Stallman: Valve's Linux games "unethical" but might boost OS usage

[Guest]

It s good for linux. It might help develop drivers for linux for the long run and new hardware get easy to adopt.

 

[Guest]

Unethical? Yeah an operating system that is free enterprise and games for it is unethical. Yap. But microsoft charging 100 in europe for windows and 400 in america and giving it away in africa where nigerian scam artists use it to scam people. That makes the planets most ethical practice and the most ethical company on the planet. A company that is hired by apple to write them software and stole the whole gui environment and became the biggest competitor of the one that hired them and them point the finger back that hey you stole it from xerox. Let me see pirates of silicon valley chasing software pirates. So any one who even wants to point out anything unethical should start pointing the finger inside a mirror at the biggest looser on the planet. For in the mirror you will always find the biggest losers.

 

[Zilpha]

Unethical? Yeah an operating system that is free enterprise and games for it is unethical. Yap. But microsoft charging 100 in europe for windows and 400 in america and giving it away in africa where nigerian scam artists use it to scam people. That makes the planets most ethical practice and the most ethical company on the planet. A company that is hired by apple to write them software and stole the whole gui environment and became the biggest competitor of the one that hired them and them point the finger back that hey you stole it from xerox. Let me see pirates of silicon valley chasing software pirates. So any one who even wants to point out anything unethical should start pointing the finger inside a mirror at the biggest looser on the planet. For in the mirror you will always find the biggest losers.

You certainly seem passionate, but what does this have to do with the article?

 

[TJGeezer]

There are so many brilliant programmers out there, and so many cool distros of Linux, you'd figure they could hold some kind of summit and decide on making a super accessible version of Linux.

That would be Mint. I love that distro. Fiddle with it all you want, but no fiddling required if all you want is to run it with standard apps. Hmm. I wonder if WINE can run Office 10, which I need for now...

 

[yorro]

Isn't this the same guy who made a tutorial on how to make a foil hat?

 

[Night Hacker]

I created a FREE game for Windows about 13 years ago, and have kept it up to date ever since. It started on DOS, and now runs on Windows 8. It has been donation only, no restrictions, totally free and I have responded to requests to add features to it as they came in, improving it more. It has been downloaded on one website I visited over 2 million times and was downloaded 6000 times last month alone. To date I have received $275 in donations. People are cheap. There is no way you're going to see commercial software that costs huge sums of money and time to develop given away for free with source, time to pull your head out of the clouds and get real. I have often thought of switching to Linux and after I got a look at Windows 8, I was thinking even more of switching to Linux, but as a software developer I know that I better find a new way to make money because it certainly won't be from selling software to Linux users. And I'll be damned if anyone thinks I'll add advertising to anything I create. I personally would rather pay for software than get it filled with ads.

 

[LNCPapa]

I am now extremely interested in this game you wrote so many years ago... mind sharing it with us (it's not advertising since I'm specifically asking for it )

 

[Guest]

The Venus Project

 

[MadnessRed]

I can think of 3 ways that a company can make money with open source
1: advertising: you can include advertising in the game and make it part of the game play for video games, for other applications it can be a banner or other form.
2: donations:
3: kick starter: which is my personal favorite ask for the money before you even make it why not there are many people who are gaining there standing in the programming world by doing this but not taking advantage of the open source opportunity.with this opportunity you can relax and let your users find and fix problems.

What happened to the idea of simply charging for it?

Nothing says you can't charge for "free software", in this case, free is meant as in the freedom to use the software how you want, the freedom to change it. Free software is not the same as freeware, at least not in the context of open source.

 

[Destrukshawn]

I think the real point here is what's going on behind the scenes. It really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that Microsoft is planning to kill the desktop "as we know it" as there simply isn't enough consumer demand as compared to the newer more efficient mobile units that are vastly available today in almost any flavor. Let's face it, teenagers and children really do not require the latest and greatest iPad or iPhone as those products are mainly aimed at business consumers and as legend precedes us all, we just "have to have it". Now, we all know or may not know that Linux hasn't been the most favored OS in the past decades for the "average" user today. However, it is solid and for the most part completely stable and deserves it's place on the throne as the world's most widely used "desktop" OS while Apple and Microsoft battle it out over who's got the biggest balls in the mobile market. PC gaming will never die and the desktop surely has it's place for decades to come. To "kill" the desktop is to say, only "the way we know it today" but it's here to stay! JM2C

 

[Destrukshawn]

Furthermore: I think Stallman is trying to envision the future before it happens, which may or may not be for another 5,10 or more years. It's quit clear that Linux is going to have to be the main focus for gamers especially, I mean, who the hell wants to try and play a game like Battlefield 3 on a freaking tablet or cellphone for a few hours of relaxing blow sh*t up-release some tension goodness! Ugh, I cringe at the thought. Let's even imagine trying to write up a proposal for that overly pretentious boss that could take all night....on that tiny little screen. It's bad enough you can't get the damn things in your pockets as it is, but how long will it be before mobilehead's realize, "hey, I need some bigger pockets to fit my 42" tablet so I can carry it around like a champ on my shoulder's while a type and eat burgers". Ok, so I'm a "little" over eccentric, but my point still stands. We will always need the desktop, regardless of those who don't think so now, to fulfill our more demanding computer needs and let's face it.....mobiles just can't provide that same experience!
Long live Linux and guys like Stallman! Cheers.

 

[Guest]

Unethical? Why shouldn't they make money on their hard work?
If someone wants to give their work away for free that's their choice and I am glad some do. But I would never thing to bash another that wants to be compensated for their work.
I've played around with Linux multiple times over the course of 10 or so years, both in dual boot configs with Windows and in VMs. Until every major release game is available natively it is unlikely that I'll ever switch over. Linux fans that want Linux's usage to increase should be embracing Valve and any other game producer that want to port their stuff to Linux, even if they want to be paid for their product.

 

[Night Hacker]

I am now extremely interested in this game you wrote so many years ago... mind sharing it with us (it's not advertising since I'm specifically asking for it )

You can get it (Deluxe Pacman) on my own website: http://home.cogeco.ca/~nroy15/games_index.html

And I need to correct those numbers I told you, it was over 1 million, not 2 million times (at http://en.softonic.com/s/deluxe-pacman, but don't download from there, that version is old and comes with extras I don't like), don't know where I got 2million from, still very respectable and VERY surprising. It's too bad I want the website that got all the downloads to remove the game from their site now due to them including a "toolbar" and changing your homepage if you don't watch what they install. I don't like that. They did allow me to control my game on their site so I uploaded the oldest version I have. But at the above link, that is my personal homepage and always has the latest, FREE (no toolbars, no viruses etc) version.

I'm just glad I was a teen when computers first came out and I was able to enjoy them the way they were meant to be enjoyed before the future came along and ruined it for everyone.