News MSI Afterburner Project 'Probably Dead,' Due to Ukraine War Sanctions

[BX4096]

Oops again! <more nonsense follows>

SWIFT is an international financial system, not an "American" one. It was started in 1973 by 239 banks from 15 countries. It's always been headquartered in Belgium, not the US, and it now includes nearly every country in the world except of course Russia and its similarly sanctioned authoritarian pals. Taiwan, as well as most other countries, have cut off Russia from SWIFT of their own volition. In Taiwan's case it was largely due to the fact that Russia's unprovoked attack didn't go well with the Taiwanese people who's been living under the fear of invasion by China for decades.

I'd go into more detail, quotes and sources to get the Russian propaganda out of your head, but it's not the place for such discussion, so I'm done here. Feel free to raise the question on Reddit (/r/ukraine is a good place to start) or learn to google these things yourself.

 

[Endymio]

SWIFT is an international financial system, not an "American" one.

And? Nearly 50% of all SWIFT transactions are dollar-denominated, nearly 65% of transactions settle through a US-owned or controlled bank., and the USD operates as a reserve currency for much of the world. Which is why SWIFT's board of directors does what the US tells it to. Anyone with familiarity on the subject can name many such times that the US has done so.

 

[Rogue Leader]

@Endymio @BX4096 time to move on from this discussion.

 

[hannibal]

I was mistaken about the code ownership, but it's kind of the same in a way. If this developer actually cared to save the project, they could easily open source it.

I highly doubt they will. Just saying, they could.

And that would actually help improve it significantly because afterburner would be a great thing to have on Linux and it is likely that some members of the community would come around and make it so.

If he has done a lot of work to do it, why would he make it open source? I expect that he want to get money for the work he has done. At least I would want to get paid for work I do...

 

[ezst036]

If he has done a lot of work to do it, why would he make it open source? I expect that he want to get money for the work he has done. At least I would want to get paid for work I do...

This is dinosaur thinking from the feudal ages. Open source no longer means zero paycheck. It hasn't meant that for probably a decade now.

 

[Endymio]

Open source no longer means zero paycheck.

It does for a fully complete and self-contained utility that isn't going to compel anyone to purchase support contracts or other add-ons. Furthermore, if this individual is having trouble receiving one check from one company in Taiwan, you really believe it's going to be feasible for him to receive a large number of microtransactions from around the world?

 

[ezst036]

It does for a fully complete and self-contained utility that isn't going to compel anyone to purchase support contracts or other add-ons. Furthermore, if this individual is having trouble receiving one check from one company in Taiwan, you really believe it's going to be feasible for him to receive a large number of microtransactions from around the world?

Getting the right answer means you first have to ask the correct question. I doubt anybody thinks the Ukrainian conflict is ending soon and even then the sanctions will live on longer. So asking the question about forcing support to pay is rather silly when you take all of those facts at face value.

The real question is, is 80% of something better than 100% of nothing? Because that's exactly what this developer has right now. 100% of nothing. Even if you want to argue 20%. Ok. 20% is still better than 0, isn't it?

 

[Dustin Mock]

He's not a native English speaker, and saying MSI is "not fulfilling its obligations" can be taken many ways. I read it as, "I'm getting nothing from MSI due to the current political situation." It doesn't matter at all whether MSI can legally pay him and provide information or not. It's not biased and it's not praising Russia. It's saying, "I don't have the information I need, MSI isn't (can't) providing it, so this project is probably dead now."

But the funny thing is MSI is now apparently trying to rectify the situation, which in turn implies that legally it is NOT prevented from paying him or providing him information; it's just difficult and it didn't see a need to do so... until this story broke and MSI started getting negative feedback. Which has happened with other people working for other companies as well. Stir the Twitter pot and big corporations will try to cover their mistakes.

My take is that MSI was trying to do everything on the up and up until the backlash started to kick in, now they are trying to do a little gray territory work around like using one of their Chinese partners as an intermediary pass-thru for funds and information.

 

[Endymio]

I doubt anybody thinks the Ukrainian conflict is ending soon and even then the sanctions will live on longer. So asking the question about forcing support to pay is rather silly when you take all of those facts at face value.

