Because Microsoft ain’t gonna make Windows any better for this form factor until it is way late to the game, as usual.
Windows is basically a product for corporations now. Consumer Windows is an afterthought most of the time.
However, I could be wrong with Xbox’s theorized pivot away from hardware.
windows optimized for handhelds is already a work in progress, its just not remotely done
Microsoft has never, since inception, been able to ship an embedded Windows that wasn’t a festering pile of dog shit.
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Reminds me of my friend getting in trouble in high school’s the PC lab for changing all the startup screens from saying “Windows 95” to “Winblows 95.”
A misunderstood visionary.
Year of the linux handheld then?
Thank you for making your comment licensed under creative common. I’ll now steal it, repackage it and sell for 9.99$ without even acknowledging your existence
But at least you know you’re a bad boy and Santa will know too.
I wouldn’t ditch Windows entirely, but I could see the business case of making sure your game can run on SteamOS.
How many actual PC handhelds are there?
The link in the article that promises “plenty” of handheld examples talks about Steam deck, Asus, and… the switch. And that’s it. And obviously the switch is not a PC handheld, so… ?There’s quite a few. Steam deck and Asus, as you mentioned, but there’s also AyaNeo, GPD, OneXPlayer, Aokzoe, Lenovo, etc. And many of these brands have several different models, if you’re counting individual products.
Ah thanks.
How many of those do people actually use though?Valve was essentially LATE to the handheld market, they just had the technical and company will to do it the best.
And, most importantly, money bags to subsidise the hell out of it. Let’s not kid ourselves here, the damn low price is one of the main reasons why people buy the SD rather than the ~2x more expensive alternatives.
The problem that could occur is: Right now Microsoft doesn’t care about Linux or competitors, every OEM has to buy a Windows key anyways regardless. If SteamOS actually becomes a shippable option, Microsoft’s cavalier attitude is going to change quickly, and a lot sooner than it will take them to get an Xbox Handheld out the door.
Why would an OEM need to buy a Windows license if the customer has no interest in using Windows?
It’s in their licensing, and how MS-DOS became the de facto operating system of early PCs. If you want to license Windows, you have to pay for every unit you sell - not just units with Windows pre-installed, but every unit.
Incredible.
Yes, the extremely popular handheld PC gaming market.
It’s small, but growing very fast. While actual PC has stagnated, no?
