this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2024
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It's silly to be an absolute open source purist when it comes to Valve anyway. They arguably deserve the money for the amazing ecosystem they have compared to the competition and are one of the biggest contributors to getting GUI frameworks and other Linux systems developed for the Linux based steam deck.
Valve will likely be the party that gets VR working mainstream on Linux for the upcoming Valve Decard standalone headset. You want to talk about the power of open source... well... an affordable VR headset that's at least mostly open source in the software department that is also good for gaming. Sign me up. It'll be miles better than what Facebook shits out for it measly 3-4 years of support.
I have an OG Vive that I use as the multiplayer setup for when friends come over and it's still fully supported. 8 years later.
Valve may not be completely committed to everything open source but until someone out shines them they are the best option for flexibility and longevity.
Also someone need to be paid to develop open source software. This being the beginning of the topic and all. I'm happy for that to be Valve at the moment as they have shown the industry how to be better.
No I don't work for Valve, I'm just sick of closed restrictive platforms as well as open janky platforms for gaming and hardware with fixed EOL dates. I see Valve as the best balance/compromise.
Sorry for my brains wall of text mode.
I don't think it's silly at all to demand that users should have rights and that they should be able to control their computers. Valve makes proprietary software, which takes away user's freedom, so it is unethical. They could make money in an ethical way if they only wanted. SteamOS is proprietary software too.
I don't know much about VR, but if Valve makes a headset that doesn't require proprietary software, that will be great. It should then be used as an example that other companies could follow. But it can't be used as an excuse for them abusing users in other ways.
Certainly, but Valve's business is mostly focused on proprietary software and DRM. When they do make Free Software, it seems to be for the purpose of attracting people to their proprietary platform.