Yo... the clan tag registry has been optional for a few months now....
Anyway...
Personally, from what i gathered with my dealings with the PB team (pre and
post Mediator) it seems like they definitely wanted to head into a
commercially viable direction. That's probably the REAL reason they didn't
release source (all that talk about security through obscurity is B.S. the
most secure software is the one that is open source and is constantly being
patched). This is great, more power to them, but it does limit the scope
and reach of the product.
PunkBuster is a great concept and it works. It may not be the best written
software (someone needs to teach those guys how to write networking
software, sheesh) but it really DOES work. Maybe the PB team is hoping to
get the server admins to put pressure on Valve. Most serious admins rely on
PunkBuster. If that's the case, it's a (and it pains me to use this word,
but i can't think of another one) terrorist approach that PB is taking.
Hurt the admins (tens of thousands of them) and the players (hundreds of
thousands of them) in order to shake up the software manufacturers (one).
Thus hurting those who made PB a success. Yes, it will eventually come back
to haunt Valve. But not before it negatively impacts a very powerful
community first.
Another possibility is that PB is in talks with another software developer.
One that requires exclusivity. If this is the case, this is being handled
very very poorly. Someone please get Tony some Public Relations help...
In either case, I will continue to support PunkBuster and hope that this
issue is worked out but only if it continues support for ME (and my HL
server). If PB really does drop this community, i will never support them
again. I have a 16 month old son who is starting that "hold my breath until
i turn blue" crap and i refuse to play along.
It's time we get serious about building an open source option. There are
tons of excellent programmers in this community. I'm willing to be a part
of the team that develops an alternative (an open source one). I have been
writing server software for over a decade. I have managed software projects
in several companies. There are others here that have more experience. It
really is time that we take this anti-cheat issue out of the hands of one
small and very fickle team.
If you're interested in talking about this further, please email me at
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
~jules aka BP
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nathan Woodcock" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 10:08 AM
Subject: Re: PB no more.....
>
> On Tue, Sep 25, 2001 at 04:29:01PM +0000, Sysop wrote:
> >
> > So what are the chances of getting an official comment by valve on why
PB
> > and Valve couldn't work together on a integrated solution? PB has
pulled
>
>
> because it's pants, and the compulsory clan tag registry is a farce?
>
>
> --
> this may be a troll, but it's also what i think ;)
>
>
