Reuse is just one part of the EULA wich makes it nonfree I don't object to it any more than to any other part of it. For me it is personal  preference, I would like as much of the software I use to be free as possible. If in the future UE decides that they are evil and they could change the EULA so it is no longer compatible with PS, and there could be many more hypothetical scenarios.

I'm not opposed to the change, I started writing here to clear some stuff about free software. It has a definition, some stuff fits it, some doesn't. So despite UE having many good qualities it is not free software, and as such it does not respect freedom. For people who care deeply about free software it is propably a problem. For less concious people it will be like the shame after eating a whole cake.

I'm not sure what you mean by "does not respect freedom" since the source is available on GitHub and reconstructing PS with UE4 won't cost the PS team a dime (at least not to Epic).

There seems to be a misunderstanding here, FREE software does not mean that the source is available, or the program is gratis (free as in beer), but that it is free as in freedom. Software is free if it has the 4 freedoms:

• You can run it any way you want
• You can study the sourcecode
• You can redistribute it
• You can redistribute modified copies

You can't run UE4 to make (1) for any gambling-related activities or Products (as defined by law in the jurisdiction of use); (2) for operation of nuclear facilities, aircraft navigation, aircraft communication systems or air traffic control machines, or for military use in connection with live combat; (3) in violation of any applicable law or regulation; (4) in which the Licensed Technology is rented or leased; (5) that misappropriates any of Epic’s other products or services; (6) in support of a claim by you or any third party that the Licensed Technology infringes a patent. However unlikeli it is that you want to run you nuclear submarine based casinos whit UE4, not allowing it makes it nonfree (regardles of how sensible these regulations might seem). There are other parts of the EULA that make it nonfree but I have'nt read it trough.

There will still be distributed executable downloads for all platforms and that's all that's needed...

People who are concious of their usage of nonfree software would (imo) never ever favour a binary to something with nonfree but available source.

For someone to repackage UE4 under another name and sell it with no compensation due back to Epic would be financially devastating to Epic and all the people who depend on those jobs to feed, house, and clothe their families. Absent legal protections, the source would never come out, and absent the investment, Indie engines like UE4 don't exist.

When a program is free it does not mean that it has no legal protection, ther exist many free licences such as the GPL's wich grant different kinds of protections for the developer. Wheter it is possible to make money working on free software have been discussed countless times, free software is not just for bearded hippies and there are people feeding families by working on free software.

I'm not happy that PS is moving to a propriatery engine, but having never touched crystal space or the PS codebase, I think it is a choice the developers have to make, whatever they cohoose I hope it makes their job easier, more enjoyable, and in the end makes PS better.

Basically it boils down to two questions:

• What is the state of science/mathematics in PS? What kind of discoveries can you reference IG? For example can you say that any object, wholly or partially immersed in a fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object? If you do who do you credt IG the original (Archimedes) or make something up?
• If you want to do some kind of experiment IG, like putting something under water, and adding weight until it sinks, what determines the outcome? Can you just make it up, according to wathever you think, or ask someone from settings?

Medieval settings suppose you can use everything up til 1300-1500ish I guess, but many advances relied on explaining and describeing the movement of planets and stars, wich are nonexistent in PS. I guess Newtonian mechanics works in PS, so those experiments that deal with pure physics (and are doable IG) have a determined outcome, but what about experiments featuring magic? For example I put a 1kg block of iron in one hand of a scale and a 1kg block of wood on the other, then use the brown way to double their weights, wich takes more effort?