The real question is, is 80% of something better than 100% of nothing? Because that's exactly what this developer has right now.

So you're admitting the sanctions are likely to extend a substantial period of time -- but then pivot and claim that large numbers of individuals around the world will magically skirt these sanctions to pay this developer? How? And what exactly would they pay him for? Support and enhancements ... for a utility that requires neither?

In any case, your basic premise is false. MSI is working to pay the developer the monies due him, and within a few days time, the entire issue should be moot.

 

[bolweval]

I'm not buying a new video card till that guy gets paid!

 

[randomizer]

This is dinosaur thinking from the feudal ages. Open source no longer means zero paycheck. It hasn't meant that for probably a decade now.

You can get paid for open source work, but it probably isn't lucrative enough to outweigh the high risk of burnout from managing an issue tracker, reviewing pull requests, and dealing with the inevitable flood of freeloading whingers complaining that you did or did not do this very specific thing.

 

[AndrewJacksonZA]

The reason I'm mentioning it is not because of the politics, but to point out that the developer uses the situation to spread pro-Russian propaganda.

Wow, that's reading quite deep into "MSI stopped performing their obligations under Afterburner license agreement due to 'politic situation'." A little too deep, IMHO.

He's not a native English speaker, and saying MSI is "not fulfilling its obligations" can be taken many ways.

This.

But the funny thing is MSI is now apparently trying to rectify the situation, which in turn implies that legally it is NOT prevented from paying him or providing him information; it's just difficult and it didn't see a need to do so... until this story broke and MSI started getting negative feedback. Which has happened with other people working for other companies as well. Stir the Twitter pot and big corporations will try to cover their mistakes.

Which is why I find MSI's attitude on this dodgy.

then why isn't he making it open source?

Because he gets paid and he needs to eat.

Hm... So... Would this tell or hint nVidia to build OC capabilities in their drvers like AMD?...For all the hate AMD gets for its* drivers, they do have a very comprehensive OC tool already built in.

Go watch Jay's latest video. He explains why he appreciates third party tools, not only OEM ones. OEMs can dictate things.

Intel doesn't have anything as far as I know

It's coming, it's on the way. They're already making massive strides, come check it out on the Intel Insider Discord on "intel-arc", "intel-arc-control", and "arc-support".

 

[TJ Hooker]

Go watch Jay's latest video. He explains why he appreciates third party tools, not only OEM ones. OEMs can dictate things.

Eh, OEMs already dictate things regardless of which OC software you're using. Even with a 3rd party tool like afterburner, every knob you can turn and every limit on how far you can turn it is set by AMD/Nvidia in conjunction with their AIB partners through the drivers and firmware. They can change or remove those knobs at any time and there's nothing the OC tools would be able to do about it.

There are occasionally ways to circumvent these preset limits (e.g. flashing a vBIOS from a compatible card with a higher power limit, or something like the MorePowerTool for certain AMD cards, etc.), but they are usually pretty limited in terms of which GPU(s) they support, and/or are just kind of janky.

Edit: Of course having more options is always a good thing. I haven't used Afterburner in years, but I do remember it being a very handy tool.

 

[cyrusfox]

But the benefit of MSI Afterburner was that it worked with just about any GPU (outside of Intel Arc and many integrated solutions). I don't need another Asus GPU Tweak clone, or ASRock OC Tuner, or Gigabyte Control Center, or EVGA Precision X1, or any other specialty variants that are bloated and only support graphics cards from one company.

You forgot Sapphire TriXX
Yes MSI afterburner stands alone for more than a decade of being the best. Hope for a happy ending to this story and would love for Arc support to be added in the future.
One GPU OC app to rule them all!

 

[AndrewJacksonZA]

Eh, OEMs already dictate things regardless of which OC software you're using... They can change or remove those knobs at any time and there's nothing the OC tools would be able to do about it.

I agree with you.

There are occasionally ways to circumvent these preset limits... but they are usually pretty limited...

Aaaand I agree with you again.

 

[cyrusfox]

For all those who didn't see the update, new beta update on MSI afterburner and the authors latest notes adding more clarity to the situation at this post.

