NOT Open Source
#1
Reading flowtron's comments on Open Source in this thread really made me flip.

Quote:People seem to think "open source" means "free as in speech", it just means "free as in beer"

I'm sorry, but does that mean that the five years of me advocating OSS has been wrong all along? While I play AC and review some of the code, I consider it Freeware based on how the project handles in relation to the community.

While having totalitarian control over the default Master-server (and documentation on changing it is obscure) is on the outer fringes of Open Source, the fact that providing closed off anti-cheat server code, the usage of restrictive media (which I have been trying to replace starting with the playermodel) and programmers discouraging of the usage of client / server mods on servers they don't manage does not make it Open Source.

Open Source means that someone could easily fork the AC project and not deal with all the legal mess that modders here constantly face.

Open Source means that server operators have no difference in using pre-compiled binaries and the self-compiled source code.

Open Source means that server operators could decide for themselves whether a certain mod is allowed or not, and that the forum is not a hostile ground for such beliefs.

Yes, every-time I see the word Open Source on the main page I cringe. Actually, there are many things that I cringe at regarding Open Source, Sun, Google and Apple products are included, where they use the word Open Source like a hollow marketing term. Java isn't true open source, neither is Virtual Box, and Android being open source is a big f***ing joke.

That was just me venting off steam building up from the past one and a half years of playing AC, as well as five years of dealing with similar stuff. I am not trying to say that AC is bad, it is just that there are so many things in AC that is hypocritical and should be addressed.

EDIT: Oh, and you can go either ways, by changing how you handle the community, or by stopping the idea that it is Open Source. I don't really mind. I still play Urban Terror even though it clearly isn't OSS.

2nd EDIT: Also, I respect Brahma's anti-cheat work, but I also believe that security by obscurity gets nowhere. There are ways to view the code stacks for the anti-cheat code, and while it may take time, it is still possible. Instead it is better to have a solid design that is tough to break even though the code is out in the open.

Cheers
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Messages In This Thread
NOT Open Source - by LeeZH - 30 Jun 10, 07:40AM
RE: NOT Open Source - by Gibstick - 30 Jun 10, 11:41AM
RE: NOT Open Source - by PolarHedgehog - 30 Jun 10, 11:59AM
RE: NOT Open Source - by Alien - 30 Jun 10, 01:06PM
RE: NOT Open Source - by LeeZH - 30 Jun 10, 01:17PM
RE: NOT Open Source - by Gibstick - 30 Jun 10, 01:17PM
RE: NOT Open Source - by LeeZH - 30 Jun 10, 01:58PM
RE: NOT Open Source - by tempest - 30 Jun 10, 05:43PM
RE: NOT Open Source - by Brahma - 30 Jun 10, 06:44PM
RE: NOT Open Source - by Zomg! - 10 Jul 10, 04:13AM