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Added by Gauss on 4.08.2012 |
According to a leading PC-user rights campaigner.
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According to Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation and the GNU OS, DRM-protected games on the open-source platform would be 'unethical'.
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In a blog post, Richard Stallman -who is the founder of the Free Software Foundation and the GNU operating system-, is concerned about Valve's move to sell Linux-based versions of its products.
According to him, releasing DRM-protected games on the open-source platform would be "unethical".
Mr Stallman said Valve's move had both positive and negative implications.
"Non-free game programs (like other non-free programs) are unethical because they deny freedom to their users," he wrote on his blog.
"If you want freedom, one requisite for it is not having non-free programs on your computer.
"However, if you're going to use these games, you're better off using them on GNU/Linux rather than on Microsoft Windows."
Mr Stallman said that based on this, Valve's move was likely to do more good than harm, but he noted there was another factor.
"Any GNU/Linux distro [distribution] that comes with software to offer these games will teach users that the point is not freedom.
"Non-free software in GNU/Linux distros already works against the goal of freedom. Adding these games to a distro would augment that effect."
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However, Valve's use of DRM protection would also appear to have the "blessing" of the Linux kernel's creator, Linus Torvalds...
He said in 2003 it was "perfectly OK" if companies released software on the platform using the restriction, even if he did not "personally approve" of the idea himself.
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Now, an analyst has said that this issue is unlikely to have much impact on either the Linux or gaming communities, because gaming on the OS is "incredibly small".
"Gaming on Linux is incredibly small - it's not a particularly large market so both Gabe and Richard's comments are really evangelical ones," Strategy Analytics director of digital media Ed Barton said.
"Gabe is focused on sticking a rocket under Microsoft, while Richard is speaking from a long established point of view.
"For the rest of us, the universe will keep on turning as it's very difficult to imagine Windows 8 being so undesirable to Valve that it would choose to ignore it as a platform for Windows gaming. That's where the vast majority of users will be and it would be commercial suicide to do otherwise."
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ArsTechnica
GNU founder Stallman calls DRMd Steam for Linux games unethical
Click here to visit link
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BBC News
Technology #19065082
Click here to visit link
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