Licensed and free software products. Organization of software updates using the Internet. Role-playing game is free. Free RPG Systems Free Software Criteria and Definition

For a wide range of gamers, sympathizers, or just curious people, role-playing is almost certainly associated with bright, beautifully designed books. Their glossy pages are lavishly illustrated, and their covers are works of printing art. At the sight of colorful rollbooks, the heart of a true role-player flutters, his eyes burn, but his mind remains calmly calm. After all, these magical books, which open the way for us to the world of miracles and adventures, cost a pretty penny.

Bourgeois and pirates
Rolebooks of the most popular role-playing games, which include D&D, GURPS, Vampires: The Masquerade and some others, published abroad, based on the tastes and wallet of the Western role-player. And even he has prices for role-playing games are sometimes thoughtful. For the Russian amateur, who is often a schoolboy or student, the acquisition of only one "Player's Guide" D&D, costing $ 30, can mean big sacrifices.
At the same time, as you know, for commercial systems, a typical situation is when one book with rules is not enough to start the game. In case of D&D rather quickly it is discovered that for a full-fledged game, two more books are urgently needed: “The DM“ a ”and“ The Monster's Guide. ”If you think about it, it’s not a bad idea to pay money for an excellent official the module is written.
With other commercial systems, the situation may differ in detail, but it is essentially identical: "Do not hide your money in banks and corners!". Of course, there is another way to get possession of at least some semblance of a rudbook - piracy. We will not even consider it, since we believe that all our readers respect copyright and intellectual property. Reproduction of rollbooks on copiers or printing out scans of poor quality are the realities of the long-time role-playing past, when there were practically no other ways to get the system, and the slogan "Freedom of information!" taken too literally.

Abroad
However, stop! We write "commercial role-playing games" here.

And what, there are others? There are, and probably some of the readers have already smelled the sweet smell of freebies. Where do free RPG games come from? First, it can be developed by companies that release commercial games. Secondly, it can be the fruits of selfless creativity of enthusiasts.
Why would a commercial firm create something for free? The reasons can be very different. Here's the most famous example: a company Wizards of the Coast , which created the Third Edition D&D and many other games, developed and published on the Internet a free role-playing system d20 system... You can freely download it from the official site and play with it. Free d20 is a kind of skeleton of a commercial D&D... Her lyrics contain everything you need to play.
By releasing d20 even before the start of sales D&D, WotC killed two birds with one stone. First, it served as a "demo" for fans of the Second Edition AD&D, excited by rumors about revolutionary changes in the native system. Secondly, d20 was adopted by a large number of independent companies as a standard, a unified metasystem, under which a myriad of modules, settings and other accessories began to be written. Now the label "d20-compatible" means familiar to a role player

mechanics, well-known rules, supplemented something new. In addition, themselves WotC consistently use d20 as a standard, releasing on its basis not just extensions, but full-fledged role-playing games. For example, on the platform d20 found a new life Star Wars RPG.
Another example of a free role-playing game created by professionals is the system Fuzion co-written by the companies R.Talsorian Games and Hero games ... It can also be freely downloaded from the official website. Hero games... Unlike d20 which currently exists as plain text in RTF format, Fuzion are well-designed PDFs that can be printed on a printer. The reason for the appearance Fuzion served by the same ambition to create a unified mechanic for the series role-playing games. Moreover, this project was crowned with clear success, although the circle of companies that produce products under Fuzion much narrower than in the case d20.
However, for many lovers Fuzion all over

the world is not so important. After all, the Web contains a lot of various add-ons and extensions to Fuzion and it's completely free. This simple and concise system is built on a modular basis. Having mastered the "core" of the system, you can choose to play almost any genre, from fantasy to space opera. You can almost certainly track down an extension under Fuzion, which contains most of what you need.
Finally, the system is very well known FUDGE... Simple, not overloaded with details, it is well suited for playing at the "semi-verbal" level, when the rules are used only where they are desperately needed. Simple mechanics FUDGE allows you to widely change the detail of the game. For example, the outcome of a battle can be decided either by a single throw or by a long round-round wagering - of your choice. Unlike the systems mentioned above, FUDGE- authoring by an enthusiast named Stephen O'Sullivan ... And its success shows that professional and popular RPG may well be the work of amateur designers. We have

