Here's what I've learned so far in this thread.

1. Feral has decided to not put any more of their ports on GOG. They did not say why.

2. Shmerl has superpowers that lets him/her read the minds of the employees of Feral.

3. Using this superpower, Shmerl has determined that the sole, solitary reason for Feral's decision is that they're married to the idea of DRM. No other reason. At all. The rest of us who conjectured other possibilities are just plain wrong, for we do not possess the same superpowers as Shmerl and could not possibly understand the burden this superpower places upon him/her.

4. This discussion was always about DRM and how evil it is. Why, just look at the title of the article! Oh wait...

Quoting: ArthurAnyway, DRM is one thing, but how about the fact you're running proprietary code you don't know what's doing even if you use GOG. If you're gonna be a hardliner, do it properly.

Ding ding ding ding ding ding!

--------------------- END OF DISCUSSION, CUT HERE ---------------------

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: slaapliedjeFedora reluctantly seems to have added support, and Debian added it in just because they add everything in. But have many other distros adopted it?

Since you asked, the snapcraft documentation has installation instructions for Arch Linux, Debian, elementary OS, Fedora, Gentoo, Linux Mint, Manjaro, OpenEmbedded/Yocto, openSUSE, OpenWrt, Solus, Raspbian and Ubuntu. Surely those instructions can be adapted to other distributions as well.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Maybe it's because GOG still has their heads up their butts when it comes to supporting Linux and its users. Maybe it's because Feral doesn't want to have to hold GOG's hand in supporting an operating system that GOG can barely understand themselves. Maybe it's because they don't want to be treated as if they don't know better than GOG when it comes to simple issues, such as how to sanely package software without resorting to forcibly shoving binary data onto the end of a shell script like it's some sort of virus. Maybe it's because JudasIscariot can be painfully arrogant and belligerant when told he's not doing things correctly.

I find dealing with GOG to be a pain to deal with and I'm just a user. I'd hate to be an actual developer and have to put up with their constant, neverending nonsense. At least with Steam it feels like Valve has a bit more respect for us Linux users. They try harder. They develop, maintain and support Linux games, APIs and tools, a distribution client and even a freaking distro. They have a personal vested interest in Linux. To GOG, Linux is this mystical, strange thing sitting on a cobweb-ridden box in the darkest corner of their office that only gets booted up when we whine hard enough.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: slaapliedjeCanonical/Ubuntu. The ones who put amazon searches by default within their Desktop Environment?

Yes, them. The same ones who made snapd capable of running on other distributions that don't track you at all. What's your point? Nobody is forcing you to use Ubuntu.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: elmapulsome were banned but were able to explain to blizzard that they were usng wine instead of a cheat software, so they could get unbanned.

So Blizzard has aggressive anti-cheat detection methods that generate false-positives for Wine users, and you have to go through their support staff to get unbanned once it happens?

That sounds like an enormous pain in the ass. I know I've never been VAC banned just for using Linux. I'll stick with Steam, thanks. I've never really enjoyed Blizzard's games much, anyway. I don't feel like I'm missing out on much.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: slaapliedjeSnaps have already had some malware uploaded to it. Looks like there definitely needs some more auditing to be done.

The most I've heard about malware on snaps was that a couple of applications by a single developer had an undisclosed cryptocurrency miner built into them. No damage was done to anyone's computer or data, nor was any personal information scraped and sent back home.

The developer in question was attempting to commercially support his apps by integrating this CC miner and seemed to honestly not realize that this was going to be a problem. I suppose he thought that "CC-supported software is the new ad-supported software", which is an understandable conclusion for any blockchain enthusiast. It appears, at least to me, to be an attempt to innovate a new solution for commercially supporting a program that doesn't involve annoying the user with advertisements, as well as providing the developer with more freedom to create without being subjected to the ever-changing whims of advertising companies. Technically speaking, mining cryptocurrency isn't illegal, nor is supporting your software with it.

The real issue here is the lack of disclosure, since it's damn obvious when ads are on an application, but not as obvious when CC miners are on an application. Considering the resource usage and electricity bills involved in mining cryptocurrency, I do think that ethically speaking, disclosure should be absolutely necessary when implementing an idea such as this one.

In any case, Ubuntu pulled both offending apps almost immediately, contacted the developer, established a dialogue and determined that this was more of a case of ignorance than malice. I expect Ubuntu will be more proactive in enforcing ethical requirements in the future with regards to cryptocurrency supported software.

I'd imagine it wouldn't be too hard for Ubuntu to create a script on their end which will automatically unpack snaps, run them and check for the presence of cryptocurrency mining activity before they appear on the store. They could also create an option for uploaders to disclose how a commercial application is supported. If there isn't any disclosure, but the system detects mining activity, the snap could be rejected before it even appears on the store. If they're not working on something like this as we speak, they damn well better start.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

This is cool and all, but I do recommend people exercise caution with certain developers and publishers.

I remember reading several years ago that Blizzard actively perma-banned people from Battle.net if they are "caught" using Wine and Linux. Could someone confirm if their hostility and paranoia is still this bad today?

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: razing32What plugins are you using , out of curiosity?

uBlock Origin, uMatrix (much better than NoScript), Privacy Badger and HTTPS Everywhere. That's it.

I also use the custom user.js file from gHacks. It's like chemotherapy for Firefox.
https://github.com/ghacksuserjs/ghacks-user.js [External Link]

Quoting: scaineIf you follow Liam on Twitter...

Nope. No Twitter for me, thanks. I believe you, though.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: EhvisIt should be to the right of the quote button. And yes, some of the social filters take it out.

You may as well disable the blockers.

You're right, making an exemption for this domain in uBlock Origin did make the button appear. Thanks!

Quoting: EhvisThere is nothing left on this site that needs blocking.

Bull! Every website these days commits all sorts of evil with JavaScr... wait a second...

*checks uMatrix*

Holy crap. Is this the only pure website left on the Internet? I'm seeing nothing but first-party requests. This... this is so beautiful.

Liam, you are a GOD. Never change.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: antisolMicrosoft.
Cannot.
Be.
Trusted.

That was an excellent post, agreed with everything.

One question though... how the hell do you "like" a comment on here? I see buttons for Report, Block, Bookmark, Link and Quote. I do have some extensions that block like buttons from third-party social media platforms... maybe they're hiding the button thinking it connects to Facebook or something. Anyone else having this issue?

View this comment - View article - View full comments