I have believed, with good reason, that GNU/Linux has “arrived” just about everywhere in IT except in some business desktops and gaming for some time. Certainly, no one needs that other OS to do everything.
I have been dismissive of gaming as a barrier to GNU/Linux but spotted it as one of three evidences that GNU/Linux has arrived:“Valve has decided to support GNU/Linux with its Steam platform to hedge its bets in case Windows 8 fails”. It used to be that some would do nothing by taking a risk on anything else but now some see that other OS as a risk to the business.
I visited the Valve website and learned, “Steam is our direct pipeline to customers. It began as a little sleeper project—a handy tool to update Counter-Strike—and morphed pretty quickly into the world’s largest online gaming platform. Steam guarantees instant access to more than 1,800 game titles and connects its 35 million active users to each other—and to us. Through Steam, fans can easily buy, play, share, modify, and build communities around Valve products as well as titles from other independent game studios. Steam is available in 237 countries and 21 different languages.”
There’s the angle. If “8″ flops, gamers may find a reason to migrate to GNU/Linux to keep the GUI they like on the next PC. It could also be interesting if they benchmarked their favourite game on GNU/Linux and that other OS. My bets are on GNU/Linux staying out of a gamer’s way, just as GNU/Linux stays out of number-crunchers’ way in HPC.
“Valve has decided to support GNU/Linux with its Steam platform to hedge its bets in case Windows 8 fails”
According to Rex Djere, Three Signs That GNU/Linux Has Arrived.
If that’s not convincing enough, Dell will crank out a bunch of business-PCs bearing GNU/Linux at the high end and it will not be a place-holder. They already have the low end covered:
UPDATE Apparently another gaming software company, Blizzard (WoW), has been testing the waters with GNU/Linux. Nothing definitive yet…
UPDATE Still more… The VarGUY has his say on gaming. He thinks it may be more about division of revenue in M$’s app store than the OS as a platform… Hmmm. Follow the money…
17517
12798
206
3
2
23975 
11882 
11734 
4656 
4286 
1641 
198 
14 
2 
0 
0 
0 
But Steam carries exclusively commercial software. Not FLOSS in any sense… in fact, it breaks all four of Stallman’s essential software freedoms.
I just wondered how it is that you can write approvingly of Steam when it stands against everything you believe in. The paragraph you quoted (“Steam is our direct pipeline to customers”) is particularly chilling to Stallmanists.
Or maybe games are an exception. I certainly think that they are. I think it is hard enough to develop a game without also making it FLOSS.
There’s the angle. If “8″ flops, gamers may find a reason to migrate to GNU/Linux to keep the GUI they like on the next PC.
Migrate? Why? They can stay with their Windows 7 and the GUI they like instead of migrating to some crappy half-baked GNU/Linux distribution with some crazy GUI (Unity). Or they can migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7, or they can migrate to Mac, with its great, covered by magic dust GUI, or they can use consoles for gaming, and X-Box is the most popular game console in, at lest USA.
So windows gamers have a lot of choices beside GNU/Linux.
Or, by the way, it seams to me that this Steam has only two items which somehow related to Linux, and actually these are not games, but a “dedicated servers”. And these two items are simply two version of one game.
Sad but true
But they have a Mac section with 375 games in it
So why Valve has started “supporting” Linux? Maybe to get some free advertisement from Linux adherents.
After Adobe (flash), Google (Picasa) said goodbye to Linux and Microsoft (Skype) will very soon put the Linux version of Skype client into the dustbin, linuxoids desperately need some good news.
And anyway 3/4 of them are Windows or Mac users and there is Wine on Linux, so maybe Valve will be able to sell a little more Windows games to Linux users.
Buy the way, it wasn’t very cool to see this video without sound
– Why without sound?
– You know: Flash + Linux = NoSound
iLia Valve work with Linux is way larger and far more of a worry than you think.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTE0Njg
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTE0Njc
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTE0MzQ
Start reading.
iLia “You know: Flash + Linux = NoSound” Most Linux people don’t give away there voice print. Sometimes that is part of there login process. Linux conference video are mostly produced on Linux placed on youtube with sound.
iLia yes the skype client on all platforms is going to go by by you did not get the memo. http://www.opus-codec.org/ The means to do video and voice will be built into the web browser.
Yes opus-codec is the best from what the open source developed and the best that skype developed. The open source codec was great with music suxed with voice and the skype codec silk was good with voice and suxed with music. Change to Microsoft run supernodes is a step by step process to remove the p2p from skype.
