While I agree that the actual code base needs to be develop and augmented on the backend to make this work, that's not really what I'm saying. I'm pointing out that they already have the visual design and working template for a handheld based OS ( navigation and so on). Just that coupled with something like what they had with Windows 10 (the tablet interface for 10 was better than 11) would be fine. It could literally be an Xbox version of steam' big picture mode (because you can launch directly into it from Windows on 10). There even already exists a slimmed down version of Windows 11 to save on resource hogging.

The steam deck has been out long enough for them to have implemented this kind of thing. They've had time to design it. They've just been using that time to deliberately figure out how to shoehorn AI and telemetry and the rest into it because at the end of the day they still want to siphon up all that data.

It's not so much Win32 though on Xbox, the biggest similarity is the x86 CPU and the shared kernel and some security stuff

Edit: forgot the obvious, DirectX

We're talking about people using a Steam Deck instead so people that are a revenue stream with Stockholm syndrome for yet another billionaire, just one that privately owns his company instead of it being publically traded.

Heck a lot of "gimmicks" nintendo was mocked for ended up copied by sony and microsoft. The only reason nintendo is like it is now is cause of copying back the bad practices sony and microsoft pioneered like paying for server connectivity and games not fully being on the physical media that you buy.

I don't know how much of that was needing to prove that the market existed rather than the simultaneous development of performant and power efficient x64 APUs suitable for handheld gaming PCs. The 3DS was plenty successful even at the time, but handheld-only games had a reputation for being the B game to the home consoles' A game. It was a pretty natural conclusion for Nintendo, when their handheld was successful and their home console was not, to combine the two, using the same tech found in cell phones, no less.

My point here is that none of these cases feature Microsoft inventing a brand new product and trying to market it for the first time. Their whole strategy from the very beginning was to look for existing products with existing markets and try to conquer them. They even had a name for a variant of this strategy (targeted at open standards) which the US DoJ famously discovered during the antitrust trial:

Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish.

So nothing Windows related

I bought mine used with the SD card slot busted and I still think it’s great. Maybe because I didn’t pay 600 bucks for it!Definitely my favorite handheld ever.

I think the Steam Deck is pretty neat and I love the design of the device itself (I am not enthusiastic about the Ally’s L337G4mer aesthetics, and even less so with the monstrosity above), but for me not having access to Gamepass is a deal breaker so I’d never consider it. Maybe when I fully jump into PC gaming sometime soon I’ll switch my tune. But I digress. Other than the SD issue I’ve found that the ROG Ally is a very capable device and I have seen no other issues with it to be honest. The software it comes with is actually pretty good and makes it so that you don’t have to deal with Windows almost at all. The coolest thing is that you can dock it and you basically have a mid end workstation too.

My fist handheld was the Gameboy Color so it just boggles my mind how far we’ve come.

It’s most definitely not. The ROG Crate app is pretty good. And if you spend a few minutes setting up shortcuts, everything becomes a whole lot easier. But I basically never touch the windows layer on my ally anyways.