There Is No Doubt, Steam Is Coming To Linux!

[eXlin]

That also includes discussing about cracking/work-around for strong encryption/drm.

[Svartalf]

And we are not posting steamui.so file but patch only what will fix some bugs.

Remco: need to google that i quess
I tried demo of that game and liked it a lot, quess i would buy that attleast when steam comes :P

Since you've not got a derivative works license, you'd actually be deemed committing an act of infringement. You don't own the binaries, and in order to make a "patch" you have to have derived them from the original- something you don't have a derivative works and publication license from Valve for.

This stuff ISN'T like the FOSS stuff. You CAN'T go and do these sorts of things without consequence. It's not like hacking the Linux distribution that Asustek put on their motherboards, etc. It's hacking on something that you can't conceivably have a license to and in a manner that there's no way for you to be protected from the legal aspects of your actions in all jurisdictions. More to the point, you're playing with fire- if Valve gets tired of you jokers trying to hack up a beta test version so you can "get Steam on Linux", they might just pull the plug on the whole thing.

Please. STOP THIS. NOW.

[Svartalf]

With other words patches are as well illegit as sharing the modified files as they are a way to modify the files.

And the reason that they're that way is more than just DMCA in the States- it's a Derivative work, folks. If you don't have a license like the GPL to allow you that, you're actually committing an act of infringement there.

[Remco]

And the reason that they're that way is more than just DMCA in the States- it's a Derivative work, folks. If you don't have a license like the GPL to allow you that, you're actually committing an act of infringement there.

I don't believe a configuration change constitutes enough material to be a copyrightable work of any kind, let alone a derivative work. This is a trivial patch, which (as a consequence) does not crack any copy protection or cause any commercial damage.

[Kano]

You can not play anything with the hack, it just shows the splash screen. Compared to other binary hacks that's definitely harmless. But basically lots of Linux users want a steam client and would most likely buy games for it. See it as free promotion - better than nobody talks about it. I certainly would work on a Linux client, especially when it is relatively similar to Mac and not that much extra work. Wine works in theory too, but is much slower especially for the games without opengl engine.

It's not even a pirate copy of anything - and even those do not always harm the success. Without piracy dos/win (and even office) would not be that popular as it is now. This also applies to games, a game thats not copied is usually not successfull.

[eXlin]

And the reason that they're that way is more than just DMCA in the States- it's a Derivative work, folks. If you don't have a license like the GPL to allow you that, you're actually committing an act of infringement there.

Not sure if i agree with that, but thats from it now.

But please answer this question. If valve doesn't like what is happening why those files are still in publicity? And would valve really expect that we dont try to see if we can get them working? And there has actually been updates on those. It is not hard for them to prevent unauthorized user's from getting them.

[Svartalf]

I am completely fine with what you have done and i think it's not harmfull. Actually quite opposite, it is indicating that there are linux users interested of gaming.

Not in a USEFUL manner. Business types DO NOT THINK THE WAY WE DO. They will freak out at some threshold (we're close here guys) and pull the damn plug on it all. They're control freaks for starters- and you're taking that away from them with all of this.

And now if some1 think's valve is believing that we think we can get games free raise your hands. Or this is chase off game publishers?

It's not about "getting free games"- and they won't see it that way. It's about "losing control" of a situation- and they don't like that at all. To the point of axing things. By us doing it, we're risking chasing them off for some time to come. This isn't something you want to be doing. None of us actually do at this point.

There is long history of making game cracks, but if i have understood correctly in steam games pirating % is lot lower than average without being crappy unusable drm (like ubisoft's recent ones).

This remark is irrelevant to the real concern here. More to the point, there's a long history of all sorts of unacceptable actions- and the history doesn't make it any more acceptable.

[Svartalf]

Not sure if i agree with that, but thats from it now.

But please answer this question. If valve doesn't like what is happening why those files are still in publicity? And would valve really expect that we dont try to see if we can get them working? And there has actually been updates on those. It is not hard for them to prevent unauthorized user's from getting them.

Two words...

Beta.
Test.

More specifically, it's not public in the sense that a court would likely apply for it. Can you surf to it from their website or find it with a bot trawl? No? It's not "public"- you have to have been a subscriber of their service to know where that URL that gave you the hint was at. Just because it's not locked down with a password or other authentication means doesn't make it "public".

[Svartalf]

I don't believe a configuration change constitutes enough material to be a copyrightable work of any kind, let alone a derivative work. This is a trivial patch, which (as a consequence) does not crack any copy protection or cause any commercial damage.

Ahh... But it does cause commercial damage. PR, advertising, etc. are going to be mucked with. Remember, the people in this industry tend to be control freaks over "their stuff". We're taking at least part of that control away from them and spoiling their PR that they planned and allocated money for- which IS commercial damage.

Please take your techie/hacker hats off for just a moment and try to see things the way that a pure businessman would see this stuff.

[eXlin]

Svartalf: We'll all of us has pretty good arguments, so can't be sure witch is correct road (and road valve wants us to go). And i am ready to let it go for while. I saw what i wanted, which is strong hint about steam client coming for linux. And thank's for every1 who got us those screenshots.

But to be honest i don't believe client is in beta stage yet.