The benefit of VR will be when it is decoupled entirely from games. Just like we got window manager composers when we finally stoped looking at openGL as a game technology.
This hardly makes it better, and insures that VR will still be locked to other proprietary (and potentially spywareish) platforms (just not Windows).
You could probably bring a lot of this work into the kernel if VR becomes popular enough.
I've found that Valve is pretty good when it comes to respecting their users. SteamVR software isn't even DRM'd and can run without Steam.
Also OpenHMD [0] and Monado [1].
[0] http://www.openhmd.net/ [1] https://monado.freedesktop.org/
Yeah you can buy playstation controllers and hack them, but that is not realistic. (to quote the state of the art on the links you posted)
Would write graphical interface code if a color monitor and a mouse required the end user to solder stuff and compile kernel drivers? While every game already had those two things but tied down to the facebook app? ..that's how insane VR is today (and for the foreseeable future)
Ah, I didn't know that SteamVR could run without Steam. Can Alyx (once installed) ?
Still, this leaves the issue is that being theoretically Steam-free isn't enough, as the experience with AOSP/Google Play Store has shown.
Valve might be 'pretty good' with their own users, but still the result of Steam's dominance is that it's getting harder and harder to get mods and play multiplayer outside of Steam.
It's very, very easy to remove the DRM yourself, though. It's more a legal formality than an attempt at DRM and is pretty much never updated.
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_Big_List_of_DRM-Free_G...
Also, there isn't a single Steam DRM, but multiple versions/layers :
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/how_to_run_steam_games_off...
The worst of which are Valve's own Custom Executable Generation, and Denuvo, which is third-party but (last time I checked) Steam doesn't warn you about as being a 3rd-party DRM.
Both of which make a game machine-specific.
Denuvo is the most difficult one, yes. It's technically not DRM, but anti-tampering software that wraps around another DRM, that said it is really the worst.
your GPU and integrated GPU run somewhat slower on opensource OS and drivers. Heck you can compute on them on cloud providers. Anything VR can only run if you install a game studio disguised tracker and social network apps in VR headset driver's clothing, in windows only.
Even the other comment misleading saying "you already can" is only a convoluted step to provide content that will be run in the above game-restricted setting.