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This. Actions speak louder than words and Epic's anti-Linux actions with their store are extremely telling that their rhetoric about supporting open platforms i

by swebs 6y ago

This. Actions speak louder than words and Epic's anti-Linux actions with their store are extremely telling that their rhetoric about supporting open platforms is purely self-serving.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
cma 6y ago
Valve has had a lot more Linux support, but it seems like they just want Steam to be "Google Play Services" for desktop Linux. GPL software can't even communicate with friends on Steam, isolating the open source community and ultimately turning their devs, if they want to be part of Steam's extensive gaming social network, into serfs for the store.
- xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
  Huh? In what way is Steam on Linux in any way similar to Google Play Services on Android? Steam on Linux is mostly compatibility hacks so people can play the games they bought. Some games have decent Linux support, but the real value I see in Steam on Linux is all the proton/wine magic/hacks to make games work relatively well without any changes, and frankly it's great. The rate at which Wine/Proton et al., and Linux gaming in general, has improved in the last few years is staggering. > GPL software can't even communicate with friends on Steam, isolating the open source community and ultimately turning their devs, if they want to be part of Steam's extensive gaming social network, into serfs for the store. I have no idea what you mean by this, but I also don't see what the GPL has to do with it. You can easily write GPL software that you sell on Steam which uses all of Valve's features.
  - cma 6y ago
    > In what way is Steam on Linux in any way similar to Google Play Services on Android? Steamworks. > I have no idea what you mean by this, but I also don't see what the GPL has to do with it. You can easily write GPL software that you sell on Steam which uses all of Valve's features. Steamworks is needed for that and isn't GPL compatible. You can sell GPL software on Steam, but can't use many features and are isolated from most social/friend stuff. https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sdk/uploading/distributing_opensource https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sdk/uploading/distributin... > Which Open Source licenses are compatible with the Steamworks SDK? In general, permissive licenses that do not put any requirements on you to redistribute your modifications under an open source license work fine.
    - xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
      This is borderline FUD. You don't need to use Steamworks to publish a Steam game. With respect to games, most commercial licenses also have these same restrictions, e.g. Unreal Engine. This seems fine, GPL is probably not suitable here. I don't think Valve is going out of their way to harm anyone's freedoms. If you really want to release your game as GPL, then do the usual workarounds: use a shim which RPC's to the proprietary bit.
      - cma 6y ago
        > If you really want to release your game as GPL, then do the usual workarounds: use a shim which RPC's to the proprietary bit. Sounds like the non-solution to GPL software on Apple's App Store, which restricts GPL (or has in the past): run it on a remote server.

by swebs 6y ago

This. Actions speak louder than words and Epic's anti-Linux actions with their store are extremely telling that their rhetoric about supporting open platforms is purely self-serving.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

cma 6y ago

Valve has had a lot more Linux support, but it seems like they just want Steam to be "Google Play Services" for desktop Linux. GPL software can't even communicate with friends on Steam, isolating the open source community and ultimately turning their devs, if they want to be part of Steam's extensive gaming social network, into serfs for the store.

xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
Huh? In what way is Steam on Linux in any way similar to Google Play Services on Android? Steam on Linux is mostly compatibility hacks so people can play the games they bought. Some games have decent Linux support, but the real value I see in Steam on Linux is all the proton/wine magic/hacks to make games work relatively well without any changes, and frankly it's great. The rate at which Wine/Proton et al., and Linux gaming in general, has improved in the last few years is staggering. > GPL software can't even communicate with friends on Steam, isolating the open source community and ultimately turning their devs, if they want to be part of Steam's extensive gaming social network, into serfs for the store. I have no idea what you mean by this, but I also don't see what the GPL has to do with it. You can easily write GPL software that you sell on Steam which uses all of Valve's features.
- cma 6y ago
  > In what way is Steam on Linux in any way similar to Google Play Services on Android? Steamworks. > I have no idea what you mean by this, but I also don't see what the GPL has to do with it. You can easily write GPL software that you sell on Steam which uses all of Valve's features. Steamworks is needed for that and isn't GPL compatible. You can sell GPL software on Steam, but can't use many features and are isolated from most social/friend stuff. https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sdk/uploading/distributing_opensource https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sdk/uploading/distributin... > Which Open Source licenses are compatible with the Steamworks SDK? In general, permissive licenses that do not put any requirements on you to redistribute your modifications under an open source license work fine.
  - xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
    This is borderline FUD. You don't need to use Steamworks to publish a Steam game. With respect to games, most commercial licenses also have these same restrictions, e.g. Unreal Engine. This seems fine, GPL is probably not suitable here. I don't think Valve is going out of their way to harm anyone's freedoms. If you really want to release your game as GPL, then do the usual workarounds: use a shim which RPC's to the proprietary bit.
    - cma 6y ago
      > If you really want to release your game as GPL, then do the usual workarounds: use a shim which RPC's to the proprietary bit. Sounds like the non-solution to GPL software on Apple's App Store, which restricts GPL (or has in the past): run it on a remote server.