What is "Steam" and why does ATI want to install it on my computer

"nospam" wrote in
:

Now THAT is BS. Try installing Steam without an internet connection
and see how far you get.

Of course you need an internet connection to install the games as you need
to download them and authenticate them once before playing. After that you
don't need an internet connection to play them unless they are an online MP
game.

You better believe it's spyware.

Complete BS.

"The Coward Robert Ford" wrote in message news:s6%ak.48452$kx.42441@pd7urf3no...
"nospam" wrote in
:

Now THAT is BS. Try installing Steam without an internet connection
and see how far you get.

Of course you need an internet connection to install the games as you need
to download them and authenticate them once before playing. After that you
don't need an internet connection to play them unless they are an online MP
game.

....or unless you need to replace/upgrade/etc the hard drive on which
Steam is installed. Which is precisely why I don't run it. Same reason
I run Win2K instead of XP, and a hacked version of Photoshop CS2.

You better believe it's spyware.

Complete BS.

It's not BS. Software does not need to "phone home" constantly to
qualify as spyware. Just ask Adobe or Microsoft.

On Thu, 3 Jul 2008 01:35:51 -0700, "nospam"
wrote:


"The Coward Robert Ford" wrote in message news:s6%ak.48452$kx.42441@pd7urf3no...
"nospam" wrote in
:

Now THAT is BS. Try installing Steam without an internet connection
and see how far you get.

Of course you need an internet connection to install the games as you need
to download them and authenticate them once before playing. After that you
don't need an internet connection to play them unless they are an online MP
game.

...or unless you need to replace/upgrade/etc the hard drive on which
Steam is installed. Which is precisely why I don't run it. Same reason
I run Win2K instead of XP, and a hacked version of Photoshop CS2.

Just because you don't want anyone to know you run a 20 RPM harddrive
what difference does it make? Is your Social Security Number tied
into the serial number?

It is now time for you to take off the tin foil hat and get in the
straight jacket.


You better believe it's spyware.

Complete BS.

It's not BS. Software does not need to "phone home" constantly to
qualify as spyware. Just ask Adobe or Microsoft.

"Scott" wrote in message ...
On Thu, 3 Jul 2008 01:35:51 -0700, "nospam"
wrote:


"The Coward Robert Ford" wrote in message news:s6%ak.48452$kx.42441@pd7urf3no...
"nospam" wrote in
:

Now THAT is BS. Try installing Steam without an internet connection
and see how far you get.

Of course you need an internet connection to install the games as you need
to download them and authenticate them once before playing. After that you
don't need an internet connection to play them unless they are an online MP
game.

...or unless you need to replace/upgrade/etc the hard drive on which
Steam is installed. Which is precisely why I don't run it. Same reason
I run Win2K instead of XP, and a hacked version of Photoshop CS2.

Just because you don't want anyone to know you run a 20 RPM harddrive
what difference does it make? Is your Social Security Number tied
into the serial number?

Scott, you need to look into UCITA and find out what's already
being implemented, and what's coming down the pike. This greed
is progressing, and getting more and more intrusive every year.

"nospam" wrote in
:

a hacked version of Photoshop
CS2.

Translation: a pirated version of Photoshop CS2.

It's not BS. Software does not need to "phone home" constantly to
qualify as spyware. Just ask Adobe or Microsoft.

Well, it has to be actually spying on you to qualify too. How does Steam
spy on you. Watches what web sites you visit? Contains a key logger? Reads
your emails and sends them back to Valve?

"nospam" wrote in
:

Scott, you need to look into UCITA and find out what's already
being implemented, and what's coming down the pike. This greed
is progressing, and getting more and more intrusive every year.

Look outside your window. Do you see any black helicopters hovering over
your home?

"The Coward Robert Ford" wrote in message news:RAybk.55599$Jx.26160@pd7urf1no...
"nospam" wrote in
:

Scott, you need to look into UCITA and find out what's already
being implemented, and what's coming down the pike. This greed
is progressing, and getting more and more intrusive every year.

Look outside your window. Do you see any black helicopters hovering over
your home?

I see them hovering over my neighborhood at least once a week,
sometimes more.

How about you?

In message Yyybk.76472$gc5.22822@pd7urf2no The Coward Robert Ford
wrote:

"nospam" wrote in
:

a hacked version of Photoshop
CS2.

Translation: a pirated version of Photoshop CS2.

It's not BS. Software does not need to "phone home" constantly to
qualify as spyware. Just ask Adobe or Microsoft.

Well, it has to be actually spying on you to qualify too. How does Steam
spy on you. Watches what web sites you visit? Contains a key logger? Reads
your emails and sends them back to Valve?

Does it or does it not report back on hardware changes?

My understanding is that it does, which makes it spyware.