All of the above are free

RPGs created abroad and published on the Internet in English. Knowing that the industry of tabletop role-playing games is gradually beginning to develop in our country (" The art of magic", "Age of Aquarius"), the question is quite natural: what is the situation with free RPGs in our country?
If we have lagged behind our foreign colleagues here, it is no more than in the field of commercial games. For more than two years, there has been a domestic role-playing game in runet " World of the Great Dragon" ("Ministry of Internal Affairs The system was developed by a team of enthusiasts, which is not surprising - three years ago no one in our country was engaged in the professional development of role-playing games. But everything was done seriously, at a high level. " World of the Great Dragon"is a beautifully designed book in PDF format, which has become almost the standard for non-profit systems. On the official site you can get the "Rules", "Guide" and various applications, such as a monster and descriptions of magic spells. Role-based software (programs

for creating characters), modules, articles to help the presenter and many other useful material. On the official forum, you can always get advice from developers or advice from system experts. Commerce versus altruism

If you have already experienced the possibility of choosing between a commercial and a free system, let's see how to make it right. The fact is that an experienced role player can clearly see principled the difference between paid and free systems. Any commercial role-playing game is primarily a commodity. And therefore, the main priorities for them will be commercial quality, breadth of coverage of customer needs and profit. Profit is the main thing, because people do business. The result of this approach is excellently designed books of high print quality. The material required for the game is spread over several books - the more books you buy, the more profitable the business. Any of your whims in terms of the variety of forms of play can be satisfied - with one more book. On the other hand, your attempts to create something of your own within the framework of a commercial system will turn out to be a very time-consuming and difficult task. It's easier to direct the same efforts to making money, which you can then spend on buying another rudbook,

where will be approximately what you needed for the game.
The situation is completely different with free systems. Their common feature is versatility. If you have played enough fantasy D&D and you want a space opera - welcome to the store where you can buy a Star Wars rollbook with a separate system. Both systems have one base ( d20), but having only the "Player's Guide" D&D, you will not be able to play the confrontation between the Jedi and the Sith.
In the same time Fuzion with all its applications covers the entire spectrum of adventure genres. But at the same time it is one and only system. And this is also the logic of life. Free system developers are often driven by altruistic, creative motives. But they don't want to do the extra work either. And it is easier to write a universal system once than one for each case of life.
The pay for versatility, of course, is the detail and

detailing the rules of the game. And here we can find another feature of free systems. As a rule, they are also very convenient for revision. It is impossible to write a system to such an extent universal that it could be played on it. absolutely anything. But you can make the system so that adding new features to the game on your own will be simple and easy.
It is very important for a commercial system to suit as many role players as possible. Therefore, 80% of her rudbook contains what you personally will never need, but without which Vasya Pupkin cannot imagine a normal game. It turns out that the lion's share of the hard-earned money that you gave for the book goes to satisfy Vasya Pupkin's requests. In the free system, as a rule, you will find only those 20%, without which it is basically impossible to play. What you need, and Vasya Pupkin, and any other role player. And if something is missing in the system, add it to it yourself, for this there are all the conditions.
And this is a completely deliberate approach. For example, in the Facilitator's Guide for " World Great Dragon"a whole chapter is devoted to ways of improving the game: how to create a new race, a new class, skill or type of weapon, and at the same time not upset the balance of the system. Making a choice

