RISC OS Awards 2014

The second annual RISC OS Awards poll and survey undertaken by RISCOSitory on the RISC OS Awards website is now open for votes.

Between now and the end of January, you have the opportunity to vote for your favourite piece of software, the show you enjoyed the most, the project you find most interesting, and more besides.

Each category presents you with a text field, into which you can enter what you feel deserves the award. However, if you feel you are unable to form an opinion in any given category – perhaps you weren’t able to attend any shows, for example – then you can simply leave the box blank.

There are four new categories this year:

• Best game or diversion, giving recognition to the more playful side of RISC OS!
• Best foreign language resource, because while RISCOSitory largely caters to the English speaking userbase, RISC OS itself isn’t exclusive to English speakers.
• Best overall contributor to RISC OS, to honour whoever users think has done the most to help move the platform forward.
• Broken cog of the year, allowing users to name and shame whoever they believe has let them down the most.

As before, combined with the awards poll is a simple survey, designed to form a picture of the RISC OS landscape – but while it is a part of the same overall form, you can choose to skip the survey entirely, or only answer those questions you feel comfortable answering: Every question of the includes an “I’d
rather not say” option, which is selected by default.

The voting form will remain online from now until the end of January, giving you almost two months to make your choices and cast your votes, with the results of the awards poll expected to be published in the latter half of February, and the results of the survey a little later.

Nice work, Vince!

(psst.. you need to update the text in the submit button)

Oops! Now fixed. :)

Hmmm… I think you’ve made hard work for yourself. Maybe in 2015, you could go a hybrid route with preselected options, and a writeable “Other” if you don’t agree with the options given? That would allow us to cast our vote simply (and simpler for you in totting up the results) while leaving the option for additional items to be submitted.

• Best game or diversion, giving recognition to the more playful side of RISC OS!

I don’t really “do” games, so it’ll be interesting to see what turns up here. I ought to get around so seeing if I can hack an intallation of StarFighter3000. I have discs somewhere and maybe an installed version on the RiscPC, but I’ve not touched it in a decade…

• Best foreign language resource, because while RISCOSitory largely caters to the English speaking userbase, RISC OS itself isn’t exclusive to English speakers.

It is a good idea, but I wonder if the voting here might not be affected by linguistic ability. I’d probably vote for David’s site (French) as I can read it.
I believe there are also German (Dutch?) sites – is GAG still going? – but I don’t go to them as the most I know of German is “jest im gleich”, “klingeltöne”, and some of the days of the week … this being random stuff that I picked up from German MTV before I had British TV and when MTV used to play actual music videos instead of subtitled programmes. I took a look MTV-ways a couple of years ago to see if any of the names I remember (Yvonne Catterfeld, Die Arzte, Sabrina something-or-other) were still around, but it was wall to wall rubbish like “Pimp My Ride” which must be the most obnoxious programme ever (and that’s comparing it with “Punkd” and “that one where a bunch of morons do really stupid things for the lulz”).
Sorry. Got sidetracked. What was I saying again? Oh yeah, can’t read German, so a good German language site would not make much of an impression on me.
Certainly, foreign language sites do need to be publicised more. This is one of the things I like about David’s bi-lingual announcements. It makes it obvious that it is Francophone (and Germanophone (Deutchephone?) too in parts) as well as catering for English speakers as well. Not so much, but it’s a good inclusive start.

Now all we need is better language support within RISC OS itself! <stir><stir><stir>

• Best overall contributor to RISC OS, to honour whoever users think has done the most to help move the platform forward.

Anybody who does not vote for Jeffrey deserves to spend their eternity using Windows95 on a 486. ;-)

• Broken cog of the year, allowing users to name and shame whoever they believe has let them down the most.

Whoo-hoo-hoo! Lovely! :-) I wonder if there are any guilty parties having read that who think “oh <choice expletive here>”?
Own up now and be forgiven!

