It’s time to seriously consider LaunchBox on Linux.

[dov_EL]

Windows is starting to decline, and I truly hope LaunchBox has a long future ahead. Windows no longer makes sense as a platform, and the only thing keeping people like me tied to it is LaunchBox. As days and months go by, more users will move away from Windows, and that could seriously harm LaunchBox in the long run.

If I were part of the team, I would start thinking very seriously about bringing LaunchBox and BigBox to Linux.

[Talorthain]

I'm in the same boat.. I have started looking at Linux, but launchbox is the Achilles heel.

I'm not a big modern gamer, so steam deck isn't for me, and I want to move launchbox with me.

[Fursphere]

On 11/21/2025 at 9:27 AM, dov_EL said:

Windows is starting to decline, and I truly hope LaunchBox has a long future ahead. Windows no longer makes sense as a platform, and the only thing keeping people like me tied to it is LaunchBox. As days and months go by, more users will move away from Windows, and that could seriously harm LaunchBox in the long run.

If I were part of the team, I would start thinking very seriously about bringing LaunchBox and BigBox to Linux.

People have been hailing the death of Windows and the beginning of Linux's rise to the top since the early 1990s.   (Remember slackware and their "f**k you, figure it out yourself" welcome message?)

Yet..  here we are.   Value is pouring R&D money in Linux... for Steam.  With Steam being the front end and operating system (more or less).  The Steam Box may die and early death due to the RAM prices skyrocketing due to the AI data-center slop rush currently happening right now.  We'll see.   But the Steam Box (Steam Console?) is going to be more akin to Apple Mac than Linux.    Its going to be a fit-for-purpose OS on fit-for-purpose hardware.   Most people aren't going to buy a Steam Box to NOT use Steam big picture.    That's the whole point.    They'd just buy a regular computer instead...   and SteamOS is only putting in drivers for the hardware they're selling. 

Anyway, long story short.   Yes, it would be great to have a mainstream alternative to Windows.   But Linux ain't there yet, and probably never will be since the solution to every major problem is "these guys are doing it wrong, I'll make my own fork and do it right!" (insert Bender quote here) - and now we've got thousands of forks.  

Edited January 7 by Fursphere

[dov_EL]

On 1/7/2026 at 4:22 PM, Fursphere said:

People have been hailing the death of Windows and the beginning of Linux's rise to the top since the early 1990s.   (Remember slackware and their "f**k you, figure it out yourself" welcome message?)

Yet..  here we are.   Value is pouring R&D money in Linux... for Steam.  With Steam being the front end and operating system (more or less).  The Steam Box may die and early death due to the RAM prices skyrocketing due to the AI data-center slop rush currently happening right now.  We'll see.   But the Steam Box (Steam Console?) is going to be more akin to Apple Mac than Linux.    Its going to be a fit-for-purpose OS on fit-for-purpose hardware.   Most people aren't going to buy a Steam Box to NOT use Steam big picture.    That's the whole point.    They'd just buy a regular computer instead...   and SteamOS is only putting in drivers for the hardware they're selling. 

Anyway, long story short.   Yes, it would be great to have a mainstream alternative to Windows.   But Linux ain't there yet, and probably never will be since the solution to every major problem is "these guys are doing it wrong, I'll make my own fork and do it right!" (insert Bender quote here) - and now we've got thousands of forks.  

I am a former Windows beta tester, and I know very well the whole “this is the year of Linux” era — back then, it really was impossible.
Today, Linux works extremely well, it has become accessible to everyone, and on top of that, games run wonderfully, while Microsoft has worked hard to lose everything good it had built.
As far as I’m concerned, Windows is destined to die, and the same goes for Office and all other Microsoft products.

[Fursphere]

To that, I respond with this:  (posted 12 days ago, by someone who is in the business of being a techie)

Ya..  it sorta works.   Sorta.   Sometimes.  If you're got copious amounts of time to mess around with it, and the technical expertise to back it up.  (The majority of PC users DO NOT have the time or the skills)