Picasa has gone but feature wise its was behind digikam.
flash is limited to chrome on Linux and this is because adobe wants the other web-browsers to implement pepper. This demand is not only for Linux. Linux is where the notice was placed.
“there is Wine on Linux, so maybe Valve will be able to sell a little more Windows games to Linux users.”
Its because of the wine users why Valve is implementing.
Anti-cheat software does not work well from inside wine. In fact valve has locked wine users out by mistake for cheating when its a simple case the anti-cheat software is giving a false reading.
The move of steam on Linux is a insurance policy for value against Microsoft store. Valve is even talking about doing business applications.
Closed source have asked repeatedly for a Unified distribution system on Linux. Value is lining up to provide it.
iLia also you are a idiot. Android and Desktop Linux use related graphical stacks. Valve coming to Linux is not just about the desktop OS its about the the Android devices as well. The difference between supporting android and supporting Linux Desktop is not much. You end up in a lot of cases going threw the same graphical stack mesa.
Android plus MS doing their own store plus Number of Wine users that Valve is locking out by mistake equals income.
Valve has already announced they will be supporting more than 1 Linux distribution.
Microsoft, just like Nokia, is a falling former giant. The only thing keeping it mainstream pc-OS is mostly ignorance of folk and media and old reputation of “problematic Linux”. I tried Linux first time in 1999 and it was really difficult to install it in those days and there were not so many application for it (Red Hat). Perhaps these early tries alienated me others from Linux. That’s why it took so long time to try it again.
Nowadays FreeBSD and especially PCBSD are easier to install than Linux in 1999 (though i didn’t manage to boot successfully PCBSD with USB). Some years from now on and PCBSD will be another choice for former Windows-users, not just Linux.
PC gaming is itself becoming a niche. Console games are outselling their PC counterparts constantly. If Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft hit one out of the ballpark with their next-gen consoles, PC gaming won’t catch up — whether Valve moves to Linux or not. If Ouya is semi-successful, there’s something on the console market for virtually everyone.
PC gaming is expensive and inconvenient on every platform.
One should also not forget that Valve favors Ubuntu, a Linux platform which has more than enough problems itself. They’re desperately trying to gain market share, but they don’t have the resources to support the growth they want.
I really think that Valve very much overrates the potential Steam for Linux could have for a general migration towards Linux. It won’t happen with a declining PC gaming market.
Oh, Mr. Pogson, GIMP developers found out that their most important platform is: Windows!
GIMP developers dumbfounded.
Perhaps they should drop GNU/Linux support, in order to concentrate their effort on the really important things.
Chuckle!
Chris Weig
“Perhaps they should drop GNU/Linux support, in order to concentrate their effort on the really important things.”
Not that wise. Gimp developer work force is Linux. So drop Linux no developers at all.
They have put out the call for more Windows developers. Maybe they should put out the call for Windows users to pay for some developers.
This is the problem part of your money for license costs of distributions like Redhat go back to developers that work on items like Gimp. You cannot expect staff paid by Linux Distributions to work on the Windows product.
Most important platform Windows for developer wages my foot. If you want to get paid you support the Linux users they pay. The windows users are not paying there way on gimp and that is the problem.
Chris Weig
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=product:%22GIMP%22+os:%22Linux%22
Just compare to the number of bugs open for Windows. Don’t ever underestimate the stunts developers will pull to try to get more developers. The number of open bugs on Windows and Linux are about equal.
Never ever believe what is written even by project leads without checking on the back ground details. There are troll traps and you just walked into one. If you had performed a little of your own research you would have become nicely aware of that fact.
Remember more paid developers the better. So you don’t want to turn away Linux Distribution Paid developers. Platform neutral bugs you don’t really care if a Linux or Windows or other platform developer fixes them as long as they are fixed.
Windows stupid idiots suggest the idea of dropping Linux and focusing on Windows as a solution to windows problems. Every project that has done that has developed slower because of losing paid developers. That idea is how to slit the project throat.
Solution is to work out ways to get the windows users to pay for there development.
Chris Weig for instant support of the most distributions with one binary. Result is build a Ubuntu binary. More distribution these days fork from Ubuntu in a binary compatible way than any other distribution. Valve has firmly stated other branches of the Linux world will be done after it.
“PC gaming is itself becoming a niche.”
