Not at all. I've already bought and paid for that IP when I bought a copy of the game.

If that IP is relevant to the bought-and-paid-for software in-hand, it's covered under the original purchase agreement. If it isn't, why is it part of the server in the first place? They might share a common code base (like both running on Unreal Engine, for example), but that argument is akin to saying "You can't have access to your car with a Ford Windsor engine, because we also use that engine in this truck"

EULAs have always stated there are no guarantees, or warrants of fitness for purpose, except where required by law. While a guarantee or warrant that the product you are buying will work as intended would be good, and is probably what consumers believe they should have (and in some countries like the EU and the UK are enshrined in law already), that's a different argument.

So a license from an IP holder for likenesses used in a game forcing a developer to make changes at their own cost to their game (namely removing said likenesses after the fact, and issuing an update to customers at the developer's expense) to continue making it available to new customers is all fine and good and expected, but a contractual obligation to a customer that they can continue to use the product they have bought and paid for is onerous and terrible?

I would expect that licensing agreements for IP holders, while time limited, cannot be retroactively applied. If the car models and likenesses are already on the disc, it is impossible to remove them. I can see there being a stipulation that no further instances are to be sold or made available once that agreement has expired (which would be a reason to stop selling the game, for instance), but customers who already have the game already have those models/likenesses in-hand, so allowing them to continue using them is not in violation of any agreement.

Is it the ten years you've got a problem with? Okay, how about:

• NHL22 and NHL23(Released 2021 and 2022 respectively, shutdown August 31st 2025, 1419 days and 1055 days respectively)
• Warhammer 40,000: Warpforge(Released October 3rd 2022, shutdown April 30th 2026, 1305 days)
• WWE 2k24(Released March 5th 2024, shutdown March 31st 2026, 756 days)
• Lawbreakers(Released August 8 2017, shutdown September 14th, 2018, 402 days)
• Football Club Manager 26 Live(Released September 30th 2025, shutdown February 28th 2026, 151 days)
• Concord(Released August 23 2024, shutdown September 6th, 2024, 14 days)

"The Crew" is just the game that Stop Killing Games has focused on, as it had an extensive global release, a large player base, and a still-active community. There are plenty of other examples

It wouldn't be as much of an extra cost as you might think, given they've already had to develop the server code to run on their infrastructure anyway.

We're not insisting they keep a game online. If you want to abandon a game, that's fine. Publish an offline patch so players don't have to rely on your servers anymore. Or publish your online server software so we can run our own. Or even stop fucking suing the third party devs who are making their own servers to support the game that you refuse to support yourself

It's not like we're going to be eating into your profits by hosting our own servers, you're not selling it anymore anyway. Hell, it'll make you more money as people buy copies of your "abandoned" game to run on their own community servers.

• People ranted, bitched and screamed about TV pricing being too much, having to buy "Packages" in different tiers bundled with a hundred crappy channels just to get the few they actually want
• Netflix started streaming online, buying content from all the producers and providers and offering them in one simple a-la-carte package for people to use
• People flocked to Netflix, dropping cable TV companies as they'd been wanting to do for a long while
• Cable TV companies saw their revenue tanking and Netflix raking in the cash and decided "We want some of that pie", and start pulling their content from Netflix to offer in their own shitty apps and streaming services, fracturing the market
• Customers get squeezed again, having to pay for multiple services

The customers didn't make the mess, it was good old Corporate greed. And there are already pay-to-rent (or pay-for-access) services, like XBox Game Pass, PlayStation Now, EA Access and the like.

To use the good old automotive analogy, if you bought a car, and after 5 years that car refuses to turn on, start, or be moved in any way, despite there being nothing at all mechanically or electrically wrong with it, all because its manufacturer remotely disabled it, you'd be rightly pissed off.

And if said manufacturer used copyright strikes/DMCA takedowns/cease-and-desist orders to stop attempts for third parties to develop their own services to talk to the car and re-enable them, would that be right?

Gamers aren't asking for developers and publishers to support games indefinitely. What we're asking for is the ability to use the products we've bought. So if you as a developer are refusing to continue supporting required online services, issue an offline patch so the game we've bought will still work. Or (even better), as you've already developed the software to act as a server, so release that software (with payment details and data collection dummied out) so players and/or the community can deploy their own servers. That way you no longer have to pay for the expense of keeping up servers and online infrastructure.

Isn't that (at least partially) covered by their Attribution file that they're working on right now?

As long as the source is made available to users (including those accessing the code as a service), there is nothing in the AGPL that blocks the creation or use of a fork. And publishing the fork under a new name is the correct thing to do so as to not encroach on trademarks on the original (see: Waterfox vs. Firefox as an example). So Nextcloud are entirely within their rights, and in compliance with the AGPL license, to make and maintain this fork. They are also not trying to pass it off as the original.

