I was not happy from the answer I got from the Gnome developers: "A feature will be implemented if and only if there is a developer who wants to implement it."
And then she goes on to rant how Open Source developers need to cater to their users if open source is to 'succeed.' So, apparently Eugenia doesn't really understand how Open Source software development works. It's not a Leia^H^H^H^Hcommittee. All work is voluntary, which means, as the Gnome devel team pointed out, the only work that gets done is work the devel team feels like working on.
The Freedom OSS provides is the freedom to add features you want either by writing them yourself or paying others to do it. You're also free to whine to the devel team about the features you want... and they're free to ignore you. Freedom is like that.
I'll tell you why noone wants to watch English dubbed anime -- because it is crap.
I used to be you. I used to dismiss all dubs as total crap merely because all the dubs I had heard were, in fact, total crap. And, for the most part, they are still total crap, but that doesn't mean it's all bad. As Anime slowly moves closer to main stream there are a number of vendors pushing for better quality dubs. I now find it disingenuous to dismiss them all as crap, even if the vast majority of them are.
why do foreign movies have to be dubbed?
We hear words much faster than we can read them. I also watch all my Anime subbed and on some of the dialogue heavy titles, you get content overload. I'm specifically thinking of the Ghost in the Shell series Stand Alone Complex, but there are certainly others.
The more mental cycles you spend reading, the less you can devout to admiring the artwork and noticing subtle movements. Most people don't have onboard subtitle processors, and don't see the need for one. And with the wealth of content available in their native language many fail to see any reason to learn new tricks.
Give each member a share of common stock for x dollars and run the business as any other. Any profits can be reinvested in the business or payed to the members as a dividend. Then the fans are the owners and the conventional business model will not be upset.
Again, you're missing the picture here. That business model is based on generating revenue for share holders. Those who invest in the fan group are doing so for content, they want more episodes. If you merely create another for-profit group, it would be no different than the current business models and would look to sacrifice quality and content in the name of the bottom line.
What kind of standard could something like this set? Imagine if this caught on and they did it to popular shows such as the OC. Actors get inflated salaries and/or networks make even more $$$. I hope this never happens for a show just because of the standard it would set.
You're missing out on the big picture. Right now the studios are servants of their advertisers and their networks. Fan owned syndication would mean the fans themselves are the ones with the money and they'll be the ones setting the rules. There are many questions which would need to be answered as the organization rises up to fill the role as distributor. They could cut out the studio entirely and only provide DVDs to members, for instance.
The only trick is putting the restrictions on the fan organization so it doesn't rise up to become just another self-serving money making company. As long as it follows the will of its fan base it will be focused on providing those fans with new episodes, not lining it's own pockets.
I might actually pass on buying any of these next consoles....
Unfortunately old school gamers such as ourselves are no longer driving the market. We're becoming more and more of a niche group as the dominant market segment is more than content to stay on the sequel bandwagon. There are plenty of kids who haven't yet Been There or Done That and need to build up their own library of titles, even if we might scoff at their selection.
I fear it's going to be awhile before the gaming industry finally eats itself by turning off their primary market base either by milking the hype-engine dry and/or chokes on a consistent series of under-performing titles. Until then Big Money will continue to push more of the same and Joe Gamer will continue to buy it.
I worked for a company where we needed to write up weekly time accounting reports. These WTA (TPS?) reports were expected to account for 40 hours, of which around 8 should be on personal 'horizon expansion' projects. This could be anything from surfing web sites related to new information, reading books, attending classes, writing code in new languages, etc.
The idea being it was time devoted to thinking outside the box, such as trying new ways to do old things. Billable projects still came first, so this wasn't a hard and fast rule, and for the most part I just used it to account for my time spent on/.:)
A HUD was my first thought, but TFA was (very) short on details and mentions only the MP3 player. Without a HUD, bundling a visual device with an audio one seems less like a convenience and more like a fashion statement. There are situations where I'd take off my sunglasses and leave on my headphones, so I suspect they're not looking to target the Bat Utility Belt generation so much as the grande Star-Schmucks quaffing jogger who wants everyone to see how hip and trendy they are.
