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I've been hearing that Sony has gotten pretty aggressive with exclusivity and non-cross-platform multiplayer. Microsoft is buying up studios and still working on its lock-in store. Valve is still trying to prop up Linux as a viable platform. And we have companies like Atari who are still looking at gaming on Linux from the hardware perspective.
How amazing would it be if someone managed to convince Sony to open up a bit and ally themselves with Valve to spite Microsoft? I don't know how feasible it would be to allow cross-play with SteamOS and/or Linux specifically without creating a backdoor for Windows players. But there's another thing.
We know that the PS3 used to be able to run Linux. How much of a stretch would it be to get a PlayStation that can run SteamOS on a separate partition or external drive, so you could play some PC games on your console, and console games on a desktop environment? For the latter, Sony would either need to push devs to port to Linux or actually start using Linux themselves as their main environment, or using some kind of virtual machine or streaming you could launch PS games via the desktop environment and "alt-tab" between the two. With Proton, you could even end up playing Windows exclusives, past and current, on a PlayStation. Now that's something I'd love to see Microsoft's reaction to (lawsuits, probably). You would get a powerful, streamlined gaming rig at a mass production price with Sony exclusives and the ability to do serious desktop computing, all in one machine that can take input from mouse and keyboard, a dualshock or a Steam controller (or any other device that works via the Linux OS).
I don't expect Sony to go for something like that, but if someone managed to talk them into it, at a glance it seems like it would threaten Microsoft's position significantly and be a boon for Linux.
I don't doubt Sony could side with Linux against MS, they probably would in a heartbeat, but it'd have to actually to provide them with some actual gain, give them something they don't already have. I.e. money, substantial PR or leverage.
Arguably the most important problem with all this is that you want them to concede that computers are better than consoles. And that goes against their current business model, which works out for them amazingly.
All Sony has to do is to support it in a more open way and the community will do the rest.
Thinking back on it, my original thought was actually just to allow Linux ports of their exclusive titles but not Windows ports, through some kind of partnership with Valve. But even if they got a cut of those sales, it would further diminish the appeal of the console, so they would need to be pretty desperate and wanting to save their studios at the expense of their console, I imagine.
The more I think about it the more I believe the way to go (by Sony or someone else interested in reducing Windows’ dominance) would be to position Linux as a viable and ultimately the best platform to make games. It’s all about developers, as MS have taught us, after all. :-)