Fastest SotC update ever !

state.html

@@ -15,114 +15,52 @@
 	belief, Knghtbrd has in fact been known to be wrong sometimes.  He
 	isn't afraid to admit it either (most of the time..)
 	
-<H2>How are things going?  Your SotC update is late again.</H2>
-	<P>Yeah yeah, I know.  Okay, first the quick news:  Palisade is
-	back.  The website is still under construction but it got a lot
-	easier to construct since now it updates immediately after a CVS
-	commit.  With Palisade back, it seems that everyone who planned to
-	vote on the logos has now done so and we should hopefully have a
-	result soon.
+<H2>The fastest SotC update ever!</H2>
+	<P>This update is so close to the last one posted a mere six hours
+	ago that most of you reading it never even saw the last one.  Don't
+	worry, anything important is being retained in this update.
 
-	<P>I promised I would keep the crap not related to the technical
-	aspects of the project short and at the top where they were easy to
-	skip, but a very important issue needs to be discussed whether it
-	fits the usual content of this page or not.  Here it is:
+	<P>Palisade is among the living believe it or not and we finally
+	have his votes for the logo contest.  He's pretty much it so the
+	good news is that we should very soon have a new logo!
 
-<H2>Will QuakeForge be able to run Mega2k?</H2>
-	<P>How many poeple can ask that in two weeks' time?  I lost count,
-	but there were a lot of inquiries.  Unfortunately, I have bad news
-	for you.  MegaTF says they're quite loyal to QuakeLives, despite any
-	legal or other problems the engine team has had or may have in the
-	future.  Ambush says on his radio show that he hopes all of the
-	engines will support MegaTF though, so we didn't really expect any
-	problems.
+	<P>I also had mention in the last SotC that the website updates
+	itself whenever any of us checks in a change now.  It's very nifty
+	and is helping us get the new site layout done faster.  Something I
+	didn't mention before is that we have somehow managed to convince
+	twisted to work with us on spicing up the page a bit while keeping
+	it functional and efficient.
 
-	<P>I've been trying for several weeks now to establish a regular
-	dialogue with Ambush, but people close to the project have told me
-	that most likely my emails wouldn't be seen, much less answered.  So
-	I mentioned something about trying to connect with him durring or
-	after the 17 March 2000 MegaPhone show.  Several other people from
-	the team as well as from other teams came as well to help show the
-	players of MegaTF that indeed we are serious about supporting the
-	mod fully.
+<H2>QuakeForge and Mega2k, redux..</H2>
+	<P>We all owe Yanster big for helping us get in contact with Ambush
+	of MegaTF tonight.  He was in #QuakeForge for a few hours talking to
+	the guys present at the time.  Among them were Mercury, Deek, Endy,
+	and devkev.  I was there too, but I was and am half dead from sleep
+	deprivation so I can't say I'm totally coherent then or now.
 
-	<P>Things remained civil until some of the QuakeLives guys came in,
-	and things started falling apart then.  Attempts to calm the fires
-	weren't terribly successful until not long before the show's start.
-	Things remained sane throughout most of the show.  Ambush asked for
-	another small feature to be added durring the show (the console
-	version string gets in the way and he'd like to get rid of it) and I
-	wrote and committed the feature he asked for on the spot.
+	<P>The guys in the channel helped Ambush get MegaTF build with qccx,
+	which was pretty cool I think since qccx is looking like one of the
+	most interesting quakec compilers out there to us and will probably
+	become our preference once qcc is released under the GPL.
 
-	<P>Fires started burning again shortly after the show ended.  I'm
-	not unsurprised, but eventually I did manage to wind up talking with
-	DyerMaker out of the view of the main channel so there was actually
-	a chance of talking.  The results?  I am now aware that MegaTF's
-	loyalty to QuakeLives extends as far as deliberately shutting out
-	any engine but QuakeLives from being able to run Mega2k.  They've
-	decided that since Slade will not take part in creating an open and
-	secure standard for all engines, they can only support his.  In
-	order to do that and do it well, they have to ensure that we can't
-	run Mega2k.  Nothing personal against QuakeForge or anything, it's
-	just how the politics have played out.
+	<P>Mercury was talking with Ambush about support for Mega2k in
+	QuakeForge.  I can't say where that's going yet because the
+	discussion hasn't reached conclusions yet.  Still, the discussion I
+	thought was so improbable is happening.  That's a good thing for the
+	entire community I think.  I'm glad to be wrong this time.
 
