I'm not surprised by some of the observations. Windows software, being mainly closed source, has forced the platform to address compatibility and exotic configuration problems more thoroughly -- even sometimes to its detriment. First thought is that if game studios are serious about stepping up OSS support, a lot of effort could be saved by building a compatibility layer -- DirectX on steroids -- that can be targeted by the devs and left to the distros to properly support.

Actually, this seems a better idea than I first thought: done properly, it could also work as a standalone platform for consoles/handhelds, as a browser plugin for easy web gaming and as an open source flash replacement.