Freeware World

Dofus is an MMORPG from French developers Ankama. It comes in a free-to-play version, and a premium which is much larger. Massively popular in France, it has beautiful cartoon art and an original fantasy setting (yes that is allowed, World of Warcraft!).

Of all the bigger MMORPGs, Dofus is one of the more unusual. We talked to English Content and Community Manager Izmar and Marketing Manager Ingrid about the game, follow up title Wakfu, and its adaption from French into English.

Dofus is very humorous. Was it difficult translating jokes into English? How did you deal with cultural references?

Localization is always a challenge, but our translation team has that great combination of cleverness and creativity that keeps the game text lively and relevant, just like the French version. The translators always try to maintain cultural references when it’s possible for our English-speaking players to enjoy. If the French contains a reference that simply can’t cross the language barrier for whatever reason, they’re not ashamed to draw on American, British, or Canadian sources to make the players smile.

The MMORPG market is really well developed these days; what do you think makes Dofus and Wakfu stand out?

There’s several things that I think Dofus and Wakfu do particularly well to stand out from the pack. Obviously, tactical, turn-based strategy is still a relatively untapped well for MMOs. It’s a more thoughtful twist on the usual MMO-type of combat, which normally relies on speed and mouse reflexes for success so there’s a lot of appeal for casual gamers. At the same time, character customization is incredibly deep and varied, so the hardcore RPG fan will find a wealth of possibilities to explore.

Then there’s visual style. Ankama’s game art has always had a strong, individual look that is personable and friendly to those accustomed to anime and western cartoons without being a straightforward imitation of either style. The use of 2-D vector animation instead of 3-D or pixel-based animations allows the graphics to be beautifully fluid without a major drain on computer performance.

Finally, there’s the platform. Using Flash and Adobe Air has made DOFUS easy to access for players on any operating system. It can be used easily on a laptop or a computer that’s not cutting edge, making it accessible to a much wider group of players.

When is Wakfu being released in the US?

There’s no official release date available at this time.

The classes in Dofus have bizarre names like Feca and Sram Xelor. How did you come up with them?

Some character class names have hidden meanings if read backwards. For example, Magician Xelor is a well known brand reversed. The name of the healer Eniripsa is aspirin read backwards, etc.

For me, it’s the bizarre sense of humor that makes Dofus special, and it’s really worth checking out if you’re looking for a new MMORPG experience. Head over to their website to download the client and get started.

Free office suite OpenOffice.org is becoming increasingly popular with home users and small and medium businesses. According to the company, OpenOffice’s market share in Germany, for example, is an incredible 20%. OnSoftware spoke to international marketing head Florian Effenberger about OpenOffice, open source software and Microsoft.

OnSoftware: What is OpenOffice’s market share?

Effenberger: About four weeks ago we got new numbers on that, more or less for the first time. According to a Webmasterpro study that asked what users have installed on their system, OpenOffice has a 20% market share in Germany, more or less. I assume that the number of unreported users is actually significantly higher, taking Ubuntu and other users into account.

Microsoft has reduced the price of its own Office package. Do you think this is related to the success of OpenOffice?

Well, we’re not entirely free of blame. We look at it as a challenge. There’s more to it: although Microsoft may reduce their prices, there’s still the whole issue of the open standard philosophy. You can’t emphasize that part enough.

A preview of Microsoft Office 2010 has been available for a few weeks now. The new version has considerably more options and is firmly aimed at business users. How is OpenOffice going to react? Are you planning any additional features?

Our users are really important to us. We will publish version 3.3 in about 6 months, right on schedule. This is our normal cycle: every 3 months we release a bugfix and every 6 months there’s a minor release with new features. No completely new modules are planned; we will improve existing elements instead. We’ll see the first effects of user interface project Renaissance shortly, but it’s certainly not going to be as radical as is being suggested by some media sources. Whether or not the program interface is going to see a major change, we just don’t know yet.

And what about the Microsoft project SharePoint?

SharePoint allows multiple people to work on a document simultaneously. When you’re talking about a spreadsheet, for example, I can see how it would be useful.  But in a text document? I don’t know if that makes sense. With SharePoint, apart from anything, you need the Office package, a SharePoint Server, a Windows Server and maybe even an Exchange Server - and then all the licenses! Each part is another thing that the user has to pay for. In the end, you have to ask - how much of this functionality is the normal user actually taking advantage of?

Is there any “lite” version of OpenOffice planned?

No, we don’t have any plans for one. I wonder if it would make any sense. Our main objective is to improve the existing version, to make it more efficient. Ultimately though, OpenOffice is open source, so anyone could do it. I’d be worried about the usability of a version like that though. A special junior version has already been created by one user, however, OOO4Kids. This package is configured to install only the essential functions.

When you buy a new computer today there is normally a lot of software pre-installed. Usually it’s Microsoft Office rather than OpenOffice. Are you working on increasing use in this context?

Yes, we’re on it! With some producers in countries such as Greece, for example, OpenOffice is already installed on the computer. Others install OpenOffice and a trial version of Microsoft Office on your computer - there’s no conflict with the two, it’s fine.

We get the impression that more and more users prefer free software to illegally pirated programs. What’s your opinion?

Apart from in countries such as China, for example, where the black market is quite strong, that is true in most cases. More and more average users, and also small and medium businesses, are resorting to free software. And there’s another issue: even if I legally buy software, all the activation/validation stuff annoys the user. I understand that Microsoft Office 2010 will just have a key server - no volume licenses. Imagine the cost of managing that?! OpenOffice eliminates license costs, management and problems - like what happened recently with Microsoft declaring legal licenses to be invalid. That will never happen with OpenOffice.

Via OnSoftware DE.

It’s taken a while, but mobile operators have finally given up trying to fight against VoIP services. That’s the assessment from Tobias Kemper, Vice President at mobile VoIP heavyweight, Nimbuzz. Speaking to OnSoftware following the launch of the service’s new NimbuzzOut feature he said: “operators have stopped seeing us as enemies, but rather as a value add for their services and networks.”

NimbuzzOut allows users to make dirt cheap international mobile phone calls over the Internet via Nimbuzz. Rates are as low as 0.02 cents for calling the UK and China. Traditionally, these kind of services have struck fear into mobile operators worried about losing call revenue to cheap and free VoIP alternatives.

Several operators, including T-Mobile and AT&T have previously banned VoIP services, such as Nimbuzz, Skype and Google Voice from using the company’s network. Following widespread criticism these bans have since been overturned, and Kemper now believes the future’s looking bright for mobile VoIP and social media messaging.

Operators understand that the future is in VoIP for reasons of quality assurance and scalability. Nimbuzz is a brilliant data magnet that increases loyalty and customer churn for the operator. Operators have been more and more receptive toward us over the recent months and we will have some more interesting announcements coming up, beyond the roll outs with O2 in Germany and Eutelia in Italy. Operators have never been successful in banning third party services and evolution. T-Mobile tried and lost in court. T-Mobile USA has now seen its data traffic increase by factor 10 in the last quarter, only because of social media messaging.

NimbuzzOut has been already been rolled out for iPhone and Symbian devices, with the remaining platforms to be supported in the very near future. Notably, the developer has chosen to retain SkypeOut functionality within Nimbuzz, though it’s clear it will be encouraging users to switch over to NimbuzzOut. “It’s the choice our users. We have a very diplomatic solution and the user decides what’s best for them. NimbuzzOut is a great addition for everyone who is new to the VoIP game or looking for a cheap international calling solution,” said Kemper.

Kemper said that Nimbuzz will now focus its attentions to location-based feature to make the program even more useful. There’s plenty of competition in the mobile VoIP and social media market and Nimbuzz must continue to evolve if it wants to compete with the likes of Skype, Fring and Google Voice. In fact, they go head to head for the Best Social Network App award at the Crunchies in January, which you can vote on here.

Those canny Swedes have been at it again. Following on from the launch of music service Spotify, Voddler is a new service where the focus is the screen rather than music. Voddler promises to offer a service similar to Spotify except with films and TV shows on demand.
Co-founder Mathias Hjelmstedt told OnSoftware:
“Since 2005, we’ve been […]

With so many different ways to contact people these days, phoning someone up is often the third or fourth option many of us think of when we want to get in touch with them. And as the mobile Internet gets faster and cheaper, more of us will be using our phones for email, instant messaging, […]

As you will probably know by now, last night saw the launch of Google’s new web browser, Chrome. Somewhat confusingly trumpeted by Michael Arrington as a ‘Windows killer’, Google Chrome is clearly designed to take on not only Microsoft’s Internet Explorer but also Mozilla’s Firefox. We spoke to Mozilla Europe board member Zbigniew Braniecki, to […]

As you will probably know by now, last night saw the launch of Google’s new web browser, Chrome. Somewhat confusingly trumpeted by Michael Arrington as a ‘Windows killer’, Google Chrome is clearly designed to take on not only Microsoft’s Internet Explorer but also Mozilla’s Firefox. We spoke to Mozilla Europe board member Zbigniew Braniecki, to […]