Valve does not just make games for the PC. When you have companies being pricks with patents over opengl and texture compression having game developer on side is an advantage to winning argument. Its not like MS is going to pressure a patent over graphics that results in games looking crap on there own platform and better on other platforms because the game developer avoided using there patented method.
Valve on-side changes the game in a important way.
PS Ouya hardware can run Ubuntu and Android. Valve supports both. Valve is supporting the quickest way to support the most devices running a Linux Kernel.
I just wondered how it is that you can write approvingly of Steam when it stands against everything you believe in.
Clearly “The enemy of my enemy is my friend!” syndrome applies as well as the “My two favorite teams are Michigan and whoever is playing Ohio State!” sort of attitude towards events.
My own belief is that it takes a lot more than just a good product to succeed in business. I can just stipulate that Linux is a decent OS and likely up to the task at hand without looking very hard, but I can still feel certain that it is not going anywhere in terms of widespread acceptance by computer users. Linux lacks the rest of the business essentials such as administrative organization, product marketing and promotion, and effective distribution. The reality is that the playing field has always been level, but there has been a vast disparity in the skill set of the player who might challenge Microsoft on that field.
The notion of “giving back to the community” is nobel, but it very rarely occurs. The vast majority of FLOSS users are simply takers who give back nothing. That thrills the FLOSS developer community in a sort of vanity fair manner, but it does not build a sustainable product organization that could hope to challenge the incumbents in such a mature, established market.
ioiauehim:
iLia also you are a idiot.
Do you mean that I am an idiot because I am using Linux???
iLia “You know: Flash + Linux = NoSound” Most Linux people don’t give away there voice print. Sometimes that is part of there login process.
Flash doesn’t work for me on Linux and Basta! These flash movies are everywere: on naturalnews.com, infowars.com, youtube.com, http://www.amren.com, blender3d.org
Every day I have to watch some flash video, it is everywhere. And don’t forget about flash-games.
Linux conference video are mostly produced on Linux placed on youtube with sound.
No sound here as well, you know these .FLV files, they are somehow related to Adobe Flash Player.
opus-codec
Maybe this codec is the best thing the humanity has seen, maybe in the future it will be everywhere, but I don’t care about it, I needed sound in Flash today. Today I wanted to listen this song but no sound.
Linux: Enjoy You Favorite Songs in Perfect Silence
Clarence Moon you are right it takes more than a good product to succeed in business.
Clarence Moon
“The reality is that the playing field has always been level, but there has been a vast disparity in the skill set of the player who might challenge Microsoft on that field.”
Reality this is a lie you state over and over again Clarence Moon. Microsoft did many breaks of anti-trust law. So the playing field has not always been level. Some areas the playing field is still recovering from Microsoft Anti-trust actions.
Markets take years to decades to correct from one player being allowed to perform anti-trust actions.
Active Directory case breaching Anti-trust only happened in the year 2000 and this has not corrected yet. 2004 before first ruling 2006 before MS starts coming into alignment. So placing samba 6 years behind on development that has had to be caught up.
Clarence Moon so you claim its level. This is claiming that items like Active Directory action that are in breach of anti-trust never happened. Sorry Clarence Moon you are claiming facts that are not true.
Claiming reasonable chance on a un-level field of they have been more organised is not really possible because where are the other competitors. Apple only stayed in business because MS did prop them up at one point. So closed source with good management has also failed.
Competitors to Microsoft there were closed source have been killed by Microsoft anti-trust actions. FOSS stuff has had the strength to live threw the anti-trust and still have a lot of parts still alive. Yes even FOSS has lost projects from the Anti-trust actions of Microsoft.
Clarence Moon Linux changes form. Android is accepted right.
“Linux lacks the rest of the business essentials such as administrative organization, product marketing and promotion, and effective distribution.”
Really all those 4 areas are covered by major distributions. You missed the hindrance. Compatibility.
Linux has had win a lot of Anti-trust cases and other times to get the road blocks removed.
Android was required to be BSD style licenses were able to get into the phone market. Now that Android is in we are seeing Meego and gecko to go get carrier contracts. Since carriers don’t fear open source for there security of network as much.
Microsoft and others did a really good job in FUD that open source could not be secure so locking FOSS out of the markets they could threaten Microsoft from.
Clarence Moon just look back at how many open source phone systems were done before Android. Quite a few most were failures because they could not get carriers on side mostly over GPL FUD.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend!”