Free systems are most often liked not by lovers of freebies, but by creative presenters who are inclined to embody some of their ideas in the rules. For this, a person, even having money for commercial

roulbooks, often prefers a simple, but flexible and versatile free system. This is not a question of financial gain, but of your character and your goals in the game. Someone more like flipping through a beautiful guidebook for hours, looking for details and nuances of the rules. And some people prefer to sit and think about how to paint it according to their system. If you tend to see a product in a role-playing system that should have everything you might need for your money, then you will be happy with a commercial role-playing game. And if you look at the system as a constructor from which you can build whatever you want, think about a free system.
Free RPGs in English:
D20 - www.opengamingfoundation.org
Fuzion - www.herogames.com/fuzion
FUDGE - www.io.com/~sos/fudge.html
Free RPG in Russian:
Ministry of Internal Affairs - www.dragonworld.rolemancer.ru
In the design of the article, illustrations made by Princess Dragon for Game " Ministry of Internal Affairs".

On our compact you can find everything you need to play on domestic RPG " World of the Great Dragon":
- Rules of the game ... Role-playing basics; description of the characteristics of heroes, races, classes, skills. Character development rules, battle rules, magic action.
- Leading guide ... Driving basics, creating a group of heroes, considering basic game situations, modifying the system, psychology of the game.
- Magic ... Descriptions of spells for mages and priests, additional rules.
- Bestiary ... Application to the "World of the Great Dragon" system. Examples of descriptions of monsters, monsters, animals.
- Character sheet , designed for easy recording of character characteristics.
- Character creation software ... Allows you to create a hero in full compliance with the rules, store data about him, export a character sheet to MS Excel.
- "Mad Troll" ... Scenario (module) with a classic storyline for beginners and players.

This lecture hall contains a variety of materials about free software developed specifically for educational purposes or suitable for use in schools and other educational institutions to conduct and / or support the educational process.

Cycle of video lectures on the topic "Operating system LINUX"

In the section "Telecourses" in the subsection "Video lectures" there is a cycle of video lectures on the topic "Operating system LINUX"

March 18, 2009. A set of applications for education EduMandriva 2009 and a set of free applications for Windows FreeSpring 2009 have been released. This set of applications was prepared at the Mandriva Competence Center of the Glazov State Pedagogical Institute. V.G. Korolenko and is designed to facilitate the installation and use of educational software, as it contains a selection software, necessary for conducting classes in computer science and ICT disciplines in secondary, secondary specialized and higher educational institutions, compiled on the basis of the wishes of teachers.

Free software

Along with commercial software products, so-called "free" software has become widespread, distributions of which are placed on the Internet for a wide range of users. Most of the developers of such software position their products as "free for non commercial use" - free for non-commercial use. This means that such software can be freely used by individuals and educational institutions, but cannot be used by anyone to make commercial products.
Below is a summary table of the free software recommended for use in educational institutions.

Software name	Appointment	Distribution kit
ALT- Linux EdUbuntu Debian MOPSLinux	Operating systems (for servers and workstations)	http://linux.armd.ru/ http://ubuntu.ru/ http://www.debian.org/ http://www.mopslinux.org/
OpenOffice	Office suite ( text editor"Writer", editor of mathematical formulas "Math", spreadsheet "Calc", database management system "Base", presentation editor "Impress"	http://ru.openoffice.org/
Scratch (analogue of Logo)		http://scratch.mit.edu/
Lazarus (analogous to Pascal)	Visual programming environment	http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/
Eclipse	Visual programming environment	http://www.eclipse.org/
NetBeans	Visual programming environment	http://www.netbeans.org/
Mozilla Firefox	Web browser	http://www.mozilla-europe.org/ru/firefox/
Mozilla Thunderbird	Customer Email	http://www.mozilla-europe.org/ru/products/thunderbird/
KompoZer	HTML editor	http://www.kompozer.net/
Gimp	Raster graphics editor	http://www.gimp.org/
Inkscape	Vector graphics editor	http://www.inkscape.org/
QCad	Professional drafting system	http://www.qcad.org/
Scribus	Desktop publishing system	http://www.scribus.net/
Audacity	Sound file editor
Avidemux	Video editor	http://www.avidemux.org/
Blender	3D graphics editor	http://www.blender.org/
Skype	Video communication, instant messaging service	http://www.skype.com/
MySQL	Database Management System	http://www.mysql.com/
Google Apps	Software as a Service	http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/ru/index.html

