SteamOS will most likely be deployed on other handheld PCs, not desktop PCs. The handheld PCs that came out in response to the deck’s release (or before) usually run Windows.
Android is not bad because Android itself is bad (well… it kinda is but let’s just assume it isn’t), but because the phone manufacturers lock down their phones’ hardware. They do this to force you into their ecosystem. With SteamOS, you already have an ecosystem, which is Steam. There is (at least for now) a clear distinction between Hardware manufacturer and software provider.
For now at least Androidization is nothing you should worry about. Maybe in 10, 20 years. edit: and even then it’s never going to be as bad as with the smartphones
The thing we should be more concerned about are the parts that Steam haven’t opened up, for example Steam input. However they’ve done everything as openly as possible for the move to Linux and I applaud that. If steam goes away or stops being so open, we still have proton and wine and other projects that mean we’re not locked in to a Steam-specific OS, so we avoid the android problem there too.
Help dissuade (or confirm) a fear here. Could this be the first step to a sort of Androidization of steamos?
Probably not. Unlike Android, it doesn’t take away the Linux desktop features. It’s just Arch with a bunch of stuff pre-installed.
SteamOS will most likely be deployed on other handheld PCs, not desktop PCs. The handheld PCs that came out in response to the deck’s release (or before) usually run Windows.
Android is not bad because Android itself is bad (well… it kinda is but let’s just assume it isn’t), but because the phone manufacturers lock down their phones’ hardware. They do this to force you into their ecosystem. With SteamOS, you already have an ecosystem, which is Steam. There is (at least for now) a clear distinction between Hardware manufacturer and software provider.
For now at least Androidization is nothing you should worry about. Maybe in 10, 20 years. edit: and even then it’s never going to be as bad as with the smartphones
The thing we should be more concerned about are the parts that Steam haven’t opened up, for example Steam input. However they’ve done everything as openly as possible for the move to Linux and I applaud that. If steam goes away or stops being so open, we still have proton and wine and other projects that mean we’re not locked in to a Steam-specific OS, so we avoid the android problem there too.
Good to know! Thank you for explaining it.
I would very much so run it on my laptop, tbh, if it used GNOME. Lol
You don’t need SteamOS to game on Linux. I’ve heard good things about Bazzite, and there other Linux distros that focus on gaming.
What do you mean by “Androidization”?