There are now features in Determinate Systems fork that are not present in upstream nix (parallel eval). I am talking ccpnix, not their extra daemon. That is open core, most of the project’s features are open, and a few are reserved to make the corporate product more attractive.
I am not sure where you are getting the idea of “force” from. That is not part of what I’m talking about.
I am certainly not confused. There are features in DS nix that are not in upstream. I’ve been around Free Softare long enough to know that “we totally intend to upstream that” is not to be trusted, ever. They can however gain some trust by actually making it happen. In the case of parallel eval, the PR seems stalled, and rather than unstall it, DS has done their own thing.