LFR; Open Source? [Archive] - Wizards Community

LFR; Open Source? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
mendahu
09-09-07, 09:49 PM Hey there,

This is going to seem an odd concern amid the rest of the threads littering this forum, but I consider it valid still.

It applies only to authors. In the past with LG, adventure format has been mandated to the .doc format, and the formatting has pretty much thus required the use of Microsoft Word as the program with which to write modules. If you have heard the Open Source argument before, you'll know where I'm going. If not, read on.

If you haven't noticed, Microsoft Word is expensive and it is a proprietary format, so other word processors have a very hard time reading it, nevermind writing it. Requiring modules and meta-orgs to be written in .doc format is thus forcing authors to choose Microsoft Word. This is not usually a concern for most users, who get happy Microsoft Suites included in their prepackaged HP computers that they picked up at RadioShack, but some people have to pay for it. I sure wasn't excited about installing a Windows partition on my computer and stealing a copy of Word from a friend just so I could volunteer in the campaign I love.

Why not accomodate Open Source formats as well? Let the author choose between Word (which is well known and common), and also a suite like OpenOffice, which is FREE to download, cross-platform, and equally if not more powerful than the MS counterpart. All this would require is two formats for the adventure template instead of one, and any open source advocate would likely step forward to volunteer that service (myself included).

All I ask is for the administration to consider Open Source. Don't make LFR authors choose the expensive suite that YOU selected. It's just not good volunteer sense :)

-Jake Robins
Edmonton, AB
Proud Open Source Advocate
mmockus
09-10-07, 12:07 AM Are you familiar with the current adventure template? It heavily uses styles. Will all this be maintainable in ODF? I ask because I am not that familiar with the specifics of the Open Document Format.

There are two potential issues. The first being if ODF does not support all the features, it is unlikely that functionality will be sacrificed for ODF.

The second issue is Hasbro is a corporate entity. It is quite often that corporate technology groups dictate technologies such as Word that are to be use corporate-wide, and usually smaller corporate groups such as WotC or RPGA, have no leeway to deviate from this policy.

Provided that functionality is not lost, I'd be all for it, but then WotC has yet to call me and ask me for my opinion on anything (still sitting by the phone ;) )
mark1978
09-12-07, 03:36 AM By the by, all windows versions comes with WordPad, which can save documents in .doc format. You don't have the same open-ended formatting you can pull with Word, but it is essentially free to all PC users who run Windows.

Mark
The_Jester
09-15-07, 12:01 AM but it is essentially free to all PC users who run Windows.

Yes, which amounts to "if you buy $189.99 worth of software you get a free barely-adequate office program". That's for XP. Vista's still around $218.99
But you're not going to be able to pull up the adventure templates on Word. So you'll still need to pick-up M/S office for $324.99 unless you're a student or know how torrents work.

Opposed to Open Office which is free. And works fine on other Operating Systems like Solaris, which is also free.
mendahu
09-15-07, 11:37 AM OpenOffice supports all the features of styles and everything in the adventure template (and yes, I'm familiar with it; I'm currently working on my third and fourth modules for LG). If you or anyone would like to see an example of a document made entirely in OpenOffice for Living Greyhawk, check out my Player's Guide to Zeif, located here:

http://mendahu.tripod.com/pgtz2.pdf

(I'm sure you'll agree that OpenOffice's functionality is not limited by any means)

And no, WordPad wouldn't come near being able to handle the features used in an Adventure Template. Does it even support columns? Wordpad is for grocery lists.

As for the corporate machine that Hasbro is, it's a valid (albeit ridiculous) point, but perhaps a compromise can be made, allowing volunteer authors to choose their format. (Aside: If I was in charge of Hasbro, I'd switch over to OpenOffice company wide; think of the money they could save on overpriced Microsoft licenses!)

Either way, all I ask is that the administration consider it. It's a valid concern in a volunteer organization that members aren't forced to purchase needlessly expensive software in order to help out. Imagine if you wanted to donate blood, but the Red Cross made you purchase all the equipment used to do it...

