I think the real gamechanger has been Vulkan and DXVK. Proton would have never taken off with OpenGL.

proton is fantastic. I installed linux on my latop, just as a sort of introduction to it. But I've managed to run whatever games I want using Proton. For my next pc I'll use linux

It would be nice though if Valve finally dropped 32 bit Steam client dependencies, and maybe made a wow64 Proton build. I'm really tired of enabling multilib just for Steam.

7 years feels like it's too long, but then again 1999 was only 10 years ago too. lol

game-changer

pun intended

it's wine with bubble wrap, dxvk, and a shit ton of game specific hacks

100%, I deleted Windows partition (despite paying for it, thanks OEM deals...) only after Proton was insuring I could play the games I wanted on Linux too, no reboot required.

A decade ago I was whining to my friends that I didn't like Steam because I was using Linux and Steam was really shitty on that OS at some point. I remember not being able to get the correct keyboard layout in chats, and tons of little annoyances, like not being able to choose where you install games. It was disappointing.

As someone that loves FOSS, I never really liked the model of "not owning my games" but I must admit that it works for most people that don't care about such things. Valve made huge progress with Steam for Linux over the years, and Proton was indeed a game changer.

I have to tip my hat to them.

It was the last big hurdle to completely ditching Windows. If they get enterprise management solved, it's all over with.

Was there a precursor to proton integrated with steam? I would've sworn my friends were bringing this up in like 2016 or 2017 and describing it as a special version of wine for games that valve made

I was there playing whatever worked since the steam client linux beta