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MSI Intends 'To Continue With Afterburner' Overclocking App Despite Not Paying Its Russian Dev (pcgamer.com) 52

Posted by BeauHD from the uncertain-future dept.
Jacob Ridley writes via PC Gamer: MSI Afterburner is an app used the world over for graphics card monitoring, overclocking, and undervolting. It's become pretty synonymous with general GPU tinkering, yet the app's developer has suggested it might not have long left to live in a forum post earlier this month. MSI disagrees, telling us "we fully intend to continue with MSI Afterburner." MSI Afterburner is developed by Alexey 'Unwinder' Nicolaychuk, a Russian national who has kept the overclocking app functioning over many years. Nicolaychuk is also responsible for the development of RivaTuner Statistics Server, which is part of the foundational software layer powering Afterburner. In a post on the Guru3D forums (via TechPowerUp), Nicolaychuk suggests that Afterburner's development has been "semi-abandoned." "...MSI afterburner project is probably dead," Nicolaychuk says.

"War and politics are the reasons. I didn't mention it in MSI Afterburner development news thread, but the project is semi abandoned by company during quite a long time already. Actually we're approaching the one year mark since the day when MSI stopped performing their obligations under Afterburner license agreement due to 'politic [sic] situation'." Nicolaychuk says development of the app has continued over the past 11 months, but that may also be ending soon. "I tried to continue performing my obligations and worked on the project on my own during the last 11 months, but it resulted in nothing but disappointment; I have a feeling that I'm just beating a dead horse and waste energy on something that is no longer needed by company. "Anyway I'll try to continue supporting it myself while I have some free time, but will probably need to drop it and switch to something else, allowing me to pay my bills."

Development of the RivaTuner Statistics Server -- software is pivotal to many of the functions of Afterburner -- is materially separate from Afterburner and will continue, Nicolaychuk notes. Nicolaychuk suggests the issue comes down to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and we've since confirmed with MSI that this is the case. MSI has stated to PC Gamer that the payments were halted due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, saying: "payments had been put on hold due to the RU/UA war and the economic regulations that entailed." [...] On this being the end for Afterburner, MSI disagrees. "We fully intend to continue with MSI Afterburner," MSI tells PC Gamer. "MSI have been working on a solution and expect it to be resolved soon."
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MSI Intends 'To Continue With Afterburner' Overclocking App Despite Not Paying Its Russian Dev More

MSI Intends 'To Continue With Afterburner' Overclocking App Despite Not Paying Its Russian Dev

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  • Just a quick reminder: Russia has a law where not getting paid on a foreign contract results in a fine for the contractor equal to 100% of the not-received amount, i.e. 200% total loss.

  • Fuck Vladimir Putin (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @10:05PM (#63194272)
    It's just one more person he's fucked over and potentially ruined all for the sake of his stupid little end of life crisis.

    This is why you do not elect dictators. Putin was elected to get the mob under control and once they put them in office there was no getting rid of them. So when he inevitably lost his marbles in his old age when he's close to death he takes to hold damn country down with them along with any other countries nearby.

    Fuck Putin and fuck dictators. Remember this shit in a few years when it's time to vote again

    • the american far right has given up on trying to fix america. they want to burn it down and show everyone how 'bad' government is.

      I dont know how we got to this point, but, well, we're here and I see no good exit strat. the R's have backed themselves into a corner and they keep farking that chicken.

      we had a chance to change our direction in the country and we basically failed. about 1/3 of us are horrible people that will never see the light and truly have nothing in their lives - so they do want to 'wa

      • That's nothing new. The American right wing has been trying to break government since the seventies when Goldwater lost. It's basic terrorism. You tried to cause a bunch of pain and suffering so that people will blame the system then you breakdown government into a series of small local fiefdoms you can easily control. National governments are bad until you're completely in control because they represent too many people and too broad of a consensus so the kind of nastiness you're trying to do doesn't fly o

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Tora ( 65882 )

      Time to vote again? You have some delusion that the russian people actually have a democracy...