There were a lot of discussions about the future of MSI Afterburner project in different places during the last days. Let me summarize things and address the most frequently asked questions:

• I see that a lot of you are offering to donate to compensate possible project loss. I really thank you and appreciate it, but it is not necessary. Probably you see the situation in too dramatic light and believe that it is much worse for me than it actually is due to misunderstanding of MSI Afterburner development process. MSI AB is not fulltime development job and it is not the only thing I do for living, my primary job is software development in medical R&D company. MSI AB and RTSS are pet projects which I supported during my free time in the evenings and weekends during last 25 years. That’s not a case of losing the only source of income and becoming hungry and homeless. So thanks again, but donations are not necessary, partial income loss is sad and sensible but not critical for my life conditions.
• A lot of you offer to rebrand application, sell it in STEAM or monetize it in other forms. I don’t see it as even remotely possible scenario. According to our license agreement I exclusively own source code (so technically I can do anything with it) but the company exclusively owns product name, branding and distribution rights. So doing so will result in license agreement violation from my side. I respect the agreements I sign and won’t do it under any conditions, it is a question of reputation.
• Some users believe that I should relocate from Russia to continue working on the project. I don’t see it as an option too. I had multiple job offers and could live and work abroad decades ago, I have the possibility to migrate to any country, but I was born here and 4 generations of my family were born and lived in this place. It is a small Russian city located on Azov sea coast near Russia/Ukraine border, it is located extremely close to Mariupol and warzone. Yes, living conditions suck badly here even comparing to big Russian cities like Moscow, but it is my birthplace, home and I love it. My grand and grand gradparents are buried here, my aged relatives live here and I simply cannot allow myself to leave them and escape. It is not a question of political preferences; it is a question of loving your home and your family.
• MSI are indeed trying to solve the problem now. But they tried to solve it a few times during 2022 and each previous attempt failed. Being a realist I understand that current attempt may fail as well, so I simply prepared myself to the worst case and accepted the fact that project is possibly dead. Please, no need to blame MSI for this situation. It is a stallmate case, when they want to continue cooperation but see no ways to do so at the moment.

 

[TJ Hooker]

A lot of you offer to rebrand application, sell it in STEAM or monetize it in other forms. I don’t see it as even remotely possible scenario. According to our license agreement I exclusively own source code (so technically I can do anything with it) but the company exclusively owns product name, branding and distribution rights. So doing so will result in license agreement violation from my side. I respect the agreements I sign and won’t do it under any conditions, it is a question of reputation.

Is anyone else confused by this statement? I'm no expert on licensing, but if he has exclusive rights to the source code why would he (or someone he grants permission to) be prevented from releasing the same software under a new name?

 

[Endymio]

Is anyone else confused by this statement? I'm no expert on licensing, but if he has exclusive rights to the source code why would he (or someone he grants permission to) be prevented from releasing the same software under a new name?

It obviously depends on exactly how the contract is written; he could be prevented from distributing the code via a noncompete. But, more likely he simply means it would have to be distributed as an entirely new product ... meaning if he even so much as referred to any past relationship between it and Afterburner, he'd be in violation.

 

[cyrusfox]

Is anyone else confused by this statement? I'm no expert on licensing, but if he has exclusive rights to the source code why would he (or someone he grants permission to) be prevented from releasing the same software under a new name?

He states succinctly why he would not do that at the end of that statement
"I respect the agreements I sign and won’t do it under any conditions, it is a question of reputation. "
While technically he could repackage it, it goes against his own integrity/code of honor on his own reckoning of the agreement.

 

[TJ Hooker]

He states succinctly why he would not do that at the end of that statement
"I respect the agreements I sign and won’t do it under any conditions, it is a question of reputation. "
While technically he could repackage it, it goes against his own integrity/code of honor on his own reckoning of the agreement.

Well, no, he explicitly says doing so would be a license violation (not just a violation of his integrity), in the immediately preceding sentence.

 

[cyrusfox]

Well, no, he explicitly says doing so would be a license violation (not just a violation of his integrity), in the immediately preceding sentence.

It is a question of reputation implies that he values this relationship. Its more than the contract for him.