How Will Steam on GNU/Linux Affect Software Freedom? [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

rms has published this thoughts on Steam coming to GNU/Linux. He notes that the availability of proprietary games may very well help spread GNU/Linux (but the FSF prioritizes spreading software freedom). And, you're better off at least having a Free operating system instead of Windows: "My guess is that the direct good effect will be bigger than the direct harm. But there is also an indirect effect: what does the use of these games teach people in our community? Any GNU/Linux distro that comes with software to offer these games will teach users that the point is not freedom. Nonfree software in GNU/Linux distros already works against the goal of freedom. Adding these games to a distro would augment that effect." Or: How will the FOSS community affect Valve? Already they've contributed a bit to the graphics stack, hired a few folks from inside the community, etc. But Steam also makes use of DRM and distributes software in ways that are opposed to the ideals of many in the FOSS community (and even the wider Free Culture community). Given Gabe Newell's professed love for openness, might we see their company culture infiltrated?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

[kedawa]

When the FOSS community produces some decent games that aren't just clones of commercial games, I might start giving a shit what they think on the matter.
The idea that free software can't coexist with commercial software is moronic and counter-productive.

[Berserker]

Steam is never going to meet the definition of Free Software that RMS argues for. It would require basically shooting their entire business model in the head, and most of the companies whose games they sell wouldn't go along with it anyway. Even if they did manage to do all of that, the video drivers these games require to run are closed source on Linux, so it still wouldn't meet the definition.