Prospects for the development of information technologies in education, Lagunov Alexey Yurievich, dept. informatics and computing technology Primorsky State University, Arkhangelsk

Free Software in School: LinuxSchool Community

As part of supporting the work of teachers with free software, we suggest you use the "Linux Format" magazine in your work. This magazine is the only monthly periodical in Russia entirely devoted to free software and operating system GNU / Linux.

Skype

Small free app Skype allows you to organize audiovisual conferences between Internet users. Wherever your interlocutor is, you can always contact him via Skype with the ease of usual phone call that won't cost a dime. In addition to voice communication, Skype allows you to exchange instant text messages, and with a webcam, the program turns into a real videophone, which makes it unique in the free software sector. Large scope for use makes it possible to organize conferences - connecting several users to a conversation at the same time (up to 25 participants).

V educational institution this application can perform many tasks: from operational communication between teachers and administration to video broadcasting of open lessons, remote communication with students. Using Skype program, schools can remotely share experiences, class teachers can conduct remote parent-teacher meetings. These are just a few examples of the use of this indispensable application.

Even a low-speed ADSL connection to the Internet is enough for the program to work. After installation and registration, the program is almost immediately ready to work.

Minimum system requirements: OS Microsoft Windows 2000, XP and later, microphone, Internet connection with a speed of 128 kbps. The higher the speed of the Internet connection, the higher the quality of the connection.

For video communication, you need a computer with a processor frequency of at least 1 GHz and RAM volume of at least 256 MB and, of course, a webcam.

Official site where you can download the latest version of the program: http://www.skype.com/

Free software from Google

Developers from American Google, which owns one of the world's most popular Internet search engines, has long gone beyond the purely "search" industry. New ones emerging with astonishing rapidity software solutions from Google, although they revolve around the same search engine, they are increasingly acquiring the features of separate, self-sufficient and complete products. Now Google offers for free a whole package of programs and web tools that allow you to edit text and graphics, view maps, conveniently use the Internet, optimize system performance - our today's review is devoted to these possibilities. Below we will consider several useful applications that can be used in the educational process.

Google Chrome: a web browser for Windows

Google Web Tools

The Internet is becoming more functional. If earlier with the help of a browser it was only possible to browse Internet pages, now on the Internet you can use a variety of Internet applications and web tools that can sometimes completely replace ordinary software that needs to be installed on a computer. This means that, wherever you are, on any computer, having access to the Internet, you can take advantage of many of the features that you are used to working with on your PC.

GMail email service

Google Earth - Planet Earth

The amazing Google Earth app gives you the ability to travel around our planet without getting up from your chair. This is a three-dimensional model of the planet, moving along which you can view satellite photographs of the earth's surface in stunning detail, and in latest versions programs - even explore the starry sky. Thanks to the wide possibilities of functional expansion of the program, a whole community of users has formed around it, who share their photos, observations and other information through the many tools of "Google Earth". For example, anyone can link the picture they have taken to a geographic point. And all other users, looking at the map of the area where the photo was taken, will immediately be able to see it. Millions of people are now using Google Earth to explore the world around them. Developers create additional layers that can be superimposed on satellite images: the railway network, the most interesting tourist routes, mining sites and many more add-ons are available for download on the Internet.

The program is irreplaceable, first of all, in geography lessons. Students can instantly see almost any geographic feature from a bird's eye view on the screen. Just imagine: mountains and plains, seas and oceans, islands, rivers, cities - and all this is just one click away. Agree that exploring satellite images is much more exciting than using ordinary geographical maps: when working with the program, you get a feeling of tangibility, reality of everything that is displayed on the screen, and the lesson turns into an exciting journey.

