Has it really been that long? Apparently so. Valve originally announced their rebranding of Steam Play with Proton back on August 21st, 2018. Seems like a good time for a quick reflection being halfway to a decade old now with the tech that gave rise to the Steam Deck.

Happy birthday, Proton!

  • poVoq@slrpnk.netM
    0·
    11 months ago

    While I appreciate the efforts Valve puts into improving WINE/Proton, lets not forget that they are standing on the shoulders of giants and gaming with WINE was not that bad before the integration in Steam either.

    • Zorque@kbin.social
      0·
      11 months ago

      I think their efforts are more for bringing gaming on Linux to more mainstream attention. Not knowing you can game on Linux is a major factor for a lot of people in not switching.

    • dannoffs@lemmy.sdf.org
      0·
      11 months ago

      What? I’ve exclusively used Linux since 2006 and gaming outside of retro emulation was absolute trash until proton. Of course WINE and code weavers were doing great work but it was overly complicated to use and the compatibility was abysmal.

      • poVoq@slrpnk.netM
        0·
        11 months ago

        I am on Linux even longer than you and native Linux gaming was not trash at all, it worked great, just the selection of games was very small (edit: before Steam was even a thing on Linux). WINE was always a bit hit or miss, but once you got something working, it was usually ok. Sure Proton made it more convenient, but it was more of an gradual improvement than the quantum leap some people claim it to be.

        • Grangle1@lemm.ee
          0·
          11 months ago

          Going from a miniscule library of games that could work (I remember Linux Steam back before Proton having almost nothing of note) to opening up something pretty close to the entire Windows library and running Linux on Valve/Steam’s own handheld console for their games is indeed a quantum leap. That’s what Proton has done for Linux gaming. It may have gotten there eventually just with Wine and community contributions, but it would have taken possibly quite a few years longer to get there without Proton.

          • poVoq@slrpnk.netM
            0·
            11 months ago

            I think that is very subjective to the types of games you are interested in. For me Steam before Proton had so many native (indie) games that I literally couldn’t find the time to play all of those I was interested in.

            • Zorque@kbin.social
              0·
              11 months ago

              So you agree that your interpretation was very subjective, and many people didn’t have the ease that you had?

              • poVoq@slrpnk.netM
                0·
                11 months ago

                No, because going from thousands of games to play to even more that you will never have the time to play is not a quantum leap.

                If you had said Proton/DXVK made it finally possible to play a few triple A games I would have agreed. Still not a quantum leap though.