What will they shove though¿? They don’t control linux like how Microsoft controls windows. The only OS they have control over is SteamOS.
And what are most people running to game on Linux? Consumer Linux right now is Android and Steam; servers have their own systems.
Valve is not forcing us to run steam. It can’t do that. What it can do is offer a very good product which makes us use it. If in the future, valve starts doing shitty things with steam, most of the community will just move on.
Also what the hell do you mean by consumer linux is steam¿?
Valve is not forcing us to run steam.
Valve runs the DRM that runs Steam. They are making the platform desktop agnostic, but that may not be sustainable.
Also what the hell do you mean by consumer linux is steam¿?
After the release of the Steam Deck, Linux on Steam has seen an increase so large that it now beats Apple for the #2. Steam may push users to Linux, but still run the Steam walled garden.
Right now Valve could disappear and gaming on Linux would continue, better for the efforts Valve have already made. I would think that the improvements would stagnate without Valve, though.
Non-Steam utilities like Lutris, Bottles and Heroic run games nearly as well as Steam. We’d carry on.
Most of the linux world is not for “consumers”, it’s for “participants” also refered to as “the linux community”. Android and SteamOS are consumer oriented indeed, you buy your device that ships with a Linux-based OS. But on the PC side of things, you just get, install and use linux for free with no strings attached. Just by doing so you become a participant of the linux community, and you contribute to shape the future of Linux as an OS by choosing a distro over another, by choosing a DE, by reporting bugs, etc.
Any company that has influence on the development of Linux, can only have it by contributing to the whole project. This is what Valve is doing, as well as Intel, Canonical, Redhat and even Microsoft.