Historically this is how Linux has got into every market. Linux did not get into the supercomputer market by refusing running on like IBM closed source hyper-visors.
Closed source is not Linux enemy. Might be the enemy of some strict FOSS people.
Linux world does not avoid interacting with Microsoft or any of its possible enemies. Old saying keep you friends close your enemies closer.
Working with Valve brings Linux some advantages. Valve and Linux has common enemies. One of those common enemies is people enforcing patents on either of them.
Ok FOSS people might disagree with Valve over closed source in particular areas. Valve has released a lot of open source code in different areas.
The correction in a lot of ways is only just starting Clarence Moon.
Today I wanted to listen this song but no sound.
I found a solution. youtube-dl + ffmpeg.
It works just fine.
In console.
Very intuitive.
Every house wife will find them very easy to use.
Valve work with Linux is way larger and far more of a worry than you think.
Golly, a game studio finding bugs in drivers and fixing them, that has never happened before. Let’s just ignore that it happens on every platform
For extra credit, Pete, look into how much money John Carmack lost by paying for Mesa3D to reach feature parity with OpenGL 1.0 and the subsequent feature gap between current OpenGL versions and those shipped by linux distributions.
This is claiming that items like Active Directory action that are in breach of anti-trust never happened.
Active Directory was never found to be in any breach of antitrust law, Mr. O. What sort of comic book have you been reading?
As an overall summary of the legalities involved, suffice it to say that the courts never found Microsoft’s actions to be causual in forming or maintaining any sort of monopoly. No actions ever.
So put that idea to rest, Mr. O, and go look up the terms if you must. Quit being such an oaf.
Clarence Moon EU anti-trust law MS action over Active directory was found in breach. Yes the Samba vs Microsoft in the EU. MS was found in breach of Anti-trust law over there handling of documentation of the Active Directory and other key parts.
Not all Anti-trust cases are the USA.
Sorry I forgot anything that happens out side the USA does not happen to Clarence Moon.
http://fsfe.org/news/2007/news-20071220-01.en.html
See now the anti-trust case did happen you cannot rewrite documented history. MS did breach EU anti-trust law many times. Same ruling could have been done in the USA if the USA was not basically asleep at the wheel.
2007 MS was forced to release the documentation to Active Directory. Since with holding this documentation was excluding competitors.
“As an overall summary of the legalities involved, suffice it to say that the courts never found Microsoft’s actions to be causual in forming or maintaining any sort of monopoly.”
That is the USA ruling not the EU one. EU Anti-trust courts have been far more pro-active. MS got done for attempting to form Monopoly illegally with the use Internet Explorer and Active Directory and other parts in the EU. The effects of those EU ruling has not fully played out.
Ivan patents and other obstructions caused the Mesa feature gap. That valve and others was not willing to fight over. Times have changed.
“John Carmack lost by paying for Mesa3D to reach feature parity with OpenGL 1.0″ Really ID did not lose. There is a limitation what a Game company can do without hardware maker support. Times have changed since the year 2000.
Ivan the current patent battles Valve needs parties to work with. So they can avoid paying too much in patents. Valve interactions with Linux now is for there own greed.
Clarence Moon loves pretending the EU anti-trust cases never happened. Like IE being html standard following is a direct effect of the EU anti-trust cases.
Microsoft has in the EU been found in breach of Anti-trust many times. The Samba vs MS case in the EU conformed to USA close enough that if MS pulled out of the EU the EU fine was able to be applied in the USA if MS attempted to Run.
USA regulator is asleep at the wheel.
“What sort of comic book have you been reading?”
One written by Pamela Jones, I expect. It sounds truthy. Anti-trust violations are what Microsoft does, right? Throw a chair then violate an anti-trust: Ballmer does this twice before breakfast.
I predict problems as Valve adds things to Linux. Today Valve are popular; tomorrow they will be denounced as evil closed-source non-free DRM monopolists who won’t even maintain compatibility with Pulseaudio or Nouveau or something. Happened to Adobe Flash. Valve are next.
However, before that happens, I think it is worth reflecting on the closed-source commercial software model that is used by every game publisher on Steam. Compare this game library with the one available from (say) Debian. Which is better? Try to convince yourself that the Debian offering is better. Try really, really hard. Is there really nothing to be said for the commercial model that made all those Steam games possible? If the FLOSS model is truly superior, then how is Steam successful?
