Move all DRM-related code to a binary blob and open the source for the Steam UI

[ghost]

There's not actually a lot of code that needs to be kept under lock and key. Why not open the source code for the non-DRM related parts of Steam and let everyone help make it better?

[LinAGKar]

Would be nice for the engines as well, at least GoldSrc.

[ZeXx86]

Because following day 10 new forks will appear. Similarly to DE, etc.

[john-peterson]

@alfred-valve It's probably better for society if reasonable arguments like this receive reasonable arguments in response (rather than no arguments in response).

[ZeXx86]

Well, I think it is little bit naive to hope in open Steam client. Of course it would be fine, but something like Steam is pretty special and all modifications other than from Valve team could negatively impact on the integrity, functions and behavior. It must be 100% consistent to get good user experience.
It is not as easy as it look like.

[ghost]

Valve would still be in charge of the official Steam client, though, so they'd still have the final say in commits. But things like dependencies, filesystem hierarchies, etc, can be taken off the backs of Valve developers and handled by individual distros.

[LinAGKar]

Open source doesn't mean anyone can modify it like Wikipedia.

[MrSchism]

Valve has acknowledged that if any of it gets opened, it'll be ONLY the GUI (thus far).

@john-peterson: It is preferred that people use the search function instead of posting largely-duplicate issues.

[john-peterson]

@MrSchism enter the link to the duplicate issue in the sentence that refer to it

[MrSchism]

#171, #164

[ghost]

@MrSchism Wow, I suck at searching.

Sorry for the noise

[MrSchism]

No worries.