I like to tinker with it and the lack of restrictions on low level stuff. The ability to completely change anything about he system that is restricted on other platforms. No data is sent from the system unless you actively enable it. Its stable, I have a raspberry pi that can run for months without error whereas windows bluescreened once every 2 weeks with regular usage. Its free.
Because I wanted to use a computer and OS is needed. When I got a first computer, I didn’t even understand what OS is. Then researching further, I thought Windows is just another distribution. I tried it, and it was confusing. Linux Mint I immediately liked, so that’s what I stuck with.
No special reasons, I am just used to Linux.
I guess this would be the case for more people if Windows wasn’t the default as it usually is.
I was already a full time Linux user when steam came to Linux. Most games are closed source anyways, so I don’t see a problem in using a closed source game launcher. In fact as a general point I’m not against closed source, I use NVIDIA proprietary drivers since the performance is simply better, but I prefer open source software which is why my next GPU will be AMD. However the games are still closed source, so getting them from GoG, itch or Steam is very similar, but buying them on Steam gives money to Devs working on open source projects that improve game performance on Linux, so I’ll keep buying from them.
I use it because I’m more comfortable with working with it under the hood than Windows (day job experience). It’s also less of a PITA when it comes to bloat, updates (not just OS, general software too) and telemetry.
I did use Windows on my desktop until about a year ago to be fair, as I didn’t feel gaming was quite good enough - but after trying again it’s brilliant now. No reason to ever go back.
I don’t really get why some people cultivate FOSS so much that they refuse to install anything that even remotely contains proprietary parts. Of course I understand the advantages of FOSS, but I won’t go against proprietary software. I use whatever offers the best functionality, stability, usability for my tasks.
And that’s actually the exact reason why I use Linux.
MacOS is quite good too, but I cannot afford the hardware necessary for it, plus I hate Mac keyboard layout so freaking much. Yes, it’s possible to get used to it, but only if I exclusively use Mac. Since I’m switching between computers all the time, this is a deal breaker for me. Plus I enjoy the better customisability of Linux. And last but not least, although macOS UI is packed with clever solutions, I still find a KDE or a Gnome UI a little bit more usable.
As for Windows… where do I even begin lol… Let’s just say, it’s way too buggy, way too unreliable, way too much hassle for me. Back in the days, when I started using Linux (about 15 years ago), this wasn’t the case. Around that time Windows was a stable, reliable OS, which worked very well and it was convenient to use. I’m talking about XP and later 7. (Vista and 8 were the poor ones in the infamous good-bad-good-bad-… pattern.) Meanwhile on Linux it was sometimes quite hard to make some hardware work, and the applications weren’t very robust, sometimes they crashed, sometimes the whole OS crashed, and generally the whole thing felt like a hobby-OS.
But things changed over time. In the past decade I haven’t experienced any serious anomaly on Linux, all my hardware work out-of-the-box, and in maybe the past 5 years or even more, I absolutely haven’t experienced any issue at all, not even minor ones. Nothing. This thing is just super stable. You install it once, keep updating it, and it just runs perfectly forever. Windows went the opposite way: my graphics card, for example, stopped working, because Windows deleted the driver during an update, it’s a hassle to set up everything, it doesn’t just work out-of-the-box, it crashes sometimes, it’s pumped full of bloatware and ads.
And I generally find a UNIX-like system much more comfortable to use than Windows, especially for programming. Yes, there’s WSL on Windows - but that didn’t always work out well for me. I could go on and on and on all day, but long story short, the structure of Linux is more convenient and more comfortable to use for me.
So why I switched to Linux back then, you might ask. That time was different: I was experimenting with everything, and at first I used both Windows and Linux, former one being my main system. And as time went by, I slowly got more and more familiar with Linux, and I realized how convenient it was for my tasks. And at some point I stuck with it despite the occasional issues, which - as I mentioned - have gotten resolved long ago already.
I still use proprietary software. I use Steam, because that’s probably the biggest game library and it supports Linux. I use JetBrains developer tools.
There’s this Affinity suite that I would love to use, or even Corel software, but unfortunately both of them failed to provide a Linux version, and I refuse to purchase software that doesn’t run on Linux. Thus I’m stuck with Inkscape (awesome, but always crashes with bigger files), Gimp (I hate its UI so much), Darktable (kinda slow, plus some modules broke in the latest update, but otherwise awesome).
Luckily photo/graphics editing is less than 5% of the tasks I have, so the inconvenience of this area is negligible. For what I mostly use my computer, Linux is the best platform for me.
Using WINE or Proton should work then you can use winetricks or protontricks to install the specific component you need if the game doesn't already install it.
Because I want my devices to do what I want, not what Microsoft wants.
