we had more of the user base that is on the verge to throwing away the machine because of windows 11 restrictions and instead, gives machines a second chance.
Anyone know if CP2077 runs better on Linux than Windows?
By much? With HDR?
Sorry for the drive by comment, but this is like the one game my 3090 can’t quite handle to my satisfaction. I've thoroughly disabled the thing from rendering in Linux and don’t want to undo all that… But if I could get like another 10% over Windows, that would be incredible. Even 5% would be awesome.