-Jake Robins
Edmonton, AB
jstorrie
02-07-08, 06:32 PM Is it absolutely necessary to use something as feature-rich as .doc or .odf? Won't Rich Text Format work just fine? Everyone has .rtf, right?

.rtf for text documents and .pdf for certs and image/formatting-rich documents should be plenty, I think. Definitely phase out Word documents, they're a total pain (and don't get me start on Excel–no one should be releasing documents for circulation in .xls!)
gomeztoo
02-08-08, 04:01 AM We used document templates in LG, with a specified set of styles, because we desired a similar format that allowed us to easily make PDF versions of the documents that had the same look and feel.
Not holding to the styles resulted, on occasion, in hard to read scenarios (due to bad fonts), or a nightmare in editing (I once was busy for a full day to redo the styles in one badly formatted document).
We could of course also set up a template in Open Office, but having two templates to maintain would become a pain. Forcing people to use Open Office instead of Word is probably not the best solution either, because the editors would need it, the global admins would need it, and, likely, R&D would too.
Madfox11
02-08-08, 04:51 AM Personally I don't care in what document an author works as long as:
(a) When I get it, I can read it in Word.
(b) It has the same lay-out and styles as the base template, because otherwise editing can be a pain. It is one thing to be recalculating treasure a whole afternoon, but to spend that same amount of time correcting fonts is really irritating. You could argue that using a font that is hard to read in Word as the final font for pdf is bad, but that is outside my hands.
(c) I can save it in the requested format without a hitch so that the author can still read the reviewed adventure for final approval.