Clarence Moon wrote, “Active Directory was never found to be in any breach of antitrust law,”.
To the extent that AD controls M$’s file-sharing protocols and were poorly documented in order to exclude other software, M$ was found in violation.
“1.5. The nature of the non-compliance
17. As set out in recital 1003 of the Decision, the objective of the Decision “is to ensure that Microsoft’s competitors can develop products that interoperate with the Windows domain architecture natively supported in the dominant Windows client PC operating system and hence viably compete with Microsoft’s work group server operating system”.
18. As set out in recital 1008 of the Decision, the “requirement for the terms imposed by Microsoft to be reasonable and non-discriminatory applies in particular […] (ii) to any remuneration that Microsoft might charge for supply; such a remuneration should not reflect the “strategic value” stemming from Microsoft’s market power in the client PC operating system market or in the work group server operating system market”.”
see Commission Decision
of 27 February 2008
fixing the definitive amount of the periodic penalty payment imposed on Microsoft Corporation by Decision C(2005) 4420 final
Linux Apostate Adobe relationship with FOSS has been major pain in but. Flash big problem started with like no 64 bit version so forcing 32 bit wrapping and the like to be used.
“However, before that happens, I think it is worth reflecting on the closed-source commercial software model that is used by every game publisher on Steam.”
Really Id has had a good relationship with FOSS over the years. They make commercial software.
There is a possibility for a good relationship going forwards.
“Is there really nothing to be said for the commercial model that made all those Steam games possible?” To pay the doom quake and other games even that engine is open source the art work is not. Most of the FOSS world does not have a problem with this.
Linux Apostate the prime issue is can I run my game/program. If the result is no they are unhappy.
Quake I II and so on are found in debian without any art work.
Yes FOSS people will pay for works of art where they will not pay for the software part of the game since that might not work in the future or have security flaws.
Linux Apostate
“If the FLOSS model is truly superior, then how is Steam successful?”
Its how the FLOSS model is superior. FOSS model is superior for long term maintenance of a program.
Steam model is successful as get return on investment now.
Id model is a nice hybrid of both. Taking the I want return now combined with long term maintain back to FOSS.
Linux Apostate
“I think it is worth reflecting on the closed-source commercial software model that is used by every game publisher on Steam.”
Lier lier pants on fire. Id and Indy games publish on steam with open source game engines. Restricted license artwork. They are not all closed-source commercial on steam. Some are open-source restricted artwork. This model is also profitable.
As Id engines release proves a games artwork is just at important to the end experience as the games engine.
There is a commercial artwork model you missed. Everything on steam has commercial artwork model. Not everything is the closed source model.
So there is a chance valve could make a good go out of this. Allow some of the open license artwork stuff in so allowing them to be the market for all games.
Even looking at the debian repo you find open source engine and commercial artwork. Yes the game installs but does not work until you install the artwork from a valid disc.
Debian repo operations are not incompatible with valve steam operation. This is why a partner ship with valve is possible. Valve actions are not much different to a lot of distributions. Minor tweak to ship full FOSS software as well and valve would be in a very good location.
More Linux users are compatible than what you think. Linux Apostate.
Also most steam programs are in fact very light on DRM. They do trust there users alot. You know this by how few problems with DRM releated stuff wine has running steam stuff. Anti-cheat and video card stuff causes wine more problems with steam provided software.
So steam is not that unfriendly. Most linux users are already use to steam.
FOSS does not say free and open source artwork in all cases. There is still debate if open source artwork is required for a program to be FOSS.
Oh, come off it! Steam is not for free-as-in-speech software. The fact that some of the games can be played with free-as-in-speech game engines makes no difference to the point I was making.
Steam is exactly the sort of thing that Stallman has always been warning about in his essays and speeches. You know that Valve can ban your Steam account, and then you lose access to your games?
I am also unsure there is really much distinction between artwork and code, particularly as scripts (e.g. Lua, QuakeC) could be described as both artwork and code. A Z-machine game (e.g. Zork) is artwork, and yet it is also executable code.
We should probably not take much please in any future Win8 failures. Win8 is going to be a loser because it is too soon. Most companies are still digesting their implementation of Win7. On that alone most Corps would not be looking for a next release some 5 years down the road. It is going to be a marketing disaster for MS. To have Linux win on that basis seems pretty cheap.
JohnMc wrote, “On that alone most Corps would not be looking for a next release some 5 years down the road. It is going to be a marketing disaster for MS. To have Linux win on that basis seems pretty cheap.”