I ought to get around so seeing if I can hack an intallation of StarFighter3000. I have discs somewhere and maybe an installed version on the RiscPC, but I’ve not touched it in a decade…

Good news – it’s now available for free

(There’s also video of Andrew Hutchings’ recent ROUGOL talk, which you may find of interest if you have a couple of hours spare)

On the subject of the RO Awards, the only real feedback I have (after a quick skim through of the options, mind you) is that it might be nice to make some of the questions multiple choice (e.g. the other OS’s you use)

Good news – it’s now available for free

I think I know what I’ll be doing this weekend. ;-)

[Edit: Or maybe not? I just tried it on an emulator, and I suck so much it isn’t funny. I can’t believe I was ever any good at this! Any working cheat modules for newer machines? Unlimited ammo and unkillable would be nice.]

(e.g. the other OS’s you use)

I thought it was interesting to say not to choose another OS if you only used that OS for things that RISC OS can’t do ("or to perform any tasks for which RISC OS is unsuitable, please answer “No” to this question – your use is not “by choice”.). The problem is, it’s a bother switching machines. I am writing this in a browser. I can do it on RISC OS. I’m using Firefox. Earlier I updated my blog using WinSCP. Does RISC OS have an SFTP client that can remember passwords? (vitally important as my site password is, like, 40 characters of line noise)

There was also a missed opportunity with the “Other” option for which computer – it could have been more interesting to have “Other (desktop)” and “Other (tablet/mobile)” as I rather suspect that people’s attitudes are changing. If you see a post from me in the morning before I go to work, it was written on an iPad. Posts written during work (my break is usually about 1.30-2pm CET) will have been written on an Android phone. Evening is big-screen-computer-time.

The question “And do you use it more or less than RISC OS?” should have an “It varies” option. I generally tend to use the PC more, but that is often because I don’t run into browser limitations as quickly, plus I can start up mIRC and fire off xdcc’s in the background (can RISC OS even do that?) while referring to the packlist in the browser (NetSurf can’t do that, needs scripting).
However, the other weekend I was working with RISC OS all day and didn’t fire up the PC once. Indeed, I was pleased to be able to use !MTP to transfer photos around with a hell of a lot less bother than using the PC.
That said, my printer is a USB inkjet combo-jobbie. I do not expect it to work with RISC OS (even Linux doesn’t like it), so if I need to print I need to print from the PC. I believe there is a package I can buy that will bounce RISC OS print jobs off the PC’s printer driver… but, really, if I’m going to be doing that, I might as well use the PC to begin with.
So I think an “It varies” option would have been nice.

How long have I been a RISC OS user? “I’ve been using it since Acorn were around!”. Actually, a fair bit earlier. My first RISC OS machine was an A3000 bought shortly after they were released. It was quite the trade-up from a Beeb!
At the time it was considered horribly expensive, but I think it can be considered a good purchase given the amount of time it kept me occupied, and that I’m still playing with its offspring today.

I don’t know. Something inside me changed a few years ago. I have no interest in writing mobile apps (even though I might be able to write a crap one, get popular, get silly amounts of cash thrown at me by the likes of Facebook) and I don’t really have interest in programming on a PC any more. For the time being, I have put XP on the computer I bought at a boot sale, instead of learning Linux, in part because it is what I know, and in part because I see it as a tool. I use my iPad, I use my phone, I use my PC.
RISC OS is a lot less capable than all of those devices (and there is no reason other than development resources; my original phone, the Motorola DEFY is basically a Beagleboard in a tiny case with a screen bolted on). For this reason, I cannot really use RISC OS. It won’t play my animé, it won’t do script-heavy sites. So I have to find other ways to use RISC OS. RISC OS is not something I just use, it is something I enjoy whether it be looking for pet bugs in the OS, or making my own software. I still enjoy the intellectual challenge, I just prefer to enjoy it on my terms. I’m not in it for the money or the fame, so if I write a program and three people like it, that’s good enough. I developed, maybe learned something new, beat my head off the wall, made dumb mistakes, and turned a vague sort of a notion of an idea into something real. The goal is not the riches at the end, for me, the goal is mostly the journey from an empty editor window to a finished zip file. Some journeys are short and simple. Some are long and epic. The ones I enjoy I keep at, even when it gets hard. The rest? Well, the weak fall by the wayside but the strong will be saved. ;-)

So… “It varies” would be a good response.

my site password is, like, 40 characters of line noise

Mnemonics are the way to go:

Talwsatg1gAsbasth

First two lines of a favourite song, with number substitution and uppercase for line start.

