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Valve Offers Free Subscription To Debian Developers: Paying It Forward

Posted by samzenpus on from the a-little-something-for-you dept.

sfcrazy writes "Valve Software, the makers of Steam OS, is already winning praise from the larger free and open source community – mainly because of their pro-community approach. Now the company is 'giving back' to Debian by offering free subscription to Debian developers. This subscription will offer full access to current and future games produced by Valve. Since Steam OS is based on Debian GNU/Linux it's a nice way for Valve to say 'thank you' to Debian developers."

7 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. OK... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    and now nothing will get done.
    This is obviously effort to thwart Debian.

    1. Re:OK... by bug1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Games are one of the oldest and most powerful learning systems we have. Computer games obviously lose the physical benefit of RL game,s but they still have mental benefits.

      They can teach Logic, promote social skills (as compared to TV), and can be good emotionally just ot blow of some steam.

      I understand the drama with debian and non-free games, but surely you can seperate the two concepts.

  2. This is a Triumph by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS

  3. 5 years later ... by TrollstonButterbeans · · Score: 5, Funny

    Q: Why did Debian development stop?
    A: The entire development team was given dozens of free video games.

    --
    Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
  4. Typo in list.debian.org link by Oliver_Etchebarne · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is a extra 'v' in the link. The real link is https://lists.debian.org/debia...

    --
    drmad
  5. Re:"Rewarding" free software with non-free softwar by Thantik · · Score: 5, Informative

    Cough cough: http://linux.slashdot.org/stor...

  6. Re:Developer approval by petermgreen · · Score: 5, Informative

    which begs the question: Who is considered a developer?

    Debian Developer is a well defined status with full upload rights and voting rights. The application process is also documented but well basically it consists of

    1: get your key signed by a couple of existing debian developers (in a pinch one debian developer and one
    2: find an existing dd to advocate for you
    3: make your application
    4: wait to be assigned an application manager
    5: go through a questioning/testing process with the application manager
    6: wait for final approval, account creations etc from front desk, DAM and keyring maint

    Nowadays it's generally reccomended to go for the lower status of "Debian Maintainer" (restricted upload rights, no voting rights) first and then move on to applying for Debian Developer (I went straight to DD myself so it IS still possible to go directly in the right circumstances but it's not considered the normal route anymore).

    The process of becoming a Debian Developer can take quite some time both in terms of overall process length and the ammount you will have to learn about debian and the contributions you will have to demonstrate you have made to pass it. If you are serious about contributing to Debian then it's worth it, if you are just doing it for the handful of goodies (the ones i'm aware of are lwn subscription, ghandi.net hosting discount, and now valve games) that are given out debian developers then you are wasting your time.

    --
    note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register