The program can also be used by students to illustrate multimedia projects, and not just geography. It is applicable in physics, biology, astronomy ...

The program downloads all data in real time from the Internet, therefore, for its operation, a stable connection with the network and, preferably, a tariff with unlimited traffic is required.

Distribution is free.

It should be said about this type of software right away that the condition of having a license for a certain product is not required. So, for example, both licensed applications and those developed by enthusiasts in their field (semi-professionals, students, etc.) belong to free software.

Thus, among all that is offered today on the market of computer and mobile software, three large categories can be distinguished separately:

open source programs;
freeware applications;
open source software.

Varieties of free software

What programs are called free distribution is already a little clear. But here, too, there are some nuances.

Open source software is not protected by copyright from the point of view of legislation. In this case, only the fact of alienation of the rights to the product from the author and their assignment to the category of the public domain, when the rights are common property, are indicated. Some of the Internet standards (HTML, TCP / IP, etc.) are prime examples. However, they may or may not be open source. But in any case, such free software for Windows, for example, can be modified, changed, used to develop new software, or simply distribute them without any restrictions.

For the second type of software products, the copyright is reserved for the developer, and their use, as a rule, is limited to reduced capabilities, as well as by the terms of non-commercial use. For freeware programs, as it is already clear, any modification of them without the consent of the author is impossible or even illegal, although you do not need to pay for their use. In addition, the developer, as a rule, constantly monitors the use and distribution of his software product, and in some cases may even transfer it to the status of shareware, which implies a limitation in functionality or free use for a certain period.

Finally, another look at free software. Examples of such software would be incomplete if the issue of open source software was not addressed. What does this mean in the simplest sense? Yes, only that the developer provides users with unlimited rights to launch the application for any purpose, change and modify with the subsequent transfer of its original or modified copy to third parties, etc. its level of freedom of action is much higher than for other freeware products, for which basically the concept of free distribution includes only the ability to create a copy and use it for their own needs.

Criteria and definition of free software

Speaking about what programs are called free distribution, one cannot but touch upon the issue of so-called freedoms, which is regulated by the rules of the General Public License (licenses will be discussed separately).

Back in the 70s of the last century, R. Stallman formulated the basic concepts of freedoms in relation to software products:

"Zero freedom" - the use of software for any purpose without restrictions;
"First freedom" - the ability to study the work of the program and its adaptation to your needs;
"Second freedom" - free distribution of copies of the application;
"Third freedom" - the ability to change or improve the program with subsequent public publication.

As can be seen from the above criteria, for the "first" and "third freedom" one of the prerequisites is the presence of that very open source code, the concept of which, by the way, was introduced somewhat later by E. Raymond. In general, based on these principles, by and large, only those that meet all four criteria can be called free programs and applications.

Free license types

Apart from the main license, today you can find quite a lot of other legislative acts regulating this area of activity.

However, as a rule, the most widespread and most used free license is the GNU GPL. different versions... In addition, there are also flavors such as MIT and BSD. The main advantage of this software is precisely that it can be used at home, in schools and universities, or in any other organization.

Free Software: Examples

If you start listing all that can be attributed to free software in part or in full, this may take too much time, and you can find a lot of software products themselves.

However, among all that users use most often, it is possible to note various kinds of multimedia tools, Internet technologies, some computing tools and even whole office packages(Oracle OpenOffice). The licensed programs are not open source, but some applications can be easily modified. Even the developers themselves initially agree to modify their software products by users in order to improve functionality or fix bugs.

Features of licensed applications

Licensed programs should be separately noted among free software. As stated above, they are protected by copyright and use agreements.

But many of us are faced with such things almost every day. Surely, many have seen that when installing some programs at one of the first stages of the installation, a window appears in which the text is shown and, if you do not check the box next to the line of agreement with all the points, the installation simply will not continue. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of users consider this to be pure formality or convention and never read the text itself. But in vain. Many would not hurt to know what it is about.

The license, by the way, implies that this software will work one hundred percent on the hardware or in the configuration declared by the developer, which cannot be said about other free products, no matter how attractive they look.

Some types of paid apps

Finally, turn to paid apps... All categories will not be considered. We are interested in the types of shareware and trial shareware programs.

In most cases, they can be downloaded and installed for free. As a rule, such programs can have full functionality or limited capabilities that can be used for a certain period (usually 30 days). But after that, the application may stop working, since it will either need to be registered as an official copy, or purchased.

With the first case, everything is simple. It is enough just to pass simple registration on the developer's website, sometimes confirmation via e-mail may be required, but if this is a demo version, you will have to buy the full one. In the second case, you will also have to pay. However, this has never stopped our user (and not only).

Is it possible to bypass the restrictions when using paid programs?

Today, in the computer Internet space, you can find a lot of groups of enthusiasts who are engaged in, to put it mildly, illegal actions - hacking programs. And, from the point of view of international law, all those who install or use such copies can also be classified as cybercriminals (at least, accomplices - that's right).

Therefore, when it is proposed to use someone else's license keys, password generators (KeyGen.exe), patching (Patch.exe) or something like that, you should think a hundred times about the legality of such actions. No, of course, international organizations involved in countering cybercrime will not be able to track all users (they simply will not have enough time and resources for this), but the very fact of using hacked software products is already a direct violation.

Conclusion

Hopefully, many have already understood which programs are called free and what criteria they meet. Among the majority of users, by the way, there is a misconception that free software is less functional than paid software products. Nothing like this. Some licensed and freely distributed programs created by enthusiasts and / or often have open source, sometimes not only are not inferior to the paid counterparts of well-known developers, but even surpass them (the same OpenOffice, which many users consider a much more interesting package than the paid counterpart from Microsoft ).

Classification of programs according to their legal status

According to their legal status, programs can be divided into three large groups: licensed, shareware, and free distribution.

Licensed programs. In accordance with the license agreement, the developers of the program guarantee its normal functioning in a certain operating system and are responsible for this.

Licensed programs are usually sold by developers in boxed distributions. The box contains CD-disks from which the program is installed on users' computers, and a user's manual for working with the program.

Quite often, developers provide significant discounts when purchasing licenses to use the program on a large number of computers or educational institutions.

Conditionally free programs. Some software firms offer shareware to users for advertising and marketing purposes. The user is provided with a version of the program with a certain period of validity (after the expiration of the specified period of validity, the program stops working if no payment has been made for it) or a version of the program with limited functionality(in case of payment, the user is given a code that includes all the functions of the program).

Free software vendors are interested in widespread distribution. To such software include the following:

Free software. Many manufacturers of software and computer equipment are interested in wide distribution of software free of charge. These software tools include:

· New unfinished (beta) versions of software products (this allows them to be widely tested).

· Software products that are part of fundamentally new technologies (this allows you to conquer the market).

· Add-ons to previously released programs that fix found bugs or expand capabilities.

· Drivers for new or improved drivers for existing devices.

But whichever software you choose, there are General requirements to all software groups:

· Licensed purity (the use of the software is permissible only within the framework of the license agreement).

· Possibility of consultation and other forms of support.

· Compliance with the characteristics, configuration, class and type of computers, as well as the architecture of the computer technology used.

· Reliability and performance in any of the foreseen operating modes, at least in a Russian-speaking environment.

· Availability of an interface that supports work using the Russian language. English language interface is acceptable for system and tooling software.

· Availability of documentation required for practical application and development of software in Russian.

· Ability to use fonts that support Cyrillic.

The presence of a specification that stipulates all the requirements for hardware and software necessary for the functioning of this software.