The Great Tree

Durin Mephit · Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 1:17 pm Post subject: Possible XP purchase project

This week, Cyan announced publically that going forward, the rest of the Uru Live beta and the launch of Uru Live itself will not be supported on Windows 2000. No-one knows exactly why, but Cyan has indicated this is a final decision and they do not have the financial resources to deliver the product on a Win2K platform.

The most likely theory seems to be that Cyan is relying upon some technology that does not work correctly under Win2K or will stop working on Win2K. It is likely that beta testers know or will know more about this situation, and they won't be talking due to Non Disclosure Agreement issues, so Cyan's reason may not be clear until an open beta begins, if ever.

But enough of my blathering over things we cannot change or control.

Our community has drawn together and shown its support for Cyan and for other community members before. I think this is a good opportunity for us to show our support for each other again. Honestly, I am somewhat fearful of the change we'll face when Uru Live launches, when thousands of new faces will appear and the makeup of our community will be altered. Before that happens, I think we have one last opportunity to show each other what our community really means to us.

There are some people in our community who are running Windows 2000 and who cannot afford to upgrade to XP. Many of these people are disabled and live on a fixed income. They'll have to carefully allocate their expenses just to participate in Uru Live... and these people have been doing so, so that they'll be able to play starting in December. Now suddenly, a $90-100 expense stands between these persons and Uru Live, a barrier that has been thrust in their way and that they cannot jump over. The Great Tree has always been a remover of barriers...

I do not have the necessary time and patience to organize a donation drive. But if someone else is willing to take on this mantle, I would be more than happy to throw some money into it. A donation drive would need to first collect the names and addresses of people who need upgrades. Then, begin the drive to collect the money, and when we reach our goal, purchase copies of XP Home in bulk, and ship to the needy. It is possible that some who are capable of purchasing XP on their own would take unfair advantage of a drive to help those in need... but that is just a risk we'd have to take.

Is there anyone else here at the Great Tree who has the time and skill to run a project such as this?
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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
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BladeLakem · Great Tree Member Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 514

That's a very interesting project.... I dont think I'd be able to take it on, though.

Saxy · Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 1:32 pm Post subject:

Wow, this sounds like such a great idea, Marten. I've never ran a donation drive before, but this sounds like a great opportunity. I know that the Microsoft employee store sells copies of their software dirt-cheap, but I'm not sure if employees have a limit on how much to buy.

Also, the logistics of this drive would be big. While I'd wish everyone in the world who has a computer would have Windows XP, we definitely can't afford to give the entire world an upgrade. I'd hope if we were to pursue a fundraiser that people wouldn't abuse the system and we could keep it within our community. Do you have any guestimate of how many people are in need of Windows 2000, Marten?
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Durin Mephit · Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 1:38 pm Post subject:

I do not know, Saxy. I've seen 4 or 5 posts from people complaining that this is not affordable to them. One thing we could do is ask a Cyantist how many people have been running 2000 in the beta. That's the most discrete way to get a bit of information. The number of people who cannot afford an upgrade should be less than the total number of 2k users. Obviously this doesn't touch on the non-beta community, but we can probably scale the # of beta testers up by a factor of, I dunno, maybe 7x? To get a good feel for maximum potential liability. I don't think we'd come anywhere close to those numbers though.

If you want a total gut guesstimate, I'd say 25 to 30 copies.
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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
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Saxy · Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 1:47 pm Post subject:

Hmm, that's a good point. Maybe we can keep the potential recipients of Windows XP from the fundraiser limited to those who have voiced concern about paying for Windows XP and signed up for beta before October XX. That might guarantee that we're only giving Windows XP to users who aren't just bandwagoners. I'm not sure what the technicalities are of Cyan releasing that sort of information with us is, but I can check with GreyDragon.
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Not all who wander are lost... (MJ fixed my sig!)
KI: 38931

Moiety Jean · Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 1:56 pm Post subject:

I agree, it's a good idea, and I wonder who would be a good person to get it running. ("Not I," said the duck. Sad

). I'd also be concerned about knowing whether the computers we hope to donate Windows XP to have the technical capability to run Windows XP.
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Durin Mephit · Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 2:04 pm Post subject:

MJ: Thankfully, that is a non-issue. Anyone with enough umph in their computer to run Uru under 2K should be able to run XP.

Windows XP Home requirements:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/evaluation/sysreqs.mspx

Uru's requirements are higher.
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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
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Moiety Jean · Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 2:13 pm Post subject:

Ohhhhhhh.

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~Moiety Jean

KI#44727
"There is a certain beautiful danger when a group of geeks get together to entertain themselves." ~Orin Drake

janaba1 · Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:04 pm Post subject:

Hello, my friends, Razz

I am really shocked. I don’t know what to say….
Marten, Saxy, MJ, … you are all soooo wonderful and sweet!!! I love you all!!!
And I am sooo sorry, that I, as always, cannot help with material things.
If I could, if I had any money, I would give that all away to you right now.
Maybe that’s why I never have more than I need...
As I am honoraryly supporting social projects on the surface and some in UU
as well, there’s no time left for further efforts. What I can and will do is
praying, praying, praying… and embracing this project with all good energy
I have to give… and if it’s a realistic and good thing, it will help, too Wink

If somebody gets this to run, I will of course do the german
collection

Jana Smile

Durin Mephit · Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:13 pm Post subject:

I'm not going to speak for Saxy or anyone else, but I suspect no-one here in the US is up to taking a project like I've suggested to the international level. If someone else wants to do something similar for international explorers, that would be great, and that could avoid currency exchange problems.

Most importantly: Right now this is very much in a conceptual stage. I think we're waiting for some feedback from Cyan on whether it's a good idea or not.

There is a saying: Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

And Jana, others have said this, but I have not: Thank you for being such a polite and pleasant addition to the discussions here. Smile

It is very uplifting.
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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
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Cycreim · Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 9:55 pm Post subject:

Marten! How thoughtful of you, seriously.
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Saxy · Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 11:01 pm Post subject:

You're the sweetest, Jana!

dcos · Great Tree Member Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 1174

Wow what a wonderful idea Marten and kudos to Saxy for already putting thought and enfort into it. Keep us up to date about Grey Dragon's reply.

janaba1 · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 10:27 am Post subject:

Durin Mephit · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 4:36 pm Post subject:

Saxy,

Any word from GD?

There are murmurs in certain other places about looking for someone to run a donation drive. But I'm not going to post a link to this discussion unless we know 100% it is a Go.

At this time I'm rounding my estimate of 25 people down to about 10. It might go back up. Officially, I cannot comment on why I am changing my estimate.
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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
rel.to | Marten KI: 59474 | Durin M KI: 11883768