BTW. I don’t use that one anywhere.

RISC OS is not something I just use, it is something I enjoy … the goal is mostly the journey from an empty editor window to a finished zip file.

Rick, those words sum up precisely how I feel about RISC OS. ;-)

Oops. I did a clumsy and lost my reply to three posts. :/

Oh well, let’s try again:

Rick:

I think you’ve made hard work for yourself. Maybe in 2015, you could go a hybrid route with preselected options, and a writeable “Other” if you don’t agree with the options given?

That was my plan for this year, but in order to come up with the options I needed to review a year of news – and I’ve been ridiculously busy over the last few months. (Witness the lack of posts to RISCOSitory for a while – not even the quick – but somewhat shameful – copy and paste kind!)

What I’ll do over the next year is keep a separate file of possible awards contenders as I publish things on the site – i.e. list the more choice items in the file as the year progresses, and make my selections from that when setting up the voting page next time.

As for the hard work counting up the results… possibly. I’ve been cunning with the planned timing so that the need to count up the results happens to fall in a week I normally take off of normal work, and I’m confident that not only can I code out most of the hard work, but that I have functions for most of what I need already written either in library code or older programs.

(For example, I’ll have to deal with different people spelling things differently… as I spot the common incorrect spellings, it becomes a matter of scripting a search and replace. I don’t just have code for that, but an entire application!)

On the subject of the new categories…

All were either suggested during/just after last year’s poll, or are based on those suggestions. For example, the foreign language resource is a result of non-UK RISC OS users pondering if there wasn’t enough representation from abroad in the options.

There were some non-English nominations last year (such as IIRC PiCano and GAG News) but not many – and the number of foreign votes, while high enough to be significant, was low enough that the odds were stacked against any of those options winning.

So a separate option is a good compromise, I think – and it ensures that there is some recognition and publicity in the awards result for at least one such resource.

The final new category was originally suggested as something like “best own goal” but I wanted a name that has more of a RISC OS connection – the idea of calling it “broken cog” hit me only a week or so back. The award graphic will, of course, reflect the name. :)

Jeffrey:

it might be nice to make some of the questions multiple choice (e.g. the other OS’s you use)

They’re all multiple choice – but I suspect you mean that it’d be nice if you could choose multiple answers for questions like that.

In my original attempt at replying, I pointed out that I wanted things kept simple – all of the survey answers ultimately end up in a CSV file (with the answers being A, B, C.. etc) so basic counting is a trivial spreadsheet function.

However, even as I typed that the first time, I had a facepalm moment. With my programming hat on, I should have realised that that some questions could have multiple answers, with the result being binary (eg Windows = 1, MacOS = 2, Linux = 4, etc) and it’d still be simple, with a program between the CSV and the spreadsheet dealing with that.

So next time, the radio buttons for some questions will become check boxes.

(Provided I remember, of course!)

If I was doing it in a more detailed way (which some might call ‘properly’) each question would be on its own page, and later questions would be determined by earlier answers – so if you said ‘no’ to whether you use another OS, you wouldn’t even see the OS/processor questions, and you could be presented with those questions as many times as you use other platforms.

Anyway, back to Rick:

I thought it was interesting to say not to choose another OS if you only used that OS for things that RISC OS can’t do ("or to perform any tasks for which RISC OS is unsuitable, please answer “No” to this question – your use is not “by choice”.)

Like the new categories, that wording change was the result of comments last year.

The problem is, it’s a bother switching machines. I am writing this in a browser. I can do it on RISC OS. I’m using Firefox.

The questions about whether you use another operating system in general because you want to do so – so it doesn’t matter if you’re using Firefox on another platform, whether that’s for the form or not, because switching platforms is too much bother: it’s about why you’re using that platform in the first place!

Is it because you have to do something on that platform because RISC OS can’t do it? That’s not by choice, then.

Is it because you have to use it for work purposes? That’s not by choice.

