Valve's bringing SteamOS to third-parties

SteamOS has a desktop mode and it would be like this. It's basically KDE Plasma with Steam theming.

You definitely can use it for non-gaming stuff, though SteamOS looks like a bit restrictive than usual Linux OSes. There are programs like Heroic Games Launcher and Lutris for non-Steam games. Also note that the games that use kernel level anti-cheat won't work. You can check these games on ProtonDB, at least the ones on Steam.

However a complete switch depends on how deep you are in Windows environment. There are things that Microsoft officially support on Linux and there are things you won't be able to run at all (like most Adobe programs). I wrote a mini-guide about switching, but it only covers the very first steps. For the programs that don't have a Linux alternative, you can check WineHQ to see how they run.

Valve should release it before October. Might give enough spark to people. :)

Though I feel like many people will stay on Windows 10 even the official support ends.

Same. I'd either switch to Linux or SteamOS but never Windows again.

I still run an older mac running an old version of Steam which works fine.
Just cos M$ says support is stopping, it will likely be years before gamers are affected.

im still on windows 7, runs just fine

I most definitely will

It seems they need to polish it or need more QA, most likely the latter. Xbox drivers on Linux usually work fine but they're not official from Microsoft. So they have their quirks time to time. For example, on my sister's PC, she needs to re-plug the wireless connector every time she wants to connect her controller. It's been like that for some time.

But causing such problems like you have, it's kind of weird actually. I feel like most people don't use Steam Deck as a desktop so probably their feedback is limited. If they're gonna open to third-parties, they need to fix those problems first.

I doubt it would be different. Nobara already uses cutting-edge stuff, and current SteamOS doesn't support Nvidia (since Steam Deck is on AMD), but they'll need to support it before open their ISO.