Windows gaming finally falling to desktop Linux, in terms of tech and mindshare among enthusiasts, proves to me that given a sufficiently large timescale open solutions tend to always win against a proprietary ones.

Companies just can't seem to stay focused on their own core competencies after a few decades. On the other hand, even when open projects "die" they can be resurrected ad infinitum.

Just my gut feeling but it seems like closed wins out big in the short term, but open wins in the end. Not applicable to everything I know.

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sorensen12 5 days ago | parent [-]

I’m not sure I agree. Windows still has 95% market share in Steam’s hardware report. And even the modest gains that Linux has seen in this space have been as much a result of the efforts of a few small companies who have financial interests in undermining Microsoft’s monopoly as it has been a display of grassroots enthusiasm for open ecosystems.

	▲	Andrex 5 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Entrenched technologies take a while to un-trench; there's a lead lag on that kind of thing. It starts with the kids saying I hate Windows. Then the adults. Then finally the grandmas. Windows will be evaporating marketshare for decades, like a long-half life on an unstable isotope.
	▲	anal_reactor 5 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		The thing about market share is that it looks like sigmoid function. It's way more difficult to climb from 1% to 2% than from 40% to 50%.
	▲	BlueTemplar 5 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I agree that it is still too early to call it, but note how SteamOS still hasn't officially come out on laptops/desktops yet.