"DevilsPGD" wrote in message
...
In message Yyybk.76472$gc5.22822@pd7urf2no The Coward Robert Ford
wrote:

"nospam" wrote in
m:

a hacked version of Photoshop
CS2.

Translation: a pirated version of Photoshop CS2.

It's not BS. Software does not need to "phone home" constantly to
qualify as spyware. Just ask Adobe or Microsoft.

Well, it has to be actually spying on you to qualify too. How does
Steam
spy on you. Watches what web sites you visit? Contains a key logger?
Reads
your emails and sends them back to Valve?

Does it or does it not report back on hardware changes?

NO, IT DOESN'T


My understanding is that it does, which makes it spyware.

I think you're confusing things here. Steam doesn't care what hardware
you have. The individual games check on install (like pretty much every
recent game made) to make sure your video, RAM, and processor meet
minimum requirements, and to ensure you have enough hard drive space.
Most Valve games will set your video settings based on your hardware.
There's nothing nefarious going on there. Also, If I change my hard
drive, or add more RAM, or upgrade the processor, Steam doesn't care
about it. It doesn't send the information anywhere, and doesn't even
update it's internal database as to the change. So, that brings me to
the hardware survey, which you may have heard of.
The Steam hardware survey is taken every few months, and is completely
voluntary. You are asked whether you want to participate before the
program takes a look at your hardware setup. It shows you what it
found, then you have to confirm again by clicking a -send- button to
upload the results. There is nothing privacy related sent to Valve.
It's all generic hardware info, like how much RAM, how much hard drive
space free, what kind of video card, CPU, etc.. You can view the survey
results he http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html Of course,
if you change something on your machine, then this would be reflected in
the survey, if you participated. Let's say you had 1GB of RAM on the
first survey, but have upgraded to 2GB, and take the survey again. You
would drop out of the "30.16 %" of survey correspondents who have "1 GB
to 1.49 GB", and be added to the "38.37 %" who are using "2.0 GB and
above" This may be what you're talking about as reporting hardware
changes. It's completely harmless aggregated data, collected
voluntarily. So, I think nospam can take off his tinfoil hat, and quit
spewing the misinformation because he obviously doesn't know what he's
talking about.

"KCB" wrote in message . ..

"DevilsPGD" wrote in message
...
In message Yyybk.76472$gc5.22822@pd7urf2no The Coward Robert Ford
wrote:

"nospam" wrote in
m:

a hacked version of Photoshop
CS2.

Translation: a pirated version of Photoshop CS2.

It's not BS. Software does not need to "phone home" constantly to
qualify as spyware. Just ask Adobe or Microsoft.

Well, it has to be actually spying on you to qualify too. How does
Steam
spy on you. Watches what web sites you visit? Contains a key logger?
Reads
your emails and sends them back to Valve?

Does it or does it not report back on hardware changes?

NO, IT DOESN'T


My understanding is that it does, which makes it spyware.

I think you're confusing things here. Steam doesn't care what hardware
you have. The individual games check on install (like pretty much every
recent game made) to make sure your video, RAM, and processor meet
minimum requirements, and to ensure you have enough hard drive space.
Most Valve games will set your video settings based on your hardware.
There's nothing nefarious going on there. Also, If I change my hard
drive, or add more RAM, or upgrade the processor, Steam doesn't care
about it. It doesn't send the information anywhere, and doesn't even
update it's internal database as to the change. So, that brings me to
the hardware survey, which you may have heard of.
The Steam hardware survey is taken every few months, and is completely
voluntary. You are asked whether you want to participate before the
program takes a look at your hardware setup. It shows you what it
found, then you have to confirm again by clicking a -send- button to
upload the results. There is nothing privacy related sent to Valve.
It's all generic hardware info, like how much RAM, how much hard drive
space free, what kind of video card, CPU, etc.. You can view the survey
results he http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html Of course,
if you change something on your machine, then this would be reflected in
the survey, if you participated. Let's say you had 1GB of RAM on the
first survey, but have upgraded to 2GB, and take the survey again. You
would drop out of the "30.16 %" of survey correspondents who have "1 GB
to 1.49 GB", and be added to the "38.37 %" who are using "2.0 GB and
above" This may be what you're talking about as reporting hardware
changes. It's completely harmless aggregated data, collected
voluntarily. So, I think nospam can take off his tinfoil hat, and quit
spewing the misinformation because he obviously doesn't know what he's
talking about.

Excuse me but you're spewing lots of red herrings here. No one
said anything about "hardware surveys", and for the second time,
no one is claiming Steam actively monitors hardware changes to a
system. The only point made (at least by me) is that Steam qualifies
as spyware because when it runs it checks itself against the hard
disk on which it was originally installed, and is not transferable to
another drive unless you get Valve's permission, etc etc, just like
WPA, Adobe PS CS etc).

Read. And learn:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_%...nt_delivery%29