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Comment by mimixco | Hacker News Reader

Right. I'm talking about the rest of the computer. How will you manage files on a Steam Deck? How will you access Windows Update? Is your "desktop" going to be covered in icons?

Using Windows on Steam Deck (not using Steam on Steam Deck, using the Windows OS) is going to be difficult because the device lacks a mouse and keyboard on which Windows is dependent. Fixing this for Xbox required making an entirely new UI (for the OS, updates, sign-ins, everything) which Steam has not done for the Deck.

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You'd probably dock the Steam Deck if you want to manage files. Though I imagine the touch screen would be usable for simple actions like rebooting to update windows. Putting windows into tablet mode and searching with the on screen keyboard may work better than attempting to click icons or use the desktop in handheld mode.

Yes, all of these workarounds are examples of why it's not a workable solution. Can you imagine if a Nintendo Switch required that much falderal? It wouldn't sell.

The point I'm making is that normal folks will not dock it or goof around with touchscreen compromises in order to run Windows, which they will also have to install themselves! This is the opposite of a smooth, integrated, pick-up-and-play experience.

Since MS makes hardware now, what's to keep them from making a handheld that runs the Xbox version of Windows?

Valve's core audience consists of PC Gamers. Any PC Gamer has to be used to a little tinkering. It comes with using a PC instead of a console.

A Microsoft handheld would run less games that a Steam Deck with Windows because console exclusives like Horizon Zero Dawn are available on Steam but will never be on Xbox. An Xbox device also wouldn't support emulators or someone's existing Steam library.

I don't know to what extent it would be worth it for Microsoft to dabble in that area. PlayStation Vita didn't work out so well for Sony.

Xbox runs Windows so MS could make everything work on a handheld device w/ Windows w/ an Xbox-style UI. Xbox ran Windows from the very beginning. Only the "chrome" is different.

I doubt Microsoft would make a handheld that was "open" like the Steam Deck. They'd follow the console business model of only allowing software from the Microsoft store and it would likely not sell very well. It would be Windows Phone all over again.

True. But Nintendo has sold very well from their proprietary handheld device and its store. So they probably think they can. Maybe they can. They already have a great UI in Xbox and a great library of games that will run. They might not need anything else to make it.

It has a touchscreen which windows supports. Won't it feel like a surface in tablet mode?

I think you'll be very hard pressed to use a tiny device without a mouse or keyboard effectively in Windows. Even Windows 11 contains numerous small and overlapping dialogs with all kinds of UI affordances. None of this is setup for touch. Yes, theoretically, you could get it to work, but it won't be fun. The pop-up keyboard, for example, will likely cover a big part of whatever dialog box you're typing into. Moving and managing windows with touch is also not fun at all.

Not coincidentally, this is the same reason that MacOS doesn't have touchscreens. Everything about that OS also requires a mouse (or touchpad) and a keyboard. Just adding a touchscreen to a Mac won't do it.

Windows does have a tablet mode where things have been setup for touch. You can argue it's crap but it does exist and is officially supported.

It'll probably be a bit awkward to use for anything other than gaming, maybe if anyone really wants media playback they can just duct tape Kodi to it, which you can do if you add it to Steam as an external app and have it appear in your list of software .

It seems to me that if anyone really wants to do power user stuff on it, they'll dock it and use a keyboard and a mouse anyway on a far larger screen.

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