Why was this bullshit modded insightful? Having to log into to download is irrelevant to DRM, so bring up this requirement for GOG is pointless. What matters is that once downloaded, the installer from GOG is completely DRM-free and independent of your Internet connection, GOG's servers and the fate of GOG as a company. Although some games from Valve are DRM-free, most aren't and certainly nothing from Valve or really any of the AAA titles are DRM-free, and so you're still tied to Valve instead of having all the power to run the software you've purchased under your control. Fuck you for perpetuating the confusion.

The fact that people have to worry about their karma and being modded down for speaking the truth about the state of the Linux desktop and things that fans really don't want to hear (but must), speaks volumes about why old problems still exist with Linux and polish isn't a priority.

Correct. The idea is that if they encrypted the user's password, Pidgin would have to obviously decrypt it anyway to use it and given the software is completely open source, one would just need to examine the relevant decryption algorithm in the Pidgin code to restore the plaintext password. One could even write a simple decryption tool for end users who weren't particularly proficient with programming.

All that encrypting passwords in Pidgin would accomplish would be to eliminate immediate, opportunistic knowledge of a user's password. But it would be so trivial to decode the encrypted password that it would be pointless anyway. Having said that, security through obscurity is better than none in my book, so I don't agree with the Pidgin developers and would prefer something that would at least fool the dumb kids who don't know any better.

Download Java from here instead:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html

No Ask.com toolbar, the option for online or offline installers as well a multitude of different platforms. I've NEVER, EVER downloaded Java anywhere else because of my habit of going to this site first (it's where you get the JDK after all).

I really wish more people knew about this. Seems like everyone prefers to whine rather than find a solution.

Also FWIW, if you pine for the days of offline installers for Adobe Flash (since they got rid of the offline installers from the main Flash page), go here:

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html

Exactly. I play Doom 3, Quakes 1->4, UT2004, Prey, Neverwinter Nights, and many other commercial games as well as older commercial through open-source engines. None of them require Steam and are completely DRM-free. Of course it does mean you have to have a willingness to enjoy games from the 90's and 00's, but that was my gaming prime and from what I've played of many modern AAA titles I'm actually having more fun with the older stuff anyway.

You may be interested in Neowin's coverage of the story:

http://www.neowin.net/news/teenager-reported-to-police-after-reporting-vulnerability-in-government-website

Some people basically accuse you of hacking (cracking, specifically) the database as opposed to passively noticing the SQL error. Then again a heck of a lot of the commenters there are idiots and enjoy jumping to conclusion, but if you want some cheap humour feel free to read it. :)

Yep, that's true and it's good to see. I guess I just wish more AAA (commercial) titles like Metro: Last Light had a DRM-free version, but then again it's not like such a version exists in Windows anyway, so it's good Linux gets more games and even if the DRM has to stay it's not WORSE on Linux compared to Windows.

Yeah, I guess I didn't mention in my post that one of the unfortunate things about trying to get these older commercial Linux games to run is that they're all more difficult at getting to install or behave properly in modern Linux distros than they do in modern versions of Windows.

In your case, the Doom 3 installer normally uses a GTK 1.2-based installer but relies on system libraries. Most distros don't supply them anymore and even if you can find a way to put them on, the installer looks for 32 bit libraries in particular locations so in the end it'll default to its fallback console-based installer, which at least still works. Then you've got to deal with forcing DOOM 3 to bypass PulseAudio as it glitches badly with either no sound at all, or something like a 5 second sound lag (PulseAudio didn't exactly exist when the game was made).

Ah, good fun I guess. It's certainly more satisfying once you finally get it working as you'll learn a heck of a lot about Linux (including a broader understanding of why people get frustrated with it and go back to Windows). Having said that though, newer games are better designed for the Linux ecosystem and have FAR less issues.