Wintel is collapsing under its own weight. GNU/Linux is gliding on updrafts of increasing user-base, OEM production, more developers, and general maturing of FLOSS. The success of Android/Linux has shown the world that Wintel is not the only way to go. GNU/Linux has much more going for it than M$’s decline although even that is sufficient to guarantee wider adoption.
The decline of Wintel has involved several stages each of which has promoted GNU/Linux in some segments. I got into GNU/Linux in 2000 when that other OS had no security and tons of bugs. Others got involved when M$ changed its licensing. Still others when Vista flopped. Everyone has some reason to leave Wintel. GNU/Linux is no longer a narrow niche. There’s something in it for everyone. Switching becomes obvious when an individual or organization looks at price/performance in whatever terms/units. The cost of migrating is dwarfed by the cost of enslavement to Wintel forever. GNU/Linux is just a better way to do IT.
Gaming has been quite good on Linux for a number of years. I have played and enjoyed a number of commercial and non commercial games on the Linux platform and have never felt the need to use a Windows based system to enjoy gaming.
I have contributed a number of gaming related fixes and maps to Linux based games and have found I was able to use Valve’s “Hammer” with little problem with “Wine”.
While its a good thing for Linux that Valve is going to be supporting Linux I would expect that Microsoft will be attacking Valve in some way or another. A buy-out, pressuring the Valve heads, undermining their financial situation, attacking their ability to compete. Something.
Microsoft does not tolerate such visible straying from the fold.
Thanks to Gabe Newell for being so out spoken about the upcoming train wreck known as Windows 8 and for throwing his companies support behind Linux as an alternative platform. I will be a customer.
lpbear wrote, “I would expect that Microsoft will be attacking Valve in some way or another. A buy-out, pressuring the Valve heads, undermining their financial situation, attacking their ability to compete. Something.”
Certainly, M$ could try some of those things but I doubt they could do it “under the radar”. At some point anti-trust agencies should have stepped in long ago. How many more take-over/buy-outs will it take?
I expect M$ will do nothing in particular about Valve. When the house is afire priorities change. In the old days they pounded on whatever nail stuck up. Now there are just too many nails. I notice Dell is exercising the right to ship GNU/Linux as are most of the big OEMs and all the small guys do whatever works.
“Certainly, M$ could try some of those things but I doubt they could do it “under the radar”. At some point anti-trust agencies should have stepped in long ago. How many more take-over/buy-outs will it take?”
I wish I could be as optimistic as you but after watching Microsoft get away with this for as many years as they have I really doubt any agency will step up to the plate and stop them, at least not in the U.S..
Microsoft has systematically attacked the “crown jewels” of Linux for years and will continue to do so until stopped by legal means. With the national election coming up in the U.S. nothing is likely to happen, if at all, until long after the election dust settles.
Microsoft is a completely corrupt corporation and if there is ANY justice in this world the corporation should be broken up into small pieces and many of its executives jailed. Unfortunately for society it won’t happen in our lifetimes.
Microsoft will most certainly attack Valve in some form.
Linux Apostate
“You know that Valve can ban your Steam account, and then you lose access to your games?”
Funny enough this is false. If you have backups of you steam cache those still run after your account is banned you can even move this to new machines. Valve ban is multi level as well. So banned from joining on-line games does not prevent you from playing or buying standalone games. Know this from people using wine setting off Valve DRM in all its possible forms use to custom patching wine.
So your account removed from Valve just stops you from downloading new copies at worse. Does not stop the copies you already have from working unless you want to use the online features.
Linux Apostate
“Steam is not for free-as-in-speech software.”
Neither is the firmware to run my video card. Yet I still use it.
So I know Valve DRM inside out. Its not a nasty as what some one make out.
“I am also unsure there is really much distinction between artwork and code, particularly as scripts”
When it comes to Doom3 the scripts are all licensed that you can ship them on to any one. The artwork being the 3d models and textures those are protected.
That is only one of many examples of that on the valve system. Where its graphical its protected its executable its not. This funny is also required so you can make game mods by taking the in game scripts and altering them. So no right to modify the code no fan made mods less sales.
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/My_First_Mod
Of course Fan mods to games did not cross your mind as part a FOSS community.
Linux Apostate so yes the interactions of the FOSS world are interesting.