    • It's not just putler's idea. It's basically most of russki elites and over 80% of the russkistan population. russia is basically a continent-sized lunatic asylum.

  • War is hell (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by hdyoung ( 5182939 )
    And why didn’t this guy flee along with the other 400,000 skilled professionals who hell-noped-out of Putin’s futile attempt to resurrect the Great Rus Empire?

    Chose to stay. Bad choice, man. At least you’re not cannon fodder designated to be nothing but a target for a HIMARs round, oops I mean a conscript, oops I mean a glorious patriot.
    • Probably because he didn't have enough money. He may also have family he couldn't get out of the country. Russia is a dictatorship so it's not like he has a lot of options. It's not as easy to just get up and move when you're in a dictatorship. It's also distinctly possible he just missed the window. It wasn't very long before they closed the borders once they realized anyone who could leave was leaving

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dgatwood ( 11270 )

        Probably because he didn't have enough money. He may also have family he couldn't get out of the country. Russia is a dictatorship so it's not like he has a lot of options. It's not as easy to just get up and move when you're in a dictatorship. It's also distinctly possible he just missed the window. It wasn't very long before they closed the borders once they realized anyone who could leave was leaving

        Except that he had an employer outside the country. I'm sure if he wanted to, they would have give him and his family a plane ticket to Taiwan and helped him navigate the process of doing a business trip. After that, it would likely just be a matter of going through the process of requesting refugee status and staying.

        Seems like we have to assume that he chose the stability of not selling everything and leaving his country over continuing to get paid by MSI. That's not necessarily an indication that he a

  • Good people are everywhere (Score:3)

    by bubblyceiling ( 7940768 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @10:28PM (#63194296)
    Always cool to see stories like this. So many people from all over the world doing their bit and keeping the world chugging along

  • This sounds to me like a company finding a flimsy excuse to steal somebody's work. I have no doubt there are ways MSI could set aside what they owe Nicolaychuk, and compensate him when the political situation improves. They won't, though, any more than the music corporations that have been ripping off artists for royalties for decades will suddenly grow a conscience.

    • Re:Excuse my skepticism (Score:5, Informative)

      by BBF_BBF ( 812493 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2023 @12:13AM (#63194416)

      This sounds to me like a company finding a flimsy excuse to steal somebody's work. I have no doubt there are ways MSI could set aside what they owe Nicolaychuk, and compensate him when the political situation improves. They won't, though, any more than the music corporations that have been ripping off artists for royalties for decades will suddenly grow a conscience.

      If you read the forum posts. The author of MSI Afterburner writes after someone said that they'd complain to MSI Europe:

      But it is not their fault at all. They'd love to keep the project alive, but they cannot and will not cancel or bypass sanctions and make SWIFT magically work here.

      The only way that Alexey could be paid by MSI is for Russia to end the war in Ukraine in a way that will remove the international sanctions that prevent MSI from sending funds to Alexey legally. Don't jump to conclusions if you're not willing to even read the linked source.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dgatwood ( 11270 )

        Maybe you should wait until after the sanctions are dropped before claiming it's a flimsy excuse. MSI literally cannot pay the guy right now, not without facing massive fines and possible arrests.

        What does not being able to pay him now have to do with entering into an agreement to give him back pay after sanctions are lifted or after he leaves the country (whichever comes first)?

        I mean, it doesn't put bread on the table, so I wouldn't expect him to take that offer unless he can afford to get by for an unknown number of years and the money is really, really good, but still....

  • "MSI have been working on a solution and expect it to be resolved soon."

    Does anyone else read that as "ruh-oh!" ?

  • This article had me wondering what happens to "Intellectual Property" that was protected by a country that is conquered in war?

