It's Getting Too Difficult to Compete With Free Software (Except in Marketing)

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2021-07-18 01:15:46 UTC
Modified: 2021-07-18 01:16:13 UTC

DRM Notwithstanding, Valve Choosing GNU/Linux With KDE is Better Than Just More of Windows

Microsoft clearly does not 'love' Valve's choice of operating system

Summary: Valve has chosen GNU/Linux for its power, not for its freedom; we're moving past the point of GNU/Linux dominance in servers and Linux on most phones; are laptops/desktops the next frontier?

TONS of blog posts and lengthy videos have been published to speak about the news from Valve, including some in our daily links (News Roundup). It even made it through to the mainstream media and demand for the product is reportedly very high. I saw a number of videos about it (some do not mention GNU/Linux) and the excitement seems real, not manufactured or paid-for hype. That's what Apple and Microsoft do; they compensate for a lack of technical merit by bribing the press.

So what's it all about?

"How many people will be inspired by this handheld console and decide to install something similar on laptops/desktops?"For those who lived under a tree/rock this past week (or maybe were on holiday), Valve chose KDE on top of GNU/Linux for its successor to efforts like Proton, SteamOS (Debian), and Steam Machines that never quite materialised. The choice of KDE is particularly interesting because it brings with it a suite of Free software, apparently not just a Web browser. So that's potentially millions more KDE users, Free software users, who play proprietary games 'on the side'...

Not only might this improve KDE (patches from Valve); it'll increase exposure of the platform. People will start asking, "what is this thing?" (Much of the media at the moment does not mention the choice of platform and instead focuses on the hardware)

Given the alternate reality or the possibility of Windows, which was rejected, it's probably something to be celebrated. How many people will be inspired by this handheld console and decide to install something similar on laptops/desktops? Time will tell...

Last year we wrote why it's better to get gamers on GNU/Linux than to let them stay on Windows. Not everyone agreed; figosdev, for example, objected to this. He saw that as tolerating DRM.

We'd love to hear readers' thoughts (and stance) on this in IRC. Was this product even worth mentioning in a blog about software freedom? Might KDE be compromised somehow? We're all ears... ⬆

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Mobbing at the European Patent Office (EPO) - Part I - An Introduction: When the series ends, some time around the second or third EPO strike of this year, we'll contact the relevant authorities and plead for intervention
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Delusion - Part I - Who Regulates This Regulator? (Only Itself!): We won't self-censor or prematurely terminate this series
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Gemini Links 31/01/2026: Deep Ice and Slide Rules: Links for the day
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IBM Bluewashing: Feels Like IBM is Scuttling Neudesic (and Some of Red Hat): We recently saw some Red Hat staff joining a Microsoft proxy
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IRC Proceedings: Friday, January 30, 2026: IRC logs for Friday, January 30, 2026
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It's Getting Too Difficult to Compete With Free Software (Except in Marketing)

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