Also remember valve and Desura will be entering dispute for market. Desura client side application is open source. Valve was losing developers of mods to Desura as well because Desura runs on Linux.
Linux has a higher number of programmers than Windows or at least it appears that way when it comes to game Mods.
Banned from Desura and Banned from valve are equally bad. Only difference is one has a open source client program and one has a closed source client program. The program that provides the applications closed or open status does not alter what happens when banned in this case.
So on the level of DRM valve is not bad. Blizzard and EA have worse DRM stuff to work about were the games you have cannot be restored from back up on the same machine without a Internet connection.
Maybe in time valve will wake up there is not technical advantage to keeping the steam client application closed source due to how light their DRM is. Yes valve does trust there users quite a bit.
Valve main defence is watermarking. So you give a game to someone else you connect to server it tells them who squired it. Yes wine has stomped on that from time to time.
I think you are almost certainly dead wrong about being able to continue to play Steam games forever after your account is banned, but feel free to link to some evidence. If you know Steam DRM inside out (how? are you a non-free games developer?) then this should be easy.
NB. I don’t mean a VAC ban. I mean a permanent way to play your Steam games without a valid Steam account, never needing to reactivate.
But whatever. Even if Valve deactivated the DRM, their games would still be in violation of RMS’s four software freedoms. I don’t understand how a FLOSSie can defend that. But maybe FLOSS is not about freedom at all.
Linux Apostate
“I think you are almost certainly dead wrong about being able to continue to play Steam games forever after your account is banned, but feel free to link to some evidence. If you know Steam DRM inside out (how? are you a non-free games developer?) then this should be easy.”
Wine is self is one very powerful reversing tool. It can track every operation a program performs including steam.
Once activated local play games never need to go back to server to be run again.
The games are linked to your accounts information. This can be entered into a system without requiring to connect back the online server. Same process you use when using steam games in a location without Internet such as wine when its breaking steam Internet access stuff.
Mind you this is part a cheat from WINEPREFIX directories that you can basically copy between systems.
Valve does have instructions for restoring steam from backup without Internet they just skip the step for restoring the logged and confirmed. The order of there instructions is intentionally wrong. If you put in the account information first then put the game backups back the signing can at times skip requiring reconfirmation. Nasty point of steam is it strips activation information off the packages if steam on system is currently not activated.
Banned account does not mean you cannot restore you backup of your games and keep on playing them. That is of course if you installed you games on wine under steam where it simple to get altered files contain you user information.
When wine was having Valve DRM issues that it would not active on-line it was worked out how to extract the information from windows to allow without needing internet.
Of course the activation does not allow you to use any other game downloaded for any other user.
So once banned you can only play the games you already have.
“Valid Steam account” To the program a banned account is still a valid account since it was valid at one point in time. In off-line mode even with Internet is provided Steam will never check.
Without a Valid Steam Account at some point in time and its backup it is not possible to restore.
“But maybe FLOSS is not about freedom at all.”
Maybe we have to live in the real world of closed source firmwares so understand that not all the time we will get exactly what we want.
I am not saying that the ban does not cost you since your multi player games that will not work in offline mode are dead. Same is true with Desura.
Desura also gets vengeful if you take an banned account into online mode.
Linux Apostate the simplest one install steam in wine install all your games set off-line mode back it up and you are set to play those games forever.
Linux Apostate basically the reactivation bit has not been required by us Linux guys for ages. So I forgot poor windows users have to reactivate steam when they move between machines. Steam is not checking any hardware ids to prevent the move.
You are doing like 200 installs hunting a bug you are not going to active each time if you know the short cut.
There are other DRM when we copy WINEPREFIX directories between systems where they do really spit chips and completely fail because they are checking the hardware. On the scale of DRM Valve is not that bad. Not to say that it does not have its annoyances. Valve annoyances would be less if Windows could be migrated simply between machines.
Its a funny one that most of the headaches of people not being able to offline install and so on trace to Microsoft.
Ah, you mean with Wine hacks.
You can also gain permanent offline access to the games by cracking Steam.
But this is hardly what I mean. Valve doesn’t approve of (or support) any of these activities. If we are going to bypass technical restrictions, breaking the license as we do so, then the distinction between Free and Non-free ceases to matter.
Stallman has now made a pronouncement on the subject and it’s much as I thought. Unsurprisingly he does not like Steam and objects to the DRM and the non-freeness of the software. Stallman’s opinions are very consistent.