OnlyOffice might not be happy about it, and they may object to the loss of commercial license sales, but as their software is released under the AGPL (which doesn't bar commercial use) they really don't have a leg to stand on. You can't be Open Source, then try to restrict who actually uses that source.

Unfortunately, their definition of "Router" is so amazingly broad as to be useless

For the purpose of this determination, the term “Routers” is defined by National Institute of Science and Technology’s Internal Report 8425A to include consumer-grade networking devices that are primarily intended for residential use and can be installed by the customer. Routers forward data packets, most commonly Internet Protocol (IP) packets, between networked systems.

Which basically means any consumer computing device that can forward packets is a "Router". Like a cellphone that offers tethering (that's all of them), any device that has more than one network interface (CCTV NVRs, Smart Home hubs, set-top boxes for cable TV, streaming boxes) and any computer that has a software firewall.

Good luck.

A lot of that problem is web developers (and platforms) using vendor-locked prefixes for features they want to take advantage of, and not also checking for the generic versions.

The good old "Like" button was a seemingly innocuous addition, but it was one of the great tracking bugs of Web 2.0, from both 3rd party tracking of users, to recent "silent" communication with other pages and apps running on a device to track and target you, most (decent) browsers these days block it and its ilk from appearing on pages these days. So Facebook/Meta can try and claw back a little goodwill by "Retiring" it.

That's easy, they're using methane-based steam reforming, which requires large amounts of heat (the reaction is endothermic) and produces huge amounts of both CO2 and CO

If they're only using air for the steam reformation supply: CH4 + H2O => CO + (3)H2 along with potentially CO + H2O => CO2 + H2 if they balance the feed rate perfectly.

If they're using pure Oxygen instead, they also get to add: CH4 + 0.5O2 => CO + (2)H2

This also requires the fuel source they're using be purified to remove sulphur and other contaminants which will interfere with the reaction, and need to be disposed of separately. And it's 50-75% efficient at converting at best.

Damnit, I used sub tags, but no, Slashdot says no....

It's a standard part of Android (albeit locked behind a Developer Mode checkbox in some cases) which in stock Android provides the barest minimum functionality, like no task bar, but can be augmented with apk addons. On many devices (Samsung's DeX, Huawei's MIUI, OnePlus, LG, Motorola) they've upgraded the bare "Desktop Mode" functionality to work over network casting or DP alt mode to make your phone usable as a desktop device with just one cable, supporting Bluetooth keyboards and mice.

Google's Pixel devices have (until extremely recently) deliberately blocked DP alt mode, with Pixel 8's finally getting the hardware feature unlocked with a firmware update. "Desktop Mode" has not been enhanced or extended on them either, so you get that lackluster bare Android experience. Google has a lot of catching up to do to match other manufacturers that have been playing in this space for a while now.

I was always under the impression Google didn't want Desktop Mode to become a viable thing, so as to not impinge on their Chromebook sales and control, but it appears they are slowly bowing to consumer pressure, or at least getting shamed by their competitors.

I currently have an old 2U Rackmount IBM X3650 M3 sitting in my basement. It's huge, and power hungry, but it's got 16 cores, 72GB of ECC RAM, and is holding 10x5TB SMR drives and 6x1TB CMR drives, all 2.5" (as it only takes 2.5" drives), running TrueNAS Core. The server itself was cheap when I got it 3rd hand (CAD$100), the software's free, and it did what I needed it to, but I will soon be upgrading to a 36-bay Supermicro Skylake system, because 3.5" drives are just plain better, and the increase in both processing power and storage will help with my ever-growing storage needs. What's that, DataHoarder? No idea what you're talking about. *ahem*

Here in Saskatchewan, Canada, Wal-Mart is already using eInk electronic tags in some areas of the store. This means they don't have to print out reams of paper tags and have staff members walking the aisles to change them. And because of the way they are designed, the eInk tags get a long, slow refresh cycle over the period of a day, as they're all battery operated and using the 432MHz or 915MHz frequency band for short-length, low bandwidth signalling

With frequent updates for things like "surge pricing", it would require a lot more available power in the receiving tags, both for more active listening on the radio and more frequent updates to their eInk display, which would require larger batteries and more frequent changing/charging. That would require staff to go around changing out batteries or charging the tags, which makes them as expensive as just using paper tags anyway, and this is all in the name of decreasing costs.

Stores, especially big box stores, are all trying to cut down on the cost of Human Resources, running the stores with less and less people (Self-Checkout being a big indicator of this, where one staff member can "supervise" a dozen checkouts, rather than having one staff member per lane), so this is yet another way to get the number of staff in the store down, along with automated cleaning robots.