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Rent-a-Game

Posted by michael on from the reinventing-the-arcade dept.

Mwongozi writes: "British broadband users can now rent computer games to see if they are any good before they lay out the cash to buy the full game. This week, BT Openworld revealed details of its Software To Go scheme which lets people rent software by the hour, day or week. This includes games, graphics packages, educational titles and even programs that let you design your garden."

4 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. HUH??? by forkspoon · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    This is bad, it is along the same lines as the Office XP license that had be constantly updated for the software to still work. Let the software be free. Or just pirate.

  2. Even more HUH??? by forkspoon · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Also, let's consider what this does. It says "Hey, you can download this game, but somehow you are going to have to make it possible for us to track your usage of it!". Spyware anyone?

    Thanks,

    Travis
    forkspoon@hotmail.com

  3. I'm sorry, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    ...I fucking hate BT.....I can't be arsed to elaborate, but I really, really, really, REALLY hate BT with every single atom in my body.

  4. Potential threat to free speech by All+Dead+Homiez · · Score: 1, Flamebait
    These "software rental" schemes are really starting to worry me. Why? Because this is what inevitably happens:

    Some company (MS, DIVX, BT Openworld, etc.) launches their rental product.

    Some 16-year old somewhere in the world, who realizes that if the code can execute on the user's box, the user can save a copy, finds a way to crack the piracy protection and uploads the crack to his favorite FTP site

    A bunch of freeloaders all over the U.S. start using the crack and getting the software for free

    The company gets pissed off and uses the DMCA to squelch distribution of the crack's source code

    The users get pissed off and distribute the code even more

    Some hard-ass conservative judge decides that the best way to stop the piracy is to butcher the First Amendment

    And now, source code is no longer considered protected speech

    It's not the vendors' fault for deploying these schemes, but the damage to our civil liberties that inevitably results is immense.

    -all dead homiez