I didn’t really have a problem booting windows to play games occasionally until Microsoft decided that my machine must shut down without me telling it to. You can only lose so much in-progress work before it gets tiresome.
Beyond that I’d rather support community driven open source projects, especially my operating system, than keep giving Microsoft my attention to sell.
If you don’t like the way Steam works you can always game without steam. Heroic is a free and open source game store front end. It lets you buy games from DRM free online platforms like GOG.
It uses the same Proton compatibility software as Steam. It’s a win win, you can support your favorite game publishers and have a free and open source platform.
Steam is made by Valve, and Valve, dispite their many failings, have shown a very strong commitment to FOSS.
Their contributions to Proton have played a massive part in making Linux a viable platform for gaming. Without them, Linux gaming would be stuck back 10 years at least. Back to the dark days of naked Wine and fighting with configs for hours just to hope to launch a single non-native game.
Valve has also locked themselves in with the Steam Deck. By creating a fresh hardware platform based almost completely on a FOSS software stack and by making it open, moddable, repairable, and upgradeable, they have made it very tough for themselves to break away to a proprietary solution further down the line.
All these things cause me to trust them quite a bit. Make no mistake, I’m committed to FOSS first. If and when Valve goes down the enshitification path, (once Gabe dies, sells out, or otherwise passes the torch), I will move off of the platform and only use FOSS games/software and resources like Lutris, Bottles, GoG, etc.
But until that dark day, I will support Valve at least passively. because by committing to so much development towards FOSS platforms, they are locking themselves into it and proving to us that they aren’t just giving lip service to the FOSS community.
I wish Steam was FOSS, I wish Steam wasnt DRM itself, but in a world where things are mostly grey, I personally feel comfortable currently supporting them with my money.
I use it in some similarities to you such as owning my own OS and supoorting FOSS but as well as not having my OS spy on me. Since I got into the realm of Linux maybe two years ago I have found out about GoG and have been slowly rebuilding my library there and not playing Steam anymore. There are a few games I’ll miss such as Snow Runner but I’ll live. Ultimately I want to own what I have and not be spied upon by so many things now a days.
Many steam games don’t even have DRM and most games only require Steam to be present and not necessarily online.
The company as a whole is very stable and doesn’t perform any overly wild anti user behaviour. And they’re big supporters and developers of Linux.
If you want to install games that are spyware that’s totally up to you. And I suppose that’s really the point.
Instead of turning into hyper capitalist assholes like every other company, steam just leaves us the fuck alone while providing great great games at great prices. Also no sexual harrassment coverups or buyouts.
Steam just leaves us the fuck alone and let’s you focus purely on the game.
Wine/Proton (Codeweavers and independent contractors). Proton is open source even if it’s mostly Steam specific.
Mesa RADV (Vulkan AMD driver)
The Linux kernel
KDE Plasma
gamescope
HDR/colour management
That’s just off the top of my head. I’ll admit that some of this work comes from 1 or 2 single paid developers that have their hands in many things, but that’s not a bad thing.
Steam seems antithetical to all of these. The software in the first place became popular as a form of DRM,
It’s annoying when games require Steam in order to run, but let’s be clear: it’s not DRM.
In most of the cases I’ve seen, it’s nothing more than a library dependency, for features like Steam Input and achievements. Here’s a Steam client emulator to satisfy that dependency without Steam being present at all:
If it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, then let’s call it a duck. Those dependencies work a lot like DRM for your typical user. And, sure, you can fix it… but you can also install a NoCD for a game with actual DRM.
Steam binds game installations to a specific account where you purchased them; and you are not supposed to run that game instal without Steam alongside it, or through another account, or no account at all, or in 2+ computers at the same time. And the way dependencies are handled is part of that.
As such, you can argue that it’s DRM done less worse than most, or that the “DRM-ness” is not its primary “goal”, but you can’t really argue that it doesn’t behave a lot like DRM would, for practical purposes, and for your typical user.
Steam binds game installations to a specific account where you purchased them;
I don’t know what you think Steam is doing in this regard, but if you have some evidence that it writes personal account data into game files to prevent their use elsewhere, then please share it. That would be newsworthy.
you can’t really argue that it doesn’t behave a lot like DRM would, for practical purposes, and for your typical user.
The only similarity to DRM is that the game expects it to be present. If that made it DRM, your graphics driver would also be DRM, as would your OS, your input devices, and your internet provider.
Obviously, these things are not the same. That’s why we have different words for them.
Please don’t be disingenuous.
Please don’t confuse people by misusing technical terms.
(Or at the very least, have the grace not to complain when someone corrects their usage. Sharing and refining knowledge is how we all learn from each other, after all.)
I’ve been using it for various reasons for about 15 years. So “familiarity” is one of my main reasons now, but a big part of it is to avoid being advertised to in my OS.
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