Editorial Walled Garden Outfit Valve Accuses Apple Of Operating A Walled Garden

[FreedomEclipse]

I think I just wrote an editorial on Qubit's editorial.

the master lecturing the apprentice?

 

[erocker]

I like the editorial/opinion pieces that Qubit writes. I've felt that TPU should have editorials for quite some time.
I've known about this issue (Gabe's opinion on Apple) for several days from reading other sites and this editorial is well researched and well done.
The title should display opinion, because ... (drum roll) ... it's Qubit opinion!!

It does not matter if I agree or not. Editorials are great for generating discussion and liven things up in a way that hard news cannot do. You, as a TPU member, have a LOT more freedom of expression than on many other sites, and this give you a chance to jump in and agree with Qubit or beat him up without (too much) fear of getting your ass kicked.

Keep up the good work Q. I disagree with your opinions many times, but that's what makes these editorials entertaining for me.

I think I just wrote an editorial on Qubit's editorial.

I'd prefer if opinion pieces were kept in an appropriate subforum and News was news. I'm not a big fan of editorial pieces in the News section. I think the new news poster should concentrate on news. Just my opinion.

 

[btarunr]

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

http://img.techpowerup.org/111016/bta065.jpg

wewt

Should please the news nazi's

 

[btarunr]

wewt

Should please the news nazi's

I don't always react to news nazis. But when I do, I change the laws.

j/k.

That "Editorial" tag has been there for ages. The last time I wrote an editorial piece, I was flamed napalmed. So I didn't bother about it. Qubit is free to exercise that privilege.

 

[Kreij]

the master lecturing the apprentice?

No. Btarunr is the Sensei. We just study at his dojo.

I was flamed napalmed

Is that your opinion piece burning in your avatar? lol

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

/topic

Valve should start working with the other OS's better, to increase it's market share.

 

[Frick]

That "Editorial" tag has been there for ages. The last time I wrote an editorial piece, I was flamed napalmed. So I didn't bother about it. Qubit is free to exercise that privilege.

What was that about? I remember something about opinions..

 

[qubit]

I like the editorial/opinion pieces that Qubit writes. I've felt that TPU should have editorials for quite some time.
I've known about this issue (Gabe's opinion on Apple) for several days from reading other sites and this editorial is well researched and well done.
The title should display opinion, because ... (drum roll) ... it's Qubit opinion!!

It does not matter if I agree or not. Editorials are great for generating discussion and liven things up in a way that hard news cannot do. You, as a TPU member, have a LOT more freedom of expression than on many other sites, and this give you a chance to jump in and agree with Qubit or beat him up without (too much) fear of getting your ass kicked.

Keep up the good work Q. I disagree with your opinions many times, but that's what makes these editorials entertaining for me.

I think I just wrote an editorial on Qubit's editorial.

Ah, there nothing quite like recursion is there? Now, let me do an editorial on your editorial...

Yes, editorials are good for making discussion. I saw this today in my RSS feed and thought it would make an excellent Sunday piece. I mean seriously, both companies are taking the p*ss - and this is coming from someone who uses Steam all the time and has spent literally hundreds of pounds on games with them.

Thanks for the kind words.

I think stating your own opinion first before showing people the fact is a bad writing structure, but that's just my opinion.

Normally I'd agree with you, but I felt that in this instance it was fine to set up the scenario as I did - classic artistic licence!

And since the title is giving the impression of "Valve is accusing Apple of operating a closed platform", it should be focusing on showing information about that.

I think I did that. I don't think going into the fine details of every lock-in on either side would actually make the article very interesting and crucially, make it considerably longer, so I just gave a few examples.

Anyway, thanks for your critique; it's always welcome.

I'd prefer if opinion pieces were kept in an appropriate subforum and News was news. I'm not a big fan of editorial pieces in the News section. I think the new news poster should concentrate on news. Just my opinion.

I think that's what the Editorial button is for and is why I added it later, as it became apparent that this really did fit in that category. The boundaries can be somewhat blurred, believe me, lol. Anyway, makes for a good Sunday read.

I don't always react to news nazis. But when I do, I change the laws.

j/k.

That "Editorial" tag has been there for ages. The last time I wrote an editorial piece, I was flamed napalmed. So I didn't bother about it. Qubit is free to exercise that privilege.

Yeah, you're not kidding! Anyway, I've got my flameproof suit on, so I'm good. It's effective up to 1000 degrees, but TPU is at 1200, so I'll just have to tough it out.

 

[Kreij]

/topic

Valve should start working with the other OS's better, to increase it's market share.

It's probably a cost (to implement and maintain) vs. ROI.
I would really be surprised if they have not looked into it.

