New Client Update

[Joanne]

Is there any progress and what has changed since the OURMX release?

It is always good to keep the community informed 

[silicon_toad2000]

I've been trying to get the dev's to provide a list of fixes they have completed.
I don't bug them too much about it as I'd rather they were working on the client rather than a list.
When I get one it will be posted on ourmxworld forum.

[GhostShip]

The last update was on the same site link I passed to you in a PM about a month ago Joanne, new additions are simply tacked onto the end of that page so you have to scroll to the bottom to see them however I can state that the last posted update was the primary region fix , since then a lot of work has been going on in the chat server side and the primary transfers and all over the client to render some of the bugs null and void but rest assured whatever is going on will be reported on the ourmx site when its completed rather than actually being tinkered with a smidgen at a time.

As Silicon says plainly we can either get the client done or continue to talk about it till the cows come home and I believe the community want to see beta 2 sometime soon if possible, and I would also 

[Joanne]

I've been trying to get the dev's to provide a list of fixes they have completed.
I don't bug them too much about it as I'd rather they were working on the client rather than a list.
When I get one it will be posted on ourmxworld forum.

So you will post the info on a forum that nobody views, great 

[GhostShip]

Joanne, you and I both know that we cant centralise everything here nor do we wish to, we have seen the problems it causes long term with suspicion and resentment of the volunteers here from some of community, its been upsetting to have seen that sort of behaviour and so when the new client arrived there was internal discussion and a decision was reached  to split most of its project activities so those who have bad blood with winmxworld need not continue in the same vein with ourmxworld.

I think its been clear for a while now that I for one want further community inclusion and support and that means maintaining and rebuilding our communities across a range of sites and site operators, Why not create a winmx blog and join the fun Joanne , this community started with a few hundred and grew to over a few million so the model is there to be duplicated in time, one single person can make a difference and each of us who feel they have something to offer should try to be that one.

[MinersLantern]

Even I am getting impatient, if some things have been fixed, do another release already.

Perfection doesnt need to happen in one step.

[GhostShip]

I agree with you MinersLantern however things are not that simple, all releases come via the primary developer and currently he has real world commitments to meet, the other members of the team are still working on bugs and features for inclusion into the primary build but until the main man is about to merge the whole lot together and add his updates we all have to be patient.

When this project started out we had some offers of help and we matched the skills we required with those in the community able to deliver them, this meant that the team was small but focused and we have have over the projects lifetime tried to add to the team however in at least 2 cases those that seemed initially keen drew back when they saw the size of the project and the work required, it is lot of src code to work through and a bit scary for most hobby coders but  honesty has prevailed and we where told nearly immediately that this project was way above their heads and that they felt they would be unable to assist, its been no secret that the development team is small and have full time jobs and lives to live but they have still brought to the table a fair beta release and we have beta 2 coming along nicely but without the primary developer being about to set his stamp on the work its not being thrown to the public, its annoying its frustrating but its the right way to go about things when you have a team of coders instead of just one.

[Joanne]

Well the new client took over 2 years to build and
is at a very embryonic stage, so at this rate just to get
it to work properly will take years.

[GhostShip]

Embryotic stage eh ?  I disagree heavily, most of the key functions are in place and those that are not are being worked on, is there any real reason to keep on complaining that we have a small team Joanne ?

Please face the reality of our situation and be patient, we don't have the resources for me to be able to deliver day by day fast progress and whilst I know this is a source of disappointment and concern to all in the community we are seeing this project come together and in a way that will benefit us all in the end.

I ask you to desist from acting like a bad donkey owner in that continually whipping the donkey serves no point.


Folks its hard enough most of the time spending all of your free time on a project you know is desperately required and that the longer the project takes the more folks the network loses, none of this is lost on the developers who are trying to do something that all of the community developers have agreed would take a long time, whats not helpful is to keep wasting the time of the developers and undermining the reasons for them to continue, they want to have positive community support and know that folks are waiting for the work, its this that keeps me personally going and I'm sure its the same for the rest of the group, I know all of those who support winmx do so because its been a fantastic place where we can all congregate to have free expression of our selves and a place to find sincere friendships that span several years, this network is important to me and a special place worth fighting for, you can all join in this fight by offering help to new folks and looking to see what you can do to support the network and guide its development into the future.
As a community we all know its the interacting and the taking part to build friendships and trust that is the glue that binds us, so folks I ask you to focus on what you can do to assist the community to grow and look for ways to improve our lot, this is a community not a dictatorship and winmxworld tries to shine the light on whats required but we don't have a monopoly, let us all take up the battle instead of waiting on a few to fight the whole battle alone.

[Joanne]

Where in my post have I complained?

Just stating facts thats all.

[GhostShip]

Stating the same thing again and again when its already self evident is unhelpful, bring something to the table Joanne and let folks like myself get on with undertaking the work we as supposed to be doing.

I was just gathering up a list of things that the community can do for itself to improve matters,

New Wav files for both the new client and the older items like robomx and bendmx , leechhammer  and moni, lets hear something new 

AscII pictures and art that folks can use in the chat rooms, there are tools about to assist in creating such art.

Language files for the new client need creating based on an english template, also look at updating any of the older programs to handle different languages.

Posting news articles to help free up the time of the staff here to more critical thing, whilst making sure folks have a reason to keep coming here.

Posting up or creating articles that show folks some of the tricks of the seasoned network users, remember those old text docs we have all downloaded that have great titles and always gave some helpful information ?

Chatting in the chat rooms instead of lurking to help hold the community together, failure to do this has led to a few of the rooms disappearing, with great social interactions being undertaken folks make more efforts to fight past any annoyances so lets make sure they have a reason to bother.

Planning and strategising new ways to expand the userbase, this is something all of you can do and all it takes is a simple idea and a group discussion to expand further in any direction likely to be of help.

We need to grow and link to all of the existing community sites and better still add to their number, diversification is critical to cover all angles of our community sphere, so lets all make our own winmx support/ blog sites each with its own special flavour.

We need to head hunt further developers and this is something the community can assist with as its impossible to have enough time to gather up such folks when you have no free time or any idea where they might be hiding.

What about some new trivia files for those mxc bot users its not hard to make them or growing this further lets create some subject specific ones to assist folks with specific topics they need to learn it  might even be a great concept for an education room on winmx, the winmx university where you can read and answer questions on a range of topics and maybe have a yearly "brains of winmx" competition open to all ?

Content creation - do you have pictures art , poems and songs, or you play the flute or banjo  you can create or collate free content that you want to share then please do so, we have a lot of users here still and each one is talented in some way so lets tap that to see what is out there we can all enjoy,

Older project maintainers, some of the older winmx projects need named maintainers so that they don't rot in the dirt and fall into disuse, a champion could be appointed to ensure such occurrences are few and new avenues are explored to make the most of our rich legacy of programs and projects that might still deliver fun and functionality in the future.

That's my few off-the-head ideas folks. now what about hearing from you in what you want to see or do ?

[Joanne]

So you agree with then its gonna take years 

[Bluehaze]

I marvel that Joanne fears the OurMX project. Why do you seek reassurance that it will not be realized, or at least not for a long time? This thing is for your benefit too.

And do you really want to be reminded of your complaints? Just read your own posts. "So you will post the info on a forum that nobody views, great." Complain away while others try to help you.

No one here is trying to do anything but help you.

[silicon_toad2000]

Joanne, the client will never be finished. There will always be something else too add or improve.
At some point the developers will consider enough bugs fixed and release another beta.

[Plum]

I am curious too!

[silicon_toad2000]

the developers have not given up

[GhostShip]

Folks we all feel progress is slow but there is always progress, we are atm temporarily down one developer, so progress is a bit slower but he will return when his other real life work is completed in a few months and that's fine with me, in the mean time we have been doing a lot of work on the incompleted files mechanisms the primary downloads mechanism and many other items, recently the transfer menus where completed and all the functions added, there is always a lot to do but each week sees something else crossed off the list.
What has been hampering me personally is that too many folks are using bots and not sharing anything, this has meant that transfers up and down testing is slowed down or not able to be undertaken at all on some days, with so many wanting the new client to be delivered faster surely it makes sense if we all try to assist in that task ?

More hands make faster work folks, sitting idle when there is plenty to help with is a waste, I posted a list of things folks could help with recently I even asked "Joanne" 2 months ago to help with some colour coded open nap documentation ahead of when we add that to the new client but haven't seen anything yet except further trolling, surely some of you can make some effort to stimulate and help the community while those of us who have traditionally undertaken the task are engaged on our more important tasks ?

Know this: The project will continue and be delivered to the community, time is of no relevance to myself but I do know that the more effort we all put in the faster the finished product will arrive.

on a more lighter note I am very pleased with the progress so far and many annoying bugs are disappearing, things are generally going well with the coding effort and in some cases the research and documentation efforts are already  paying off in terms of faster resolution of problems, I would have liked to have open sourced the whole thing by now but as with anything of this scale and a limited workforce we have to take one step at a time and not falter half way though, rest assured the work is continuing and ceding this network to criminals is not an option.

[synesthetize]

What happened to ourmxworld.com folks?

[GhostShip]

I believe theres been a hosting issue, have no fear though its not lost, just not available atm.