Re: Steam's Forced Honesty

On Sun, 13 Oct 2024 13:33:28 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

None of which is really new; this has been the state of affair since
Valve started in Steam in 2004, and has been a major concern for a lot
of people. But now Valve is being forced to be a little more up front
about it, which hopefully will bring the whole issue of digital
ownership more into the limelight. The software industry has mostly
gotten by with the whole 'licensing versus ownership' issue because
the vast, vast majority of people not only don't understand the issue,
they aren't even aware of the discrepancy.

It's nothing new. This has been the state of affairs since, IIRC, the
beginning of IBM-PC software law, and certainly since the 90's and the
boilerplate EULAs*. All anyone has _ever_ owned in the age of PC
computing is a license to use the publisher's software.

This is what makes "don't copy that floppy" so ridiculous. You purchased
a seat. The provided media is a necessary convenience (proven by the fact
that no one needs it any more since the Internet is more convenient).

What was missing from "don't copy that floppy" was a proper license
audit. That was decidedly the publisher's problem, not ours. They spent
years whinging about how their business and legal plan had a fatal flaw
as if it was the fault of the user.

Due to the fact that people wanted to make backups, and were granted that
right, copying software media has never been illegal.

Distributing it is.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

* I also have a beef with the advertising clause "Own [this movie] on DVD
[or Bluray]!" It is false advertising. You own nothing but the rights to
play the provided media in a private setting. If you want to take what
you supposedly "own" to a classroom and play it for 40 students, you've
broken your agreement and the law.