Comment on Valve has little to worry about as new Steam Deck rival arrives
Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 6 months agoValve has a larger goal though of making Linux a viable alternative to Windows for gamers. The whole reason valve has made some much effort on Linux gaming is because Microsoft scared them when Microsoft started making plans to block software installs from anywhere except the Microsoft store.
Microsoft has backed off from that plan some since, but many new new computers running windows are in “s mode” by default which limits software to Microsoft store only. It can be disabled if you have administrator privileges and know how, but it’s still an example of Microsoft trying to shift towards a future where all PC games have to be bought through their store.
This is also why steam jumped at the chance to work with Google on getting steam on Chrome OS.
xavier666@lemm.ee 6 months ago
Is S mode really that popular? I’ve never seen that in an enterprise setting. End users won’t want S mode because it will limit functionality.
Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 6 months ago
Basically all cheaper laptops come in S mode now, and a lot of people don’t know that they can turn it off. They also made it where the only option for disabling it requires you to first create a Microsoft account and use the Microsoft store, so you’re required to use their preferred method for software distribution before you can choose to use something else.
It’s a lot better than Microsoft’s original plan for S mode, originally it was going to be a completely separate windows build, and end users would have to buy a new windows key and reinstall windows if they wanted to use steam.