Off the Beat: Bruce Byfield's Blog

Ryzom MMORPG releases native GNU/Linux client

Nov 30, 2010 GMT

When the Free Ryzom Campaign failed to purchase the online role-playing game Ryzom, organizers promised that their effort was just the beginning. Now, four years later, after a convoluted history, the dream of the campaign supporters is coming true: Winch Gate, the current owner of Ryzom, is releasing a native GNU/Linux client, and announcing a contest to celebrate the fact. It's news that you don't need to be a gamer to appreciate.The news follows the announcement in May 2010 that the source code for the end-user client, content creation tools, and server were being released under the GNU Affero General Public License, and the artwork, including some 20,000 textures and 3-D objects,...

Documenting and challenging community misogyny

Nov 19, 2010 GMT

So far, the main result of the OpenRespect project has been that Jono Bacon has handicapped himself in responding to detractors -- so much so that he has apologized at length about his own minor lapses of civility while others have launched ad hominem attacks on him without backing down in the slightest. But the culture of denial and blame-the-messenger that operates whenever the lack of civility is examined seems almost insignificant when you compare it to the reactions to reports of misogyny in the community. That, too, is a matter of disrespect, although the word seems an inadequate understatement. But the reactions are far, far nastier than those to OpenRespect, and go mostly...

OpenRespect and the Problems of Endorsing Civility

Nov 12, 2010 GMT

Two years ago, I suggested that the free and open source software community could use a code of conduct to make conversations more polite and more constructive. My views haven't changed any, so I am delighted at Canonical Community Manager Jono Bacon's launching of OpenRespect.org that attempts to codify respectful conduct. My only concern is that the effort is already receiving some of the abuse that it attempts to counter.The project home page starts with the declaration that "Our methods and opinions may differ, and our definitions of what constitutes freedom and openness may vary, but this united belief in freedom and openness remains the same." It then goes on to list five...

Why your desktop still matters

Nov 05, 2010 GMT

I was surprised by the passion generated by my blog entry last week about Ubuntu's decision to replace GNOME with its own Unity desktop. Apparently, contrary to the pundits and usability experts, users have strong feelings about their interfaces of choice. But, when I stop to think, I should have expected that. For many free software users, the choice of desktop is still a deeply personal matter.Journalists like me often leap to write about what's new. That tendency can be seen as a service, but it also means that the importance of trends is often exaggerated in the rush to report first. For instance, in the last five years, network appliances and cloud computing have been hailed by many...

Ubuntu's "risky step" of standardizing on Unity instead of GNOME

Oct 29, 2010 GMT

OK, it's finally happening. For a couple of years, the standard for desktops has been edging towards mobile devices with every new netbook interface. Now, with Ubuntu's decision to replace GNOME with its own Unity desktop, the shift away from the workstation standard has actually arrived. But while the decision may be in keeping with the times, it's still every bit the "risky step" that Mark Shuttleworth described it as when he made the announcement earlier this week.In making the announcement, Shuttleworth focused on technical issues. The GNOME project, he said, had made some design decisons that were not in keeping with what Ubuntu wanted to do. He also mentioned the greater...

The Cold War Between OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice

Oct 22, 2010 GMT

For the past month, I've wanted to express an opinion about LibreOffice and OpenOffice.org. However, I've refrained, because I didn't know what to think either way. I still don't, but my conviction is growing into that this uncertainty is worth expressing. Although many people want to see a hero or a villain in events, I'm not convinced that anyone who is involved deserves the uncritical support of the community.If you follow free software development at all, then you know what's been happening. Mistrusting Oracle's intentions towards OpenOffice.org, a group of developers announced The Document Foundation, an independent organization that is developing an OpenOffice.org fork called...

Microsoft compares OpenOffice.org Writer and MS Word

Oct 15, 2010 GMT

Until now, I had somehow missed Microsoft's "Why Microsoft" videos, explaining why users should choose Microsoft Office over OpenOffice.org. The title of the series alone warns you to expect bias, but you might not expect are the high number of errors, omissions and misleading statements in the videos. In fact, there are so many that it took me over twenty minutes to view the six minute video on Microsoft Word and OpenOffice.org Writer, since I had to stop after almost every sentence to take notes about my problems with what was said.The video's narrator, Jake Zborowski, a Senior Product Manager at Microsoft, starts by explaining that he is going to show you "a few of the...