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Latest Comments by Shmerl
Developers And The Dreaded Platform Listing Of "PC"
17 November 2013 at 7:26 am UTC

QuoteUbuntu is the single most popular distro around

No matter how many times I asked, no one was able to produce any substantial numbers, or explain methodology which demonstrates that Ubuntu is the most used Linux distro. Surely Canonical likes to hype it in most arrogant fashion, but hype does not equal to a fact. So until this is actually demonstrated, I don't buy this argument.

QuoteIt is the only distro Steam officially supports for a reason.

I'm not sure what their reasons were - Valve didn't really explain it clearly. And in the future, I'd expect them to drop Ubuntu as a base, if they want to stay in touch with the majority of the Linux world which said strong no to Mir, and will use Wayland.

On the matter of "PC" being used to describe Windows - that's very annoying indeed. Complain to developers who do it, and point out the weirdness of such usage. It's an unfortunate artifact left by the years of insane domination of Windows. It will get better, and people will stop using it this way. But it will take time.

Shadowrun Returns RPG To Go DRM Free
14 November 2013 at 1:23 am UTC

Did you try asking HB about it?

Shadowrun Returns RPG To Go DRM Free
14 November 2013 at 1:03 am UTC

stan: Check out this list: http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Humble_Store
If you buy anything through the widget with your e-mail you used for HB account, then those games get added to your HB library.

Race The Sun High Speed Racer New Version
8 November 2013 at 4:57 am UTC

It's available on sale on GOG, and you can get the Linux version DRM free using the code provided there. See http://www.gamingonlinux.com/forum/topic/458?page=1 for details.

Metro: Last Light Released for Linux on Steam
6 November 2013 at 3:51 am UTC

n30p1r4t3: DrMcCoy expressed it well. One should try as much as possible, so the argument that 100% isn't possible is not really useful. DRM is like unethical pollution. You should avoid its proliferation with each opportunity.

I disagree with your idea that DRM is needed to make money. DRM is useless, since it doesn't prevent piracy. In practice DRM is only used for nefarious purposes - controlling the user, controlling the technology, controlling the market and so on. And then you should think about derivatives of DRM, such as DMCA 1201 and other such junk, which are even more evil. Unlike DRM, closed / non free software is by far not always used for nefarious purposes just because it's closed. But DRM - always, really, since DRM has no sensible and ethical reason to ever be used.

I never really encountered a situation when DRMed product had higher quality and usability than alternative DRM free one. The presence of DRM itself is equal to crippling of usability of the product, and therefore it always means reduced quality.

Metro: Last Light Released for Linux on Steam
5 November 2013 at 9:01 pm UTC

Quoting: Quote from Caldazar
Quoting: QuoteHowever, if you're going to use these games, you're better off using them on GNU/Linux rather than on Microsoft Windows.

Richard Stallman

The man knows the nuances.
And I think about an important difference betwee GoG and Steam;)

I think he was comparing using DRMed games on Windows to using DRMed games on Linux. If those are compared, he said Linux is preferable, since Windows itself restricts users even more (not to mention that Windows always has built in own DRM).

I don't think he compared DRM free games (let's say Windows versions run in Wine on Linux), to DRMed ones run on Linux. So what he said doesn't apply to GOG vs Steam arguments IMHO.

Metro: Last Light Released for Linux on Steam
5 November 2013 at 8:34 pm UTC

Quoting: Quote from scaineThat's an admirable stance, but not one I can get behind, sorry. It's a little too Stallman for me. If you take that stance and apply it to everything in your life you'll be giving up a fair list of things. In fact, off the top of my head: every console, Steam, some Desura, all Apple products, most Android products (unless you bypass Play and take your chance on the malware infested third party appstores), every Bluray disk, BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Lovefilm (pretty much every online film repository bar Youtube), most DVD's (the ones encoded with CSS certainly, and good luck knowing which are before you buy them), most e-books and certainly anything to do with Kindle. There's probably lot of other examples, but most of that list affects me directly.

In fact, about the only thing that isn't governed by DRM digitally these days is music. And probably that only because of radio stations.

So, yeah, pretty admirable. But not for me. I like a balance, and a little DRM is acceptable provided it in no way gets in my way. And for me, Steam doesn't.

That's what I do :) I reject DRM in general. DVDs are an exception, since that DRM is obsolete essentially, so I don't consider that to be DRM really. libdvdcss is anyway the only way to play DVDs on Linux. Blurays? Never used those, I think they are irrelevant since disks are dying out anyway.

Apple? Oh, horror, I don't even come near that for many other reasons besides DRM. Netflix? No go (clear DRM which even aggressively attempts to push it into HTML standard - even more reasons to reject it). E-books? I buy DRM free only (no Kindle or anything like that). There are DRM free e-books available, the situation is much better than movies which are limited to DVDs mostly.

I don't use Android for mobile, but not so much out of DRM concerns, but because I prefer proper glibc mobile Linux (Harmattan, Nemo, upcoming Sailfish and so on, but that's another story).

So, obviously I don't buy any games with DRM as well.

I don't really think it's extreme - it's the only way to actually vote with your wallet, since if you are indifferent, DRM only strives more.

Metro: Last Light Released for Linux on Steam
5 November 2013 at 8:09 pm UTC

Supporting DRM is inherently bad, since it helps its proliferation. I hope we don't need to go into lengthy discussion why DRM itself is bad. But it's bad enough to avoid it outright. So there is some conflict here. You might want to support games which push better drivers, but you don't want to support ones which proliferate DRM. For me second issue has higher priority.

Metro: Last Light Released for Linux on Steam
5 November 2013 at 4:49 pm UTC

Better drivers and so on - are good news for Linux. Majority of games which drive those changes using DRM - are bad news.

Metro: Last Light Released for Linux on Steam
5 November 2013 at 2:41 am UTC

I'm not excited that it's only available through Steam (so I'm not getting it naturally). Just wrote to Deep Silver and asked if they are going to release it DRM free without Steam anywhere. Otherwise it would be a pity if such game will remain Steamed forever.