The Great Ubuntu-Girlfriend Experiment

Posted 28 Apr 2008 on nixCraft via Slashdot

Finally someone is doing Ubuntu Linux usability testing with a girlfriend. The new user was given a couple of common tasks over a default installation of Ubuntu. I hope, the Linux distributions can learn a lot from this article and improve Linux user experience on a desktop computer. From the post:

Erin's knowledge of computers is limited to word processors, spreadsheets, Photoshop and a reasonable amount of browsing on the Web. Fairly standard stuff for a university philosophy student. All I did to the system (before leaving Erin at the log-in screen) was to install it and create a user account for her. She had no problems logging in, and loved the stylised heron background. Then I gave her one by one the tasks I'd set her. I didn’t give her any help at all.

The author, contentconsumer, left a note at the top of his blog posting:

Hello all you many, many slashdotters, redditors (?) and diggers. There are a lot of comments of a similar vein which argue that I am “dissing” linux and that I think linux should just be a copy of windows. No. I love linux, and want it to be succesful. for it to be succesful, it needs to make the transition from windows to itself smooth. if someone invented a new type of car, the training would have to involve how it is different to the old type of car - we can’t expect people to rely on their “intuition”, because it really doesn’t seem to work, that’s the point of this article. i don’t want to sacrifice linux’s good points so that it becomes closer to windows, i just want windows users to be able to learn it themselves without their own research on the internet or by searching through manual pages. END RANT. P.S. Thanks for the lots and lots of positive feedback, Erin says she loves you too but it’s kinda creepy that the only image you’re all clicking on is her one.

=> The Great Ubuntu-Girlfriend Experiment

Ubuntu Linux 8.04 is out!!

Posted: 24 Apr 2008 on nixCraft

Ubuntu Linux version 8.04 has been released and available for download. Canonical Ltd. announced the availability of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop Edition for free download. In related news, Canonical also announced the simultaneous release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Server Edition.

Visit official web site http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download to grab desktop edition!

Western Digital's VelociRaptor 10K RPM SATA Drive

Sweet, sweet story from Slashdot yesterday about my very favorite HD (I have two small Raptors in my gaming rig, set up as RAID0 which makes them blindingly fast...):

Western Digital's Raptor line of Hard Drives has been very popular with performance enthusiasts, as a desktop drive with enterprise-class performance. Today WD has launched a new line of high-performance desktop drives dubbed the VelociRaptor, and the product finally scales in capacity as well. The new SATA-based VelociRaptor weighs in at 300GB with the same 10K RPM spindle speed, but with one other major difference — it's based on 2.5" technology. Its smaller two-platter, four-head design affords the VelociRaptor random access and data transfer rates significantly faster than competing desktop SATA offerings. Areal density per platter has increased significantly as well, which contributes to solid performance gains versus the legacy WD Raptor series.

D&D 4th Ed vs. Open Gaming

Slashdot posted a story yesterday concerning the issues affecting open gaming and the upcoming release of 4th Edition D&D. The open licensing associated with the 3rd Edition spawned a number of successful 3rd parties and add-ons that made the system far greater than it might have been otherwise. I'm attaching the story from mxyzplk in its entirety as it's pretty comprehensive.


Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast shocked the role-playing game industry today by announcing that anyone wanting to publish material for the new Fourth Edition of D&D, expected out in June of this year, must forgo open licensing entirely as part of their new Game System License.

With the launch of the third edition of the popular game eight years ago, Wizards had sponsored an open licensing scheme. This license, called the Open Gaming License, or OGL, was a kind of open source license designed for game publishers. The result was an explosion of third party game companies supporting D&D and establishing their own game lines. Many of these companies became quite large and successful, notably Paizo Publishing, Green Ronin Publishing, and others.

Now, however, Wizards has stated that any company hoping to publish products for their new edition must agree to discontinue any currently open licensed products and produce no further open products at all — Dungeons & Dragons related or not. A number of companies had leveraged the OGL for their independent games, for example the pulp game Spirit of the Century.

In response to questions about this policy, Scott Rouse, D&D Brand Manager for Wizards of the Coast, says that "We have invested multiple 7 figures in the development of 4e so can you tell me why we would want publishers to support a system that we have moved away from?"

It seems to me that this is the equivalent of Microsoft telling people "If you want to make and sell software for Windows Vista, you can't make and sell any Linux/open source software!" Since this is a small niche market without the visibility of a Microsoft, this play to muscle out competition by making them choose "between us and open licensing" will probably succeed. Some other game companies are rebelling; Paizo Publishing, for example, has declared their intent to move forward with the open-licensed previous version, essentially 'forking' the Dungeons & Dragons code base. But small gaming companies are small indeed, and Wizards of the Coast is owned by Hasbro (a recent development likely not unrelated to this change of heart).


Kind of an idiotic move on their part, IMHO. Pen & paper RPGs have just begun to come back into fashion again, and a move like this could alienate Wizard's audience and supporters.

Than again, I was dumbfounded by the news when they released their OGL. Wizards of the Coast hasn't been known as the most altruistic of companies...

Free-to-Play MMORPGs

I know I posted awhile back on kicking my MMORPG additcion (well, specifically WoW) but as luck would have it, all this MMORPG news comes across my inbox. I found via Xfire news that there are two free-to-play MMORPGs out.

The first, Metin 2 (ranked #84 on Xfire currently), is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that is packed with great features including quests, guild battles and wars between nations.

The Kingdom that wins the war will gain possession of money and land; those that fought in the war and succeeded will gain Glory, Honor, and earn a higher Military Ranking. Do you want to be a Hero? Join the War!

Last Chaos (ranked #16 on Xfire currently) is a free fantasy MMO in which players can upgrade their courage and battle skills through adventures, quests and crafting skills. It is set in the land of Iris, a place where anarchy, terror and ambition reign after an epic struggle between the Gods.

In addition, Clan of Conan is rolling out soon.

We are only a few weeks away from launching Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures and the entire team is working hard with preparing the battlefields of Hyboria for your arrival.

This looks very cool, but again is a pay-to-play. I know it's a business model, and a very good one at that, but it gets awfully expensive after a time. Most MMO players justify this by citing the fact that since they play only the one game, they save the money of buying new games as they come out. Well, that's nice, and I used that justification myself until I realized I was still wanting to purchase new games to play and try out.

So I may give Last Chaos or Metin2 a try. If only they had Linux clients... sigh...

=> Download Metin2 (Xfire)
=> Download Last Chaos (Xfire)
=> Xfire Games Page

Happy Earth Day!

(Thought I'd pass along an excellent Earth Day article from blogger Steve Eldridge, posted yesterday on CommuterPageBlog.)

Earth Day To Do's

Tomorrow is Earth Day and this year, for the first time in a long time, there seems to be a real interest and a real push to make something happen. Maybe it's that gas is heading toward four dollars a gallon faster than OJ leaving Las Vegas. Maybe it's that more and more corporations are touting how green they are. Stodgy old Walmart is even running ads showing off the environmentally sensitive products it's developed. Local and network television programs are showing us all how to be more "green" in our day-to-day lives. There is a real push to not just become environmentally aware but to actually do something.

One of the biggest impacts we can have on the environment is to change our commutes. I say this knowing that it's really not as easy or as comfortable as some would make it sound. Walking out of the house while it's still dark to catch a bus two and a half blocks away is not as easy as jumping into a pre-heated car that's been sitting in the garage. Taking that bus on a circuitous route to a Metrorail station takes time. Standing on the platform, once you get past the inevitable escalator repair, can be uncomfortable if it's raining or if the wind is blowing. Grabbing a seat on the train can be a test of one's social upbringing. It takes time to use transit and that means making a commitment.

As we well know, there are millions of people in and around Washington who have made the commitment to use transit everyday. Their efforts are to be recognized and applauded. As Kermit the frog said: it's not easy being green.

Here are some factoids from APTA, the American Public Transit Association: An individual switching to public transit can reduce his or her daily carbon emissions by 20 pounds; that's more than 4,800 pounds in a year, a figure that is more than the combined carbon emissions reduction that comes from weatherproofing your home and using energy efficient appliances and environmentally-friendly light bulbs.

If just one commuter of a household switches from driving to using public transportation, the household's carbon footprint will be reduced by 10 percent. If a household gives up its second car altogether, a household can reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent.

Around the country public transit agencies are doing some interesting things: In St Cloud, Minnesota they will unveil a 40-foot bus that is powered by a mixture of 80 percent recycled vegetable oil and 20 percent diesel fuel. It is believed that this is the first transit bus system in the nation to use waste vegetable oil to power a public transit bus. In Minneapolis the transit system will power the entire Hiawatha light rail system by wind for the day.

So what is our own Metro system doing to celebrate Earth Day and to tout the advantages of public transportation? Are they offering free rides? No. Are they giving seminars to employers looking for the best ways to encourage employees to take public transit? No. On Earth Day, 2008, Metro will be handing out chocolate bars to thank riders for helping reduce emissions by 20 pounds. It's a great idea for a system that bans food to be handing out candy bars at two of its stations.

---

Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.

StarCraft II: The Zerg Unleashed

So as some of you may know, I've been trying my best to avoid any news of World of Warcraft. Almost 9 months to the day, and I still feel like I'm recovering from an addiction. In light of this I normally opt out of most of Blizzard's email, but today I got their Insider #26 which (after skipping past the WoW info which has made me miserable all over again) contained some nuggets about StarCraft II.

After a long, ominous period of inactivity, the zerg have returned with a renewed fury. View the first, newly revealed wave of information on the Swarm, including detailed profiles on the mutalisk and hydralisk, the backstory of the zerg, and a new gameplay trailer. Like their protoss and terran counterparts, these profiles are accompanied by background information, screenshots, and concept art.

Also some news about the StarCraft II Community Section:

The StarCraft II Community Section of the official StarCraft II website is now live. Here you'll find up-to-date links to the latest developer Q&A batches, BlizzCasts, regularly updated community spotlights, latest forum discussions, and future community projects. Head over to the StarCraft II site now and check it out.

I'm looking forward to this game, perhaps as much as the new C&C franchise offerings in the making...

=> Visit the StarCraft II website
=> Watch the Zerg Gameplay Trailer
=> StarCraft II Community Section

"Kids Who Don't Play Video Games Are At Risk"

In the clip below, Grand Theft Childhood authors Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson talk about their research and findings. Fascinating, intelligent stuff. Watch it and share with your skeptical friends!


Best outtake was where they talk about the VTech shootings - whereas the media were all over that as "videogame violence" the fact is that the shooter's suitemates said he did NOT play videogames which they thought was odd.