If anything, I feel sad that there is still interest enough that people would be interested in camping under this banner. I recall my mother giving us all doctors excuses the day Jedi came out so we could stand in a line that extended around the block. I felt proud to be part of something amazing.
Now I'm the one who could be taking his kids out of school... but I no longer feel it's something amazing. Perhaps I'm just old and disillusioned now, but I only see the marketing angels. For me, the magic from this series has all been spent.
I'll be taking my kids out of school to see the next Harry Potter, they can have that dream for their childhood instead.
I completely agree with you, but I find Bill's tunnel vision more telling than his lack of understanding.
At the end of the interview he says "No, I actually don't think we disagree." This screams to me that he's convinced he's right and anyone who disagrees is missing something.
I still believe he honestly feels he's focused on the best interests of others, but has spent so much time at the top of the ladder, he's forgotten the view from the lower rungs.
What an idiot. This interview will become evidence against him.
So will all the evidence he provided Apple when they called him up and he "answered all the questions they asked regarding how I got the torrent, how long I had seeded it for etc. I was honest and as helpful as I possibly could be."
The same traits that got him in trouble in the first place, which causes him to say, "I suppose sometimes, honesty has a way of kicking you in the arse."
When I mentioned it to a few people in various IRC chat rooms, they had asked if they could get a copy too. I made the foolish assumption that since I wasn't a developer, and I had a copy that it would be ok if I shared it with 5 or 6 fellow mac fanatics.
And then he's surprised when it escapes out in the wild. Don't they teach kids the safe sex warnings anymore? You're not just sharing with all your friends, you're sharing with all their friends too.
all such games require conflict as much as cooperation, and without combat, conflict feels lacking in many such games.
Depends on your tastes. In the Quest for Numerical Superiority games, conflict is often merely a measure of who's got the bigger numbers, which often merely translate into who's put in the most grind time. There are other groups of (older) gamers who don't want to compete against a crowd of players who have a lot more time available. A niche market of MMO games which can cater to smaller sized groups and offer challenges which are more social and/or intellectual and reward creativity rather than hours logged online would certainly appeal to players like myself.
I played though Tale 1 for more than a year and was ultimately turned off by the players rather than the game itself. ATITD is a simple enough design that offers a lot of freedom to its players to shape and change both the game world and each other, but the host of players which the game attracted seemed more interested in simple building games rather than any sort of social puzzles. Despairing what I considered a massively unrealized potential I eventually left seeking greener pastures.
It certainly seems likely that gamers such as myself are too finicky for commercial ventures to bother catering towards, but I continue to follow the actions of companies like eGenesis with interest.
My family picked up a Bally Home Arcade machine when I was five or six. It was released around the same time as the Atari 2600 and was a primitive precursor to the 8bit computers that would follow. Unlike the consoles of the day it included a keyboard and it's own programming language. It included a large "Bally Basic" programming book which I would end up reading though on and off for the next two months. The spark struck during my birthday party when I showed off a a fancy "hello world" program with flashing and scrolling text along with beeping sound effects. Family members were dutifully impressed and delivered gushing praises on my young and impressionable mind.
Now my family seeks my approval to de-louse their machines of (ad/mal/spy)ware. Since they are family I only charge them 60$ an hour... unless they switch to Linux in which case I offer my services for free.
Re:Ahem, hello? http://tvtorrents.net/
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TV Piracy is Next
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I have a friend that uses http://sharetv.net/ which is a list of file hashes for use on the edonkey network. It's almost like reading a tv guide, since so many shows are listed, only you merely select what you want and wait for it to download. This friend tells me they download entire seasons in less than a week.
The Networks need to wake up and smell the burnt toast. While not quite TV on demand, it's close enough for the average user who doesn't need cable to watch most anything being offered.
Considering what people are currently paying for digital cable, this market has been ripe for the picking for years. The Networks might want to stop trying to figure out how to maintain control of their existing markets and start thinking how they will continue to exist in the future... perhaps without turning their customers into criminals.
As an old Elite addict looking for his fix, Vendetta fit the bill rather well. In the terms of