<\/div>Remember the Steam Machine<\/a>? That was Valve’s attempt to make a “console” for PC games. It didn’t work out, and I figured that was the end of it. But no. Valve is trying again, this time with a Switch-esque device called the Steam Deck<\/a>.<\/p>\n Paradoxically, I think this effort is probably doomed and yet I’m glad to see that Valve is still trying. They’re continuing to invest in Proton<\/a>, a compatibility tool for getting Windows-targeted games running on Linux.<\/p>\n Microsoft is in a weird place right now.\u00a0 Apple is apparently the third most profitable company on the planet<\/a>. Sure, Microsoft is #4.\u00a0 But the secret to Apple’s income is that their platform (the iPhone) is a walled garden and they get a cut of every single transaction performed on the device. There are about 1 billion iPhones in use today<\/a>. Meanwhile, there are about 1.3 billion Windows 10 users<\/a>. Microsoft is being used on more devices, yet Microsoft trails Apple in income to the tune of $15 billion.<\/p>\n But Shamus! You’re comparing mobile phones to desktop installs. There are different platforms, with different income models, for different user bases with using different usage patterns. This is a nonsensical comparison!<\/strong><\/p>\n I agree. But we also know that companies are guilty of a lot of nonsensical corporate dick-measuring. If there’s an executive meeting next week and some soft-brained doofus asks, “Why are we making less than Apple when we have more users?” we know it won’t be the stupidest thing ever uttered in the Microsoft conference room.<\/p>\n