  • Remember the developers after US invaded Iraq? (Score:3)

    by Babel-17 ( 1087541 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2023 @01:27AM (#63194484)

    How they all emigrated from America and the UK in protest of that illegal put up job?

    Me neither, because it never happened, nor did it happen after "We came, we saw, he died" (hahaha) with Libya.

    Both of those endeavors by us amounted to war crimes, going by the standards most recognized. Obama had the decency to call Libya the biggest regret of his terms of office, and Bush has the decency to occasionally be tormented in spirit, and visit the wounded veterans, and try to paint away his pain.

    But all the sociopaths like ...., well, we know who, keep slavering for more war, which is part of why NATO/the West ignored the understanding it had with Russian leaders, and kept pushing up to the border of the nation they mocked as "a gas station with nukes".

    Putin is a brutal dictator, but all these Ukrainians aren't dying because it's the inevitable price for self determination, they're dying because West was OK with their dying being the price to put Russia "in its place". Boris Johnson made sure Zelenskyy understood the outcome the West wanted, and aborted his even trying to negotiate a deal right after Russia had invaded.

    We have a marriage between technocrats, the MIC, and bloodthirsty sociopaths, and its a throuple from hell.

    • Ya, how dare they defend their borders! Poor Russia was scared stiff of being INVADED after all!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dgatwood ( 11270 )

      How they all emigrated from America and the UK in protest of that illegal put up job?

      Me neither, because it never happened, nor did it happen after "We came, we saw, he died" (hahaha) with Libya.

      Both of those endeavors by us amounted to war crimes, going by the standards most recognized.

      How does a military intervention authorized by the United Nations constitute a war crime? But a military intervention resulting in a less-than-stable outcome doesn't make it a war crime. If you had said Iraq and Afghanistan during George W. Bush's term, I might agree.

      But all the sociopaths like ...., well, we know who, keep slavering for more war, which is part of why NATO/the West ignored the understanding it had with Russian leaders, and kept pushing up to the border of the nation they mocked as "a gas station with nukes".

      Even Gorbachev acknowledged that no such understanding existed.

      Besides, NATO's military actions are almost exclusively either defensive or, occasionally, in support of U.N. mandates. If Russia has no plans to attack its neighbors, it has not

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by qaz123 ( 2841887 )

        Besides, NATO's military actions are almost exclusively either defensive

        Which NATO member was NATO defending when bombing Yugoslavia in 1999? (But you said "almost").

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dgatwood ( 11270 )

          Besides, NATO's military actions are almost exclusively either defensive

          Which NATO member was NATO defending when bombing Yugoslavia in 1999? (But you said "almost").

          Technically, that was an illegal action. I say technically, because what was happening in Yugoslavia at the time was already a war crime for which their leader was subsequently indicted. (He died before conviction.)

          The only reason the U.S. could not gain permission from the U.N. to take that action is because of the security council's flawed design, wherein a veto from either the U.S.S.R. (ostensibly Russia) or China prevents passage even if literally everyone else in the world agrees that it is the right

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by qaz123 ( 2841887 )

            Under the circumstances, NATO was morally and ethically justified in that humanitarian intervention, regardless of the artificial legality.

            If there existed an alternative "NATO" it would be morally and ethically justified to attack the US during its wars in Vietnam and Iraq. But it doesn't exist.
            As for Yugoslavia... When it's in the interests of the US to support separatists, the US supports separatists (like in Kosovo). Otherwise it supports the central government's suppressing separatist. Like in Georgia (against Abkhazian separatists). Excuses and justifications will always be found.

  • This is expected when you outsource. Taking lucrative contracts out of Russia is exactly what the sanctions were meant to do and MSI and Alexey should have seen this coming.

    This Alexey sounds like a contractor who was allowed to much leeway and thinks he has MSI by the balls. I have no sympathy for anyone involved.

  • Fuck Russia and fuck this guy. Maybe he should leave his shithole country if he wants the benefits of civilization, like contracts being honoured.

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