Playtron are quietly building up their Linux-based PlaytronOS behind the scenes, and not only have they released their first Alpha but they've pulled in another investor too.
I don't get all this "gaming on Linux is hard" non-sense. All I have to do is set a specific flag on Steam and click play. That's it. One step, and 99% of my library just works, sometimes better than on Windows.
If it isn't on Steam, I search for it on Lutris and Lutris installs it for me, and I click play. And more often than not, it just works.
Hell, the mother fuckers that make Final Fantasy XIV's quick launcher made that shit a flatpak! And it's so fucking seemless, not a soul would know that game isn't a native Linux game!
Yeah, not all games work on Linux in all situations though. It depends for example on
which distro you have,
whether you have an Nvidia or AMD GPU (for example, SWTOR evidently runs fine through Lutris, but didn't last time I tried with an Nvidia GPU, so that might better with AMD—same thing happened with Dragon Age: Origins)
what driver for either you have installed (Nvidia is getting better, but good gods the flickering could be better with some of their driver versions—games may play without being playable, after all),
whether your computer's firmware is even Linux-compatible, let alone Linux-friendly (I know Lenovo laptops used to suck in this regard—they might still, though I don't).
So, no, although it's gotten a LOT better in the last 5 years, the notion that it "just works" is only situationally correct, and is by no means correct to the extent that justifies ridiculing those who say that it is not so plug-and-play as what is claimed.
Furthermore, doing so only sets up new Linux users without the optimal hardware or firmware for disappointment due to unrealistic expectations.
My comment wasn't "Linux works perfectly in every single regard." It was "Linux isn't hard to use for the things that do work on it." I'm well aware Linux isn't right for every use-case, nor did I say it was, I said it wasn't hard to use. Compatibility is a separate issue here.
I know a bunch of people that own Steam Decks, know nothing about Linux, and have no idea that their games are running on it. I'd say it's pretty easy now.