Is it because RISC OS can do what you want, but OtherOS does it quicker? That’s arguably a grey area, and perhaps depends on how much quicker, but IMO in that instance it’s a choice.

There was also a missed opportunity with the “Other” option for which computer – it could have been more interesting to have “Other (desktop)” and “Other (tablet/mobile)” as I rather suspect that people’s attitudes are changing.

and

The question “And do you use it more or less than RISC OS?” should have an “It varies” option.

Good ideas. Again, I’ll hopefully remember to add those next year.

How long have I been a RISC OS user? “I’ve been using it since Acorn were around!”. Actually, a fair bit earlier.

Eh?

You were using RISC OS before Acorn were around?

Please explain that paradox, you time traveling crazy person, you! ;)

Eh?
You were using RISC OS before Acorn were around?

Yes, does read a bit strangely doesn’t it?

I read it as “Not only while Acorn were still around but way back when RISC OS was still new”

Although I think, like others of us, Rick may have been a Beeb user before ARM existed so we used RO from its beginning.

For anyone struggling to think of what to choose for each category, here are some options we came up with at the last ROUGOL meeting:

http://www.rougol.jellybaby.net/meetings/2015/jan.html

Get voting!

I vote for ROUGOL’s ‘Broken Cog of the Year’ caffeine injection!

I missed this when it was originally posted.

I read it as “Not only while Acorn were still around but way back when RISC OS was still new”

Yes. That.

“Acorn were around” at what we, at the time, thought was the end of RISC OS. The demise of Phoebe.

Me? My first ARM box ran RISC OS 2. So I was there long before “since Acorn were around” which to me means “until 2000”; as opposed to more specifically 1989.

Although I think, like others of us, Rick may have been a Beeb user before ARM existed so we used RO from its beginning.

Yup. My Beeb wishes it was a Master 128, but never mind. I’ve not powered it up in a long time. Not needed to burn any EPROMs and an emulator “does it faster”. I’m an Econet hacker. There’s a rare (and mostly unnecessary) skill for you!

“Acorn were around” at what we, at the time, thought was the end of RISC OS. The demise of Phoebe.

“Acorn were around” at the birth of RISC OS, as well! By being earlier than 2000, 1989 is in the period that runs “until 2000” – like I said, you’re clearly a time traveling crazy person! :p

However, I’ll take these comments on board for next year (hopefully, I’ll remember – or remember to check this thread), and will expand the options on that question to differentiate those who were around right at the start, and those who discovered RISC OS later during Acorn’s time.

Meanwhile, I’ve extended the deadline for votes for the 2014 poll – it’s now 7th February, rather than 31st January.

Just a final reminder, folks; the deadline for votes is February 7th – that’s this Saturday.

So far, the poll has received 124 entries, but I know there are approximately 30 bogus entries, which means the number of actual votes is around 94 – compared with around 150 last year. :(

To quote just one paragraph of what I said when I announced the deadline extension:

Receiving the most votes in any category is encouraging for the relevant person or company. It tells them that people like what they’re doing, or what they’ve released – but more importantly, while people could tell them that directly, to vote is to contribute towards a more open show of recognition, and an award win therefore says, publicly, “We, as a community, like what you’ve done. Thank you!”

So if you haven’t yet voted, point your web browser in the direction of the voting form ASAP!

If you need ideas for things to vote for, you could do no worse than read this post on RISCOSitory, or ROUGOL’s suggestions.

Note to self: Ctrl-W to reformat a paragraph only works in your email program. In Firefox it closes the current tab – and if the current tab is the only one, bye bye browser, and bye bye forum post.

bye bye forum post

That one’s a random feature of the forum anyway, it doesn’t need help.

it doesn’t need help.

Unfortunately, I’ve given it that particular bit of assistance a few times – not just here, but on other forums as well (El Reg comments, for example). :(

The results are now online.

I haven’t sent out emails to winners yet because I’m a touch busy (the little matter of an upcoming show to get ready for!) – but people should start to notice anyway! :)

ROOL wins “Best web site” and “Best overall contributor”! Many thanks to everyone who voted. And thanks also to all those who work tirelessly without recognition. You know who you are… :)

Congratulations to all at ROOL :-)