this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2024
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libre

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Welcome to libre

A comm dedicated to the fight for free software with an anti-capitalist perspective.

The struggle for libre computing cannot be disentangled from other forms of socialist reform. One must be willing to reject proprietary software as fiercely as they would reject capitalism. Luckily, we are not alone.

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Resources

  1. Free Software, Free Society provides an excellent primer in the origins and theory around free software and the GNU Project, the pioneers of the Free Software Movement.
  2. Switch to GNU/Linux! If you're still using Windows in $CURRENT_YEAR, flock to Linux Mint!; Apple Silicon users will want to check out Asahi Linux.

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  1. Be on topic: Posts should be about free software and other hacktivst struggles. Topics about general tech news should be in the technology comm or programming comm. That doesn't mean all posts have to be serious though, memes are welcome!
  2. Avoid using misleading terms/speading misinformation: Here's a great article about what those words are. In short, try to avoid parroting common Techbro lingo and topics.
  3. Avoid being confrontational: People are in different stages of liberating their computing, focus on informing rather than accusing. Debatebro nonsense is not tolerated.
  4. All site-wide rules still apply

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Stop Killing Games (www.stopkillinggames.com)
submitted 7 months ago by hello_hello@hexbear.net to c/libre@hexbear.net
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An increasing number of videogames are sold as goods, but designed to be completely unplayable for everyone as soon as support ends. The legality of this practice is untested worldwide, and many governments do not have clear laws regarding these actions. It is our goal to have authorities examine this behavior and hopefully end it, as it is an assault on both consumer rights and preservation of media. We are pursuing this in two ways:

TL;DR this is an EU petition aimed at making sure that companies are obligated to distribute binaries of the server code of their multiplayer and live service games. Currently, video game companies of online/live service games use a form of SaaSS (Service as a Software Substitute) model where the "game" someone has purchased is simply a license to run the game in only the way the company sees fit (their servers, their platform, their rules). If a company were to go under or simply not run the servers required for the full game to function, then the user is out of luck as they've effectively had the game taken away from them.

This is just another example of why ALL leftists must strive to fight for free software. If we don't consider software which respects your freedom an important endeavor to uphold, then we make ourselves vulnerable for further and further exploitation. If you're reading this, this includes you as well.

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[–] chickentendrils@hexbear.net 19 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Yeah there have been efforts since game servers without server software for consumers to run themselves were first commercialized, to prevent this outcome where profit motivation and shortsightedness will lock us out of so much. It's good this effort seems to be getting somewhere in the current system.

I can't stop thinking how remarkable it is that Doom spawned the speed running phenomenon, and people use specific version builds of those early entries, yet some of its most recent entries like DOOM (2016) are without playable version archives because of extremely preservation-hostile DRM schemes. Fuckers need to publish at a minimum all previous builds DRM-free for customers once a version is cracked, before DRM implementation in entertainment software can be banned entirely.

Oh, and I want source code + assets on file with a library of Congress or equivalent in different places for publication once it becomes abandonware.