Now if the RPGA switches to another text editor, assuming it is free, I will happily switch to the same as well, but for now my hands are tied.
Puggle Halfwine
02-08-08, 06:06 AM As an Ubuntu user, I can relate to your ODF concerns. I use OpenOffice to write my LG adventures; while I'm perfectly happy to make submissions in .doc format (OpenOffice these days seems to have little problem with the format), obviously ODF would be my preferred choice.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
mendahu 09-09-07, 09:49 PM	Hey there, This is going to seem an odd concern amid the rest of the threads littering this forum, but I consider it valid still. It applies only to authors. In the past with LG, adventure format has been mandated to the .doc format, and the formatting has pretty much thus required the use of Microsoft Word as the program with which to write modules. If you have heard the Open Source argument before, you'll know where I'm going. If not, read on. If you haven't noticed, Microsoft Word is expensive and it is a proprietary format, so other word processors have a very hard time reading it, nevermind writing it. Requiring modules and meta-orgs to be written in .doc format is thus forcing authors to choose Microsoft Word. This is not usually a concern for most users, who get happy Microsoft Suites included in their prepackaged HP computers that they picked up at RadioShack, but some people have to pay for it. I sure wasn't excited about installing a Windows partition on my computer and stealing a copy of Word from a friend just so I could volunteer in the campaign I love. Why not accomodate Open Source formats as well? Let the author choose between Word (which is well known and common), and also a suite like OpenOffice, which is FREE to download, cross-platform, and equally if not more powerful than the MS counterpart. All this would require is two formats for the adventure template instead of one, and any open source advocate would likely step forward to volunteer that service (myself included). All I ask is for the administration to consider Open Source. Don't make LFR authors choose the expensive suite that YOU selected. It's just not good volunteer sense :) -Jake Robins Edmonton, AB Proud Open Source Advocate
mmockus 09-10-07, 12:07 AM	Are you familiar with the current adventure template? It heavily uses styles. Will all this be maintainable in ODF? I ask because I am not that familiar with the specifics of the Open Document Format. There are two potential issues. The first being if ODF does not support all the features, it is unlikely that functionality will be sacrificed for ODF. The second issue is Hasbro is a corporate entity. It is quite often that corporate technology groups dictate technologies such as Word that are to be use corporate-wide, and usually smaller corporate groups such as WotC or RPGA, have no leeway to deviate from this policy. Provided that functionality is not lost, I'd be all for it, but then WotC has yet to call me and ask me for my opinion on anything (still sitting by the phone ;) )
mark1978 09-12-07, 03:36 AM	By the by, all windows versions comes with WordPad, which can save documents in .doc format. You don't have the same open-ended formatting you can pull with Word, but it is essentially free to all PC users who run Windows. Mark
The_Jester 09-15-07, 12:01 AM	but it is essentially free to all PC users who run Windows. Yes, which amounts to "if you buy $189.99 worth of software you get a free barely-adequate office program". That's for XP. Vista's still around $218.99 But you're not going to be able to pull up the adventure templates on Word. So you'll still need to pick-up M/S office for $324.99 unless you're a student or know how torrents work. Opposed to Open Office which is free. And works fine on other Operating Systems like Solaris, which is also free.
mendahu 09-15-07, 11:37 AM	OpenOffice supports all the features of styles and everything in the adventure template (and yes, I'm familiar with it; I'm currently working on my third and fourth modules for LG). If you or anyone would like to see an example of a document made entirely in OpenOffice for Living Greyhawk, check out my Player's Guide to Zeif, located here: http://mendahu.tripod.com/pgtz2.pdf (I'm sure you'll agree that OpenOffice's functionality is not limited by any means) And no, WordPad wouldn't come near being able to handle the features used in an Adventure Template. Does it even support columns? Wordpad is for grocery lists. As for the corporate machine that Hasbro is, it's a valid (albeit ridiculous) point, but perhaps a compromise can be made, allowing volunteer authors to choose their format. (Aside: If I was in charge of Hasbro, I'd switch over to OpenOffice company wide; think of the money they could save on overpriced Microsoft licenses!) Either way, all I ask is that the administration consider it. It's a valid concern in a volunteer organization that members aren't forced to purchase needlessly expensive software in order to help out. Imagine if you wanted to donate blood, but the Red Cross made you purchase all the equipment used to do it... -Jake Robins Edmonton, AB
jstorrie 02-07-08, 06:32 PM	Is it absolutely necessary to use something as feature-rich as .doc or .odf? Won't Rich Text Format work just fine? Everyone has .rtf, right? .rtf for text documents and .pdf for certs and image/formatting-rich documents should be plenty, I think. Definitely phase out Word documents, they're a total pain (and don't get me start on Excel–no one should be releasing documents for circulation in .xls!)
gomeztoo 02-08-08, 04:01 AM	We used document templates in LG, with a specified set of styles, because we desired a similar format that allowed us to easily make PDF versions of the documents that had the same look and feel. Not holding to the styles resulted, on occasion, in hard to read scenarios (due to bad fonts), or a nightmare in editing (I once was busy for a full day to redo the styles in one badly formatted document). We could of course also set up a template in Open Office, but having two templates to maintain would become a pain. Forcing people to use Open Office instead of Word is probably not the best solution either, because the editors would need it, the global admins would need it, and, likely, R&D would too.
Madfox11 02-08-08, 04:51 AM	Personally I don't care in what document an author works as long as: (a) When I get it, I can read it in Word. (b) It has the same lay-out and styles as the base template, because otherwise editing can be a pain. It is one thing to be recalculating treasure a whole afternoon, but to spend that same amount of time correcting fonts is really irritating. You could argue that using a font that is hard to read in Word as the final font for pdf is bad, but that is outside my hands. (c) I can save it in the requested format without a hitch so that the author can still read the reviewed adventure for final approval. Now if the RPGA switches to another text editor, assuming it is free, I will happily switch to the same as well, but for now my hands are tied.
Puggle Halfwine 02-08-08, 06:06 AM	As an Ubuntu user, I can relate to your ODF concerns. I use OpenOffice to write my LG adventures; while I'm perfectly happy to make submissions in .doc format (OpenOffice these days seems to have little problem with the format), obviously ODF would be my preferred choice.