 

[jpierce55]

This kind of biased stuff does not belong as a news post at all!

 

[TheLaughingMan]

So there you have it. Steam is wonderfully open in the sense that developers can use it flexibly and they don't charge high commissions, but the customer (gamer) is locked in tight, like a straitjacket. How is this an open system?

Ummm that is false. Steam is not a Walled Garden as it allows for a certain level of control that you do not get from Apple. On Steam you can change the appearance via user created skins, add games to the library outside of Steam, and user created mods to popular Valve games via the freely provided SDK. You do not get any of that from Apple. They will not let you mod or change anything about their software you are borrowing.

This whole article is based on personal conjecture and not facts. Steam is as much a "Walled Garden" as WinAMP and Songbird.

 

[qubit]

Ummm that is false. Steam is not a Walled Garden as it allows for a certain level of control that you do not get from Apple. On Steam you can change the appearance via user created skins, add games to the library outside of Steam, and user created mods to popular Valve games via the freely provided SDK. You do not get any of that from Apple. They will not let you mod or change anything about their software you are borrowing.

This whole article is based on personal conjecture and not facts. Steam is as much a "Walled Garden" as WinAMP and Songbird.

I'm thinking about the crucial area of being able to sell on your unwanted games - that's a straightjacket alright. It's true that they allow you more freedoms in other areas, so I explained that in my article and even acknowledged it as the "best" DRM out there.

 

[Kreij]

This whole article is based on personal conjecture and not facts. Steam is as much a "Walled Garden" as WinAMP and Songbird.

Wait ! That's your opinion! Did you just write an editorial on Qubits editoral?
Sunday Editorials FTW !!

On topic : Every software distribution system, by nature, has some closed aspects to it.
Otherwise it's just a torrent site.

 

[eidairaman1]

Id rather have physical media in my hands when i buy games even tho its just code on a piece of plastic.

n wut steam said makes no sense, EA DM was another closed system too.

But Im glad they ruled jail breaking was legal, I feel that you should be able to get apps anywhere without the app store or Androids version of it, whether you pay or not.

Video game consoles are region restricted n people hack them so they can play import games- or example get additional playback functions- like the wii for DVD. I notice some of the good games dont make it to US shores at all.

Those who owned Tatsunoko vs Capcom that was the first game after MVC2 to come out in almost a decade- it almost didnt make it to US shores cuz of licensing issues so they scrapped one character from the US version and added a few other characters.

 

[MilkyWay]

An editorial is a subject and an argument, interpretation or criticism of that.

Lots of times i was confused by the punctuation in the article. A sentence cannot be started with therefore. The word ridiculous shouldn't be on its own one word sentence. Why make the second paragraph a new paragraph?

"In the interview, Fries asked if these were the best of times, or the worst. For the clearest answer to this question, let's quote from Dudley's blog."

In the interview Fries asked if these were the best of times or the worst; for the clearest answer to this question let's quote from Dudley's blog.

 

[3volvedcombat]

"......but the customer (gamer) is locked in tight, like a straitjacket. ....."


This came to mind after reading what Q said,
Its not necessarily the (gamer) in a straitjacket.

Its the profile, on which the "gamer" purchased the game. I have multiple Steam Profiles with different game's on them.

I can completely understand that steam does not allow there digital copy's of games to be tossed around because of steams security and cloud service.

If Steam did not flex there arms there, you sure as HELL bet that a lot of game's would not be on there cloud, there forced to. There pretty much forced to do that, so they can give the best experience to customers.

Steam is pretty versatile because you can use the program without Purchasing a single item, get FREE game's, and FREE service to the steam cloud(community). You can also set steam up to Launch and work with non-steam games. That's about as versatile as it get's.


APPLE, is a different story. iTunes is great, you can import your music, manage your account's, organize ect ect..

But IN ORDER to use itunes as it is meant to be, you NEED a Ipod/Iphone/Isomething. That's big 100$+ to get into the "apple" garden. Then you can finally have the music you bought on something that's going to use it right. Don't they specially encrypt there music so it only performs reasonably on there expensive product.

I might not be explaining it right, but Steam is def no where a strait jacket as Itunes(apple) has turned into.

 

[eidairaman1]

I do not believe in cloud/streaming games at all. This is starting to sound like computers without harddrives, big issue with cloud is latency between getting ur programs to run especially at peak times of day, so imagine if even the OS was in the cloud, take forever to run n same with opening stuff

 

[3volvedcombat]

I do not believe in cloud/streaming games at all. This is starting to sound like computers without harddrives, big issue with cloud is latency between getting ur programs to run especially at peak times of day, so imagine if even the OS was in the cloud, take forever to run n same with opening stuff

There is no latency?

