Then why aren't they up-front about it? Why are they calling their thing "open source" if it isn't?

If they'd call it "source available" printer, then they are better then closed source alternatives, but if they aren't honest... I'd rather buy from someone that is clearly telling me what they are selling to me, instead of obfuscating or maybe even lying about it.

Nice one :D

But... Isn't that what people buying apple devices want? They buy them because they don't want choice, they just want something that works from a single vendor. They want vendor-lockin, because they like the comfortable bubble, to just consume, without too much thinking and choosing between many different options. They don't want different ways to do things, they don't want custom ROMs, they don't like to self-host, or use open source software. They just want the shiny convenience of every device working seamlessly together. They don't care about open standards or interoperability. They like their gilded cage that keeps them save from the dangerous and difficult world. That is what Apple sells people, and people want that.

TBH, it is very difficult to me differentiating between the different flavors of authoritarians.

Maybe someone can make an easy to understand comparison matrix? You know, "Kills people because they have a different opinion.", "Suppresses minorities.", etc.

Most wars aren't "won" anymore.

One notable software business professional interviewed by RBC thought that the West’s decision would “adversely affect the life of the developer community, mutual trust within it, and therefore the quality of the product.”

It was Russia and other autocracies etc. that diminished the trust by actually financing developers for multiple years to first earn trust and finally introduce backdoors into open source software, as demonstrated by the XZ utils backdoor.

In open source projects, maintainers need to have some initial trust into each contributor, and let this trust naturally grow with time and contributions. They cannot perform intensive background checks on everyone before accepting a patch.

While it is easier to uncover backdoors in open source software, there is no good way to defend and prevent against this kind of attack in this type of development process. All open source projects can do is trying to take away some trust from people within higher risk groups. This of course might lead to discrimination.

In german there is only one word for it, which is a gift for german speakers.

"Copying is theft" is the argument of corporations for ages, but if they want our data and information, to integrate into their business, then, suddenly they have the rights to it.

If copying is not theft, then we have the rights to copy their software and AI models, as well, since it is available on the open web.

They got themselves into quite a contradiction.

Because this is fiction, where there is good and evil, right and wrong, the good people are rewarded and the bad people punished, successful people earned it and the poor deserve it, and complex problems have simple answers. Where every argument only has a pro and a contra.

But we are living in reality, where most things are in shades of grey, and everything is more complex than it appears. People have to make decisions based on partial knowledge, to not get stuck in indecisiveness. Where even the middle ground solution might be wrong. And with so many distractions and propaganda.

Just be kind and understanding to other people with different ideas, the real world is a complex one, and easy to get lost. Sometimes people like to flee into their simple worlds of populism, maybe through talking and listening we can help them find their way again.

I only play single player games, but couldn't care less about achievements. It is all about exploration, story, game mechanics and modding for me.

People treat achievements as if they are a status symbol. I mean sure, if you don't know what else to do in a game, they can give you some goal, but IMO the game itself should encourage you to reach the goal, not some external badge. The experience doing the task should be the reward in of itself.

True, private companies are generally more focused on customer satisfaction, but that can suddenly change, for instance when the owner dies, and the new owners don't share the same ideals.

Private companies have a certain single point of failure built-in by having often just one or sometimes a small number of owners.

Nobody really knows what will happen when Gabe dies.

I just hope that valve becomes a worker cooperative... That would be the most stable form of company that probaly stays focused on customer satisfaction long term, since workers tend to favor providing long-term profits via good service instead of short term gains, for high frequency traders.

What I really like is that they double down on hackabilty by switching to metal torx screws, etc.

That, and a Linux system are IMO the main selling points of the SteamDeck, compared to any clones from Asus or Lenovo, etc.