Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?

#1

Post by donteatbark » Thu, May 17, 2012, 1:45 AM UTC

Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?
gnu.org

Re: Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?

#2

Post by swernoxidation » Thu, May 17, 2012, 2:05 AM UTC

This post is open source.

Re: Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?

#3

Post by antidoh » Thu, May 17, 2012, 2:09 AM UTC

Why is it unethical to sell software, but (I presume) it's ethical to sell food?

Re: Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?

#4

Post by mquander » Thu, May 17, 2012, 2:11 AM UTC

antidoh wrote: post #3

Why is it unethical to sell software, but (I presume) it's ethical to sell food?

Free as in speech, not free as in beer, etc. It's not particularly ethical to sell food and refuse to tell anyone what's in the food, which is why we have various laws regarding that. Nor does it seem particularly reasonable to sell someone food under the condition that if they eat it in particular ways, you'll sue them.

Re: Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?

#5

Post by yuhong » Thu, May 17, 2012, 2:13 AM UTC

antidoh wrote: post #3

Why is it unethical to sell software, but (I presume) it's ethical to sell food?

It is not unethical to sell software, but software and other digital things at the core is a set of easily copiable bits, while food isn't, and it takes food to write software.

Re: Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?

#6

Post by michael_michael » Thu, May 17, 2012, 2:14 AM UTC

antidoh wrote: post #3

Why is it unethical to sell software, but (I presume) it's ethical to sell food?

See here for more information on the distinction between free (gratis) vs free (libre) as it relates to software: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratis_versus_libre

Re: Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?

#7

Post by drivingmenuts » Thu, May 17, 2012, 2:14 AM UTC

It's up to the end user - if the GNU movement is somehow planning on restricting the ability of the user to use DRM'd software on their own systems, then they've gone completely off the rails.

Re: Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?

#8

Post by newsoundwave » Thu, May 17, 2012, 2:15 AM UTC

"If you want freedom, one requisite for it is not having these games on your computer."

I feel like restricting the definition of freedom fairly narrowly goes against the very definition of freedom itself... but then again he's free to do that too.

Re: Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?

#9

Post by drivebyacct2 » Thu, May 17, 2012, 2:18 AM UTC

Nonfree? Okay.

DRM? Groan.

But really, who cares, let the user decide. Why does the freeness of the OS have to predicate the distribution, license or otherwise of the software used on it?

Re: Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?

#10

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 17, 2012, 2:18 AM UTC

drivingmenuts wrote: post #7

It's up to the end user - if the GNU movement is somehow planning on restricting the ability of the user to use DRM'd software on their own systems, then they've gone completely off the rails.

[deleted]