Why? Because with STEAM you can run in offline, or online regardless,

When you Install a Steam game from there cloud(install) your done. You do not have to re-connect to the server cloud to start the game....

It start's like a regular program EXE, you can even put interjection's on the start-up shortcut that appears on your desktop after you install. After that, your game connect's to the same server's (EA Servers, VALVE game servers, Microsoft servers) as if you were to stick your CD in the drive, only way to to play multiplier.


I do agree with you, on the part if you actually had to be interconnected to a cloud 24/7 to run a game, without data on your machine. Always buggy, and Ping has way to much latency for a smooth service.

 

[eidairaman1]

There is no latency?

Why? Because with STEAM you can run in offline, or online regardless,

When you Install a Steam game from there cloud(install) your done. You do not have to re-connect to the server cloud to start the game....

It start's like a regular program EXE, you can even put interjection's on the start-up shortcut that appears on your desktop after you install. After that, your game connect's to the same server's (EA Servers, VALVE game servers, Microsoft servers) as if you were to stick your CD in the drive, only way to to play multiplier.


I do agree with you, on the part if you actually had to be interconnected to a cloud 24/7 to run a game, without data on your machine. Always buggy, and Ping has way to much latency for a smooth service.

Computers would be like stupid terminals again if everything was on the cloud

 

[newtekie1]

However, the equally closed Valve, with their Steam gaming platform and it's account-based DRM has accused Apple of being a closed system!

Like Apple, you can also only purchase from its own store, of course.

I call horseshit on that.

Vavle is no where near as equally closed as Apple. They aren't selling graphics cards that only work with Steam, they haven't designed Steam so that it only works with certain approved hardware that only they manufacture.

Oh, and you don't have to purchase things only from the Steam store. You can purchase games from retail stores, and a large portion of the games on Steam can be purchased through other means(retail stores, other download services, etc.). Really the only games that you have to purchase through the Steam store are Valve produced games, and even then you don't even have to purchase them through the Steam store(most are available in retail form)...

 

[pantherx12]

I always thought steam was pretty damn good, you don't even have to buy games from them.

Technically the only reason you can sell a game second hand is because you own the physical medium the game is on NOT because you own the game.


The entire first post is based on a logical fallacy and lack of legal knowledge.



Why was this posted? It's just FUD, I thought their was a rule about FUD.


Damn TPU, what happen!?


Please if articles like this are to be posted can they be in their own dedicate section.

Posting this under news is just, well wrong as it implies it is all fact.

 

[qubit]

I always thought steam was pretty damn good, you don't even have to buy games from them.

Technically the only reason you can sell a game second hand is because you own the physical medium the game is on NOT because you own the game.


The entire first post is based on a logical fallacy and lack of legal knowledge.



Why was this posted? It's just FUD, I thought their was a rule about FUD.


Damn TPU, what happen!?


Please if articles like this are to be posted can they be in their own dedicate section.

Posting this under news is just, well wrong as it implies it is all fact.

Dude, I'm ok with criticism, even the harsh sort like newtekie's above, but please don't stray into personal attacks, ok? And by that I mean accusing me of posting FUD. It's untrue and quite a nasty accusation, as if I deliberately was up to no good, so please don't accuse me of this again.

EDIT: All sorted, we're good. No bad intention was meant. See later posts.

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

Dude, I'm ok with criticism, even the harsh sort like newtekie's above, but please don't stray into personal attacks, ok? And by that I mean accusing me of posting FUD. It's untrue and quite a nasty accusation, as if I deliberately was up to no good, so please don't accuse me of this again.

Agreed it was marked as an editorial, if your looking for news in an editorial the only person to blame is yourself for looking for news in an opinionated editorial.

Not picking on Qbit, but this was his opinion on what happened, and people have the nards to call it out right lies, sad day indeed. :shadedshu

 

[NC37]

Umm, you don't have to buy games on Steam to be able to use Steam with them. You can add non Steam games.

Its not right to compare Steam with Apple. Apple exercises complete control over their platform. Valve welcomes business with only a few house rules, which aren't in any way outlandishly strict like Apple. EA couldn't agree to it so they left and look what they made...their own little iTunes store where they exercise heavy control over the content. It is no surprise devs have not been in a hurry to embrace Origin.

Steam is good for the PC gaming industry, Origin is not. Origin will fail but EA is going to be dumping a lot of money to try and make sure it won't. All because some exec at EA decided they wanted a slice of the Steam pie and figured EA games could stand alone. Which would have worked had they not irrevocably pissed off PC gamers by doing it.

 

[laszlo]

oops long time haven't seen mods posting so much and arguing in less than 50 posts