The problem is still the desktop itself. Basically none of the existing Linux desktop components are mature, either design or technical wise and more often than not, both.
Deck works because most games are self contained, allowing them to have a default game mode that bypasses the desktop entirely.
> Basically none of the existing Linux desktop components are mature, either design or technical wise and more often than not, both.
What do you have in mind specifically? GNOME 3 is very mature, and has a consistent, polished design that far surpasses Windows 11. In fact, in view of recent macOS redesigns, I am tempted to say that it surpassed it too.
I mean, yeah, sort of. But a lot of the design is still really bad. I am saying a lot, because I found one I like, Zorin. It is a properly pretty Linux distro. They are the first Linux distro that I feel actually have understood the value of spacing between icons and other places. Every single other Linux distro I have tried feels cluttered and messy. It is so simple, just a little more room for things, balance margins and padding just a little bit better. Gah.
(And yes, I feel liquid glass on mac is a huge setback in terms of UI beauty)
They can ship the same destop/window manager combo they ship on the Steam Deck, where you can switch between the "full screen mode" (don't remember what it's called) and a proper desktop. I'm sure most people stay in the full-screen mode, it has all the settings and everything, even works with an cursor if I'm not mistaken, but can fallback when you need a terminal or whatever.
As I understood GP's comment, the crux is "a very wide range of users."
Right now Steam Deck works because of a focus on a very specific use and users. A general purpose desktop requires a lot more, and right now even the most mature linux desktop (GNOME, Plasma etc) have their rough edges and learning curve.
Steam deck is currently my primary computer. You just try to not use sudo at all. So I use nix to install all my software. From firefox to htop. It can get annoying because one of my scripts was trying to detect Mesa the other day and didn't work with nix installed mesa, otherwise it's perfect.
Linux had mature stable desktop stacks in the past, but they kinda sucked.
Churn (and consequent ongoing immaturity) seems to be the price we've paid in the last 10-15yrs of "progress" making them suck less. I hope it settles down a bit soon and we get to enjoy more longer term polish on these improvements though.
Deck works because most games are self contained, allowing them to have a default game mode that bypasses the desktop entirely.