Comment by rightbyte
10 days ago
> As a resident of the aforementioned political climate, I find their concerns to be reasonable.
No. The lesson is that stuff like this is concerning what ever the "political climate".
Anyway, you mainly don't want the gov in your vicinity to snoop. Non-local OS:es is probably advantageous in that regard if you choose to run proprietary code...
>No. The lesson is that stuff like this is concerning what ever the "political climate".
We say this, but many also want to entrust all our PC games to one closed source launcher. Or have videos/TV all on one subscription service. There's definitely a spectrum of benevolent and greedy dictators people draw lines on.
> many also want to entrust all our PC games to one closed source launcher
I think that is far more that people like the other closed source launchers less, and each launcher potentially adds it's own stream of notifications and adverts to their system so there is a cost to having multiple active even if the PC resource cost is practically undetectable.
Furthermore if comparing game launches and related issues to political climates, I'd consider all the current closed source ones to be the same in those respects. Also we are not subject to several local political climates at any one time in that way (though we are when looking at a wider scale, of course).
> Or have videos/TV all on one subscription service
While there are other issues (each service tracking you etc.) this is more due to the fact that each service charges what we used to pay (in fact more, as in some cases prices have gone up by more than general inflation) for a single service that provided the same amount of content that they cared about. This doesn't really equate to trust on political climates (except where commercial greed is considered a political matter).
> I think that is far more that people like the other closed source launchers less
Why does one need a game launcher? Cannot we just like run games as we run any app? Having to use a launcher that by default requires internet connection, even if the game itself doesn’t, sounds like a very specific choice of how to do things. We don’t run any other kind of program like that.
3 replies →
> this is more due to the fact that each service charges what we used to pay (in fact more, as in some cases prices have gone up by more than general inflation) for a single service that provided the same amount of content that they cared about.
That is because the introductory prices were not 1 to 1 to the business’ existing revenue streams from cable and satellite transmission fees. Especially considering that before, there was a very limited supply of content restricted by time slots, and now you are buying far, far more on demand content without advertising breaks. And without contracts with a cable or satellite company.
People are spoiled, and don’t appreciate how much easier and cheaper it is to watch or listen to most content than it was pre streaming services.
One only needs to look at market cap graphs of the various media companies to see that streaming isn’t the cash cow people think it is.
3 replies →
GP's saying that having and embracing Steam client is technically wrong, as comfortable as it might feel to you.
This is genuinely a real issue. It seems that most people cannot forsee an issue down the road unless it just happens to personally affect them after it took place ( ideally immediately after ). Valve is a good example, because while it is providing good value for the service it provides, it will not stay like that forever, but the environment it did set up will. And it will hurt once MBAs divvy up that kingdom. Just sayin'
And obviously it is not just one arena, because it seems to be one glaring issue with human beings: they do not want to see the road ahead. And the ones they do are, at best, ignored.
Ye well I agree. I am guilty of using Steam to play some games on Linux with low effort. But as you note there is a spectrum.
the issue is that incentive structure is different from some of those that you've mentioned.
Steam makes the most money if it bridges interests of consumers and publishers together - they don't profit by screwing over the customer(either publishers or end users). Is depending on them a problem? yes, but least likely one. preferably you could move your digital licenses to any provider you want.
Meanwhile subscription services profit the most from enshittification, especially ones that offer 'free' access with ads, or different tiers.
and this current issue isn't even about dependence on google - that's bad in itself - but about gigantic governmental overreach and step towards killing anonymity online under guise of protecting the children.
It is even worse when you consider some EU countries already went after people when politicians got insulted online.