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Messages - lotusrootstarch [ switch to compact view ]

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151
Alrighty mouser, I have expressed my feeling I'm done, 'nuf said.  :)

152
but are you saying that you think that we should be encouraging more serious software?
-Perry Mowbray (April 18, 2010, 04:11 AM)

Absolutely but the outlook on this may be bleak.

If you read this article writen by mouser published in April 2006:
https://www.donation...icles/One/index.html

I had an account on this site early in 2006 and my understanding was that the article dealt with real-life problems and solutions at DC at the time but more importantly pursuing something (donationware as a concept maybe?) that was obviously larger than the site itself. It looked to me as an experiment pioneering ways to develop donationware sustainably.

Now if you look at DC exactly four years later, it chills you how little had actually changed over this long period...

Back then the site was all about mouser software and support forums (except for some freebies on the site coded by ppl like Skrommel and f0dder). Now look that the site may I say it extended little in essence from what it used to be? If you load up the software download page -- all these actively supported and popularly used software are still listed only under mouser's name, the rest are just either abandoned or forgotten (no seriously most NANYs don't count as software we all realize that). In the case of CircleDock, you know it's only very loosely associatedly with DC and the distance has always been there.

So in the last 4 years, did DC incubate any serious software under the model? I say no. Will it encourage any serious software in the future? Given the momentum and how things are going, very doubtful. Let's face it, the entire gravity of the site rests on things that were created back in 2005/6 and they have been slowly evolving for a few years forming rigid exo-skeletons and bone structrues leaving little room for new creations. And since the site lays on top of these programs it's entering maintenance stage as well, and there's nothing exciting about maintenance rly.

There probably will be a time when mouser himself loses interest in the site and the whole shebang is going to Internet Archives.

We're keen to make NANY a great event for entrants and users alike. Or are you saying it's past its use-by-date?
-Perry Mowbray (April 18, 2010, 04:11 AM)

Don't do it. Let holidays just be holidays, no more "as a DC regular/veteran/supporter/fanboy, you've got to pledge now to make something by NY's day!!" blah blah. It's becoming an annual tradition to embarass, not to enjoy. Just do some market research to see how many coders in there have REALLY got the urge and enthusiasm. I just refuse to believe these proggies are the culmination of weeks of exciting brainstorming and motivated coding efforts leading up to the mug distribution day.

Perry, instead of spending tons of efforts on something as silly as NANY, how about being a manager and get a DC group project rolling this year?

153
Hey Tuck, I don't mean to offend anyone here rly and actually I donated to the site back quite a while ago.

I'd be very interested in seeing most recent stats but I doubt that stats speak much. There're things that you just have to feel.

Well, some questions to provoke thoughts:

1. Has DC got much change in general site look and feel, number of active participants compared with itself 3 years ago?

I say the no. of active chatters on the forums have been dropping and obviously in diversity as well - you can tell by seeing posting from ppl in the "clique" again and again and again, on almost any thread, and sometimes you can just simply foretell what they are gonna say, very predictable.

2. Is there any new additional software on the site that appeal to the general audienc... in the last 3 years?
Please... lol r u kidding me? ppl are donating for maintenance and bug fixes, not for innovations.

Oh and for the NANY, it's going fast downhill, I mean fast... There were serious projects that generated tons of public interest, like CircleDock, Trout just to name a few. Now if you look at NANY year 2009 and in particular 2010, the event has kinda evolved into a compulsory annual mug distribution thing and performance gets evaluation by counting how many mugs get sent this year, compared year over year -- it's somehow like saying "come up with whatever carp or mini-carp we'll send u some same old gift that never changes to mark the event. see ya next year for the same thing."

It did not surprise me that virtually no meaningful publicity generated out of NANY 2010, if you are a blogger looking at the list there's nothing write about so just move on. Despite the fact that all these coders were so kind to give up their Xmas and NY holidays to work on something that's even got a "deadline", don't you sense the boredom, joylessness in there, and probably in the eyes of many -- involuntariness. It's not me speaking for coders, but it's their programs themselves that speak this out.

154
Hmm, have u guys got the feeling that NANY is becoming a yearly drill and to the majority of event participants there is no enthusiasm there?

This is probably an small indication of a bigger problem... that DC is on the decline (in terms of readership, participation and external press) and people are losing curiosity, interest and sense of attachment (for some) that they used to have.

Wakey wakey guys.

155
Circle Dock / Re: One Circle Dock download for every second so far!
« on: January 29, 2010, 11:12 PM »
That's still more than 1 download per minute. Woot!  :Thmbsup:

156
Circle Dock / Re: One Circle Dock download for every second so far!
« on: January 29, 2010, 12:31 AM »
Hmm, strange... there doesn't seems to be a big increase in "Number of Visits" or "Hits" compared to previous periods. Any Awstats guru here? :-\

157
Circle Dock / Re: One Circle Dock download for every second so far!
« on: January 28, 2010, 11:55 PM »
Awesome!  ;D

158
Circle Dock / Re: One Circle Dock download for every second so far!
« on: January 28, 2010, 07:33 PM »
Maybe total traffic/bw stats during that period can serve as a measurement? (9GB/9MB per download) =~ 1000 downloads? :P

159
Circle Dock / Re: One Circle Dock download for every second so far!
« on: January 28, 2010, 07:17 PM »
Congrats Mark! Loving CD so far...

226,720 is indeed a massive number for downloads during such a short period, but have you taken into consideration that download managers these days open multiple processes for a single file so 8 or more "downloads" may actually be from one user?

160
THanks 4 the NL mouser. Somehow I get the feeling that this site is now a lot less active than it used to be (less frequent posting, few new apps just more maintanence bugfix releases). Is everything losing momentum? :-\

161
General Software Discussion / Re: Complaint: Softwrap (nasty eula)
« on: September 21, 2009, 10:33 AM »
heh, i'm not getting myself into this "first post" insinuation. I'm just saying the fact that you disagree with something does not mean the author/eula is "nasty". I think as someone like you who likely knows a fair bit about intricate issues like DRM *should* be mentally above and beyond this. No offense.

Have a nice day :)

162
General Software Discussion / Re: Complaint: Softwrap (nasty eula)
« on: September 21, 2009, 10:00 AM »
Ya what's the big deal here.. strong DRMs do work and will deeply affect a company's bottom line. There's never an insufficient supply of users/whiners who don't give a damn of revenue of the software company or what the hell fair use is about in the eula -- if they can get away with it (be it piracy, abuse or whatever), there's simply no reason not to. Statistically speaking, "honesty, willingness to support developers..." all these factors are directly dependent on how well you implement DRM, that's just it, i don't care how ppl *claim* otherwise.

Take Blizzard's Starcraft II, irrc there're literally hundreds of thousands of signatured whiners out there already (and growing) against it DRM policies, but guess what Blizzard is in a perfect position now to boost sales thru strong DRM, not piratable/abusable weaklings like Starcraft I.

I don't know what softwrap makes, but I bet if there were an easy alternative to Softwrap's stuff in question there probably wouldn't be such a debate in the first place -- end-users would just walk away because of the "annoyance". Looks like Softwrap is in a position to implement strong DRM w/o noticeably losing sales, why not protecting assets with strong DRM?

There's no such a thing as unreasonable drm eula agreement coz nobody points a gun at the end user to decide whether to agree to it or not.

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