Linux is not a “second string” operating system

It all started with my post, “Is Windows 8 a catastrophe or a success?,” when I commented on Gabe Newell’s remarks about Windows 8 being a “catastrophe for everyone in the PC space.” And, not to repeat myself here but, I’ve played a lot of video games over the years on consoles, at arcades, on PCs and online. I’ve played DOS games, Windows games, MAME and proprietary system games of almost every kind–recreationally–never seriously. I don’t consider myself a gamer by any stretch but I’m somewhat familiar with gaming systems and have owned one or two in my day. I’m not really addressing the gaming issue in this post or the Windows 8 catastrophe one. What I am doing is speaking to the choice of operating system (OS) for gaming and Linux should not be a second string OS to any of the ones currently available.