-	<P>So from where I'm sitting, it looks like Ambush isn't interested
-	in other projects and engines supporting MegaTF.  Or at least, he's
-	only interested in seeing QuakeLives-endorsed projects support
-	MegaTF.  Nothing personal and no offense intended toward us, but
-	they seem to be intending whether they say so or not to be
-	exclusively QuakeLives.
+	<P>What I said before about making sure that every engine can
+	support MegaTF, I meant every word of it.  I will do everything
+	humanly possible to ensure that the features needed become
+	standardized and that all of these engines are intercompatible at
+	the protocol level.  And securely too - what's it matter if all the
+	rest of this happens if any person can just cheat their way to
+	highest scores?
 
-	<P>Well, nothing personal, but I have no intention of playing these
-	silly one-must-win-and-everyone-else-must-lose games.  I'm quite
-	sick of them by now - but I'm surprised nobody else seems to be.
-	We'll do the best we can to support Mega2k whether they want it or
-	not.  Why?  For one, some of us play it.  For another, and more
-	importantly, many of <EM>YOU</EM> play it.  I lost count somewhere
-	not far before 150 people who have asked in recent weeks if
-	QuakeForge intended to support Mega2k's new features because you
-	don't run win32 and aren't interested in starting.  <I>Yes</I> we
-	will.  It may not happen until after Mega2k's release if the needed
-	information to do so is going to be withheld from us, but you better
-	believe it will happen.
-
-	<P>Am I being a bit harsh here?  Quite possibly.  As I write this,
-	it is now merely 24 hours after what we can all agree was a rough
-	night for a lot of people.  From my perspective, it looks like
-	MegaTF is refusing to allow Mega2k to run on anything but QL dispite
-	Ambush saying he wants all the engines to be able to run it and to
-	work together or interoperability standards.
-	
-	<P>It seems that's what's going on here, but that doesn't mean it is
-	what's happening.  Chances for misunderstandings have not been
-	infrequent and it's not unlikely that MegaTF would be absolutely
-	thrilled to see a project dedicated to compatibility and open
-	standards like QuakeForge working to make sure not only that we
-	support Mega2k, but that every project out there can.  And even more
-	importantly, that the user doesn't have to worry about whether or
-	not project foo's client is going to work with project bar's server.
-
-	<P>If that's the case, then all of the above is essentially moot.
-	We'll do our best to make sure we support Mega2k right out of the
-	archive the moment it and that whatever it takes to make sure it
-	does work has already been made available for and incorporated into
-	every single project we can find, whether they're affiliated with us
-	or with QSG or MegaTF or the abominable snowman or not.  Lack of
-	standards can only hurt the game.  Since that's obviously a very bad
-	thing, hell yeah we'll do everything we can to keep it from
-	happening.
-
-	<P>So what are you, the players of MegaTF who don't want to be tied
-	to a single engine and a single operating system, supposed to do
-	about any of this?  Make some noise!  And I don't mean go around
-	accusing MegaTF and QuakeLives of trying to quash all the other
-	engines either---that's the wrong kind noise to be making.  It also
-	is quite likely not true.  The noise you should be making is for
-	Mega2k to run on your preferred engine.  And I do realize for a lot
-	of you, the engine you prefer happens to be the only one that even
-	runs on your platform.  If that's the case, make sure you're heard!
-	You can write to me until the cows come home but I'm not the one who
-	needs to hear from you!
+	<P>Right now what seems to be necessary is time.  I still think
+	people who care should make sure they're heard so MegaTF knows that
+	Mega support in other engines is important to you.  That goes double
+	if you only have one engine for your platform to choose from.
 
 <H2>The actual technical stuff</H2>
 	<P>If you're still here after all of that, I'm impressed.  Release