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this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2023
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Most of the linux world is not for "consumers", it's for "participants" also refered to as "the linux community". Android and SteamOS are consumer oriented indeed, you buy your device that ships with a Linux-based OS. But on the PC side of things, you just get, install and use linux for free with no strings attached. Just by doing so you become a participant of the linux community, and you contribute to shape the future of Linux as an OS by choosing a distro over another, by choosing a DE, by reporting bugs, etc.
Any company that has influence on the development of Linux, can only have it by contributing to the whole project. This is what Valve is doing, as well as Intel, Canonical, Redhat and even Microsoft.
Do you count Android users as "participants"?
It's going to depend. Are you using the Android version that can shipped with your device, or a custom ROM? are you using F-droid? have you ever reported a bug to an app developer ? I assume a big majority of Android users are consumers and not participants, but at least with Android you have options to participate. Nothing wrong with being a consumer BTW.
However, Android is quite a bit different from what is broadly understood as Linux. Yes, Android uses the Linux kernel, but appart from that it's not a very open eco-system and Google absolutely controls the AOSP.
I would argue that the difference has a lot to do with whether the user is typically a consumer or participant. Valve seems to be making a a form of Linux for consumers, even if participants can use the system.
After all, why buy the Steam Deck to delete Steam from it?