Recapping a Year of Open-Source, the Top Stories in 2008!

David Murphy — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:00:00 -0600

As 2008 winds to a close, we're taking a look back at some of the year's highlights in the open-source world. And what a year it's been! Google phones and the android operating system finally saw the light. The semi-popular MMO Myst decided to go entirely open source, the genre's first "conversion." And Microsoft--yes, Microsoft--decided to embrace open-source development with one hand while chastising it with the other.

Since we just started covering open-source as a weekly beat here at Maximum PC, we thought it best to go to the community--in the true spirit of open-source development--to see what made the biggest headlines in 2008. And don't worry, we'll have a full roundup of 2009 predictions for you right as the big ball drops!

Hot Open-Source Hardware

Every year, Make magazine publishes a list of all of the big open-source hardware projects that have come out during the year. If you're a fan of circuit boards, glowing things, buttons that make music, the brain goggles pictured above, or just about anything having to do with the fusion of electronics and geekery, this list is for you.

LittleBigPlanet

In many ways, Media Molecule's experiment with its LittleBigPlanet game for the PlayStation 3 highlighted the power of a community mixed with awesome gameplay--which helped the game gain far more traction than Maxis' big create-your-world title, Spore. If you think about it, LittleBigPlanet embodies the spirit of open-source. You use the provided tools to create all sorts of environments, creations, and modifications. You then go and release these as directed by the company. Our recommendation for LittleBigPlanet 2? Let the users tweak and release other users' designs--now that's open source!

Open-Source Gaming Gears Up

According to Chris Melissinos, chief gaming officer at Sun Microsystems, the open source gaming space is hitting the market at the "exact right time." Perhaps this is an indication why Myst Online decided to turn to the open-source community instead of pulling the plug on its MMO for good.

Android and a Google Phone

To much hurrah, Google launched its T1-Mobile G1 phone in the latter half of 2008. More importantly, its Linux-based Android operating system debuted as an open-source software package for the handset market to play with. Microsoft's proprietary Windows Mobile turned a little green at the notion, especially given that large manufacturers Sony Ericsson, LG, Motorola, and Samsung--to name a few--all expressed excitement in the form of product launches and announcements.

Everyone Has A Netbook

In 2008, Asus proved that an inexpensive laptop doesn't have to be cheap. The company's Eee PCs helped set the ball rolling for the rise of the mini-laptop, or netbook. For around $350 or thereabouts, you can now have a fully-functional word processor and the ability to access the Internet using a portable device that's still more cost-efficient than a comparable Linux-based desktop rig. While Crysis might be out of the picture for these little wonders, the rise of the Linux-based laptop helped catapult laptop sales above desktop sales in the third quarter of 2009--the first time that's ever happened. As for Asus, the originator just recently lost its place at the king of the netbook hill to Acer.

Enforceable Open-Source Licensing

The occasional hubbub and worry about open-source licenses being unenforceable in the eyes of the law was silenced this past year. A ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit acknowledged the power of the open-source license by holding that those who do not follow the provisions of a license can be found in violation of the creator's copyright. Precedent has now been set, all thanks the legal wrangling of Jacobsen vs. Katzer--a dispute over software for model trains.

ReiserFS Founder Convicted of Murder

In a story that dominated news headlines, Hans Reiser--developer of Linux's ReiserFS file system--confessed to killing his wife, Nina. The court battle lasted approximately a year and a half, with Reiser maintaining his innocence throughout the proceedings. His "geek defense," as his testimony was billed, was as peculiar as his explanations for his actions following his wife's disappearance. These included him hosing out his car, removing his car's passenger seat, and keeping books about murder--as well as a sleeping bag covered with his wife's blood--in the vehicle.

Microsoft Turns a New Lea... Nah

(photo credit: DBegley)

Ever the wishy-washy company, Microsoft chose to embrace the tenets of the open-source movement a little bit stronger in 2008. The company released an open-source CMS platform called Oxite that has enough customization and multi-user functionality to give Wordpress room for concern. It's acquired companies that contribute to open-source initiatives and even contributed to a few itself. And true to Microsoft form, it started liking open-source just a little bit more while still scorning open-source software as an over-expensive solution for enterprise markets.

Dreaming of Massively Multiplayer Open Source

David Murphy — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:00:00 -0600

Remember Myst Online? You shouldn't. GameTap shut the servers for the fumbling MMO in the beginning of this year, leaving plenty of fans of massively multiplayer online puzzle-solving out in the cold. Until the rights were returned to Cyan Worlds, which promptly promised to resurrect the MMO under the clever acronym of MORE -- the Myst Online Resurrection Experiment. Which was all fine, until funding difficulties killed the project once again. Which has since been resurrected again (surpassing Jean Gray's record), this time as a result of Cyan Worlds turning the entire Myst Online platform over to the open source community.

Strangely, this is the first big announcement from any of the "larger" MMOs that involves open source in any fashion. When an MMO dies, it usually dies for good, regardless of how persistent the fan base is toward resurrecting the fallen title into a working project.

The curious part of Myst Online is that Cyan Worlds is going to host a server with all of Myst Online's data for its fans to use. It's quite a conciliatory gesture, especially since other dead MMOs that live on through fans and private servers usually end up having to extract engineer the materials themselves. As Ars notes, this is a great way to keep the game from dropping off the radar for good. The code release will invariably lead to a bunch of rogue servers, but even in this, Myst Online could find a larger base -- imagine a version of the game that's been customized to a completely different experience entirely? Don't discount the coding tenacity of rabid fans. Cyan Worlds certainly isn't.

We mentioned this being the only MMO that's gone the open source route. We can't think of any officially released MMOs that' have dumped their code to the community like this, but that's not to say that the gaming world is devoid of open-source MMOs:

Shown above, PlaneShift is a larger title that's attempting to push an art direction comparable to a modern-day retail MMO. The game features GM events, trading and crafting, and a separate "death realm" that you have to escape each time your character meets the reaper. All that, and it's an open-source title! This game is ready-for-download, unlike plenty of other open-source MMOs that exist more in idea than reality.

Crossfire isn't an MMO in the modern sense of the word, but it harkens back to the MUD era with its simple graphics and archetypal role-playing gameplay. The fact that it's still around in development since its creation in 1992 shows the strength of the open-source community to cling to projects. If people are still tweaking and adjusting a game like this, the sky is practically the limit for a robust title like Myst Online.

Speaking of originators, WorldForge is one of the earliest open-source MMO engines to be released with full-fledged graphics. The giant framework was primarily designed to help developers create alternatives to Ultima Online (if that helps to give away its age), although scant alternatives have actually been created since the framework's launch. You can check the full list here, which can be accessed using one of two 3D clients found here (Ember or Sear). Still, bookmark WorldForge's homepage if you like watching the efforts of a giant community working hand-over-fist to incorporate new functionality into an evolving MMO concept.

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Recapping a Year of Open-Source, the Top Stories in 2008!

Dreaming of Massively Multiplayer Open Source