"What else were Steam Deck users to do but create their own solutions?": I watched Valve's Linux-first handheld turn into a Windows 11 experiment in its community

Installing Windows 11 on Steam Deck.

When the Steam Deck originally launched on February 25, 2022, we called it "streamlined, responsive, and undeniably compelling" in our five-star review.

Designed and produced entirely by Steam's parent company, Valve, it arrived running a custom Linux version called SteamOS. This was an introduction to Linux for many PC gamers who'd otherwise been beholden to Windows, and it proved to be a stable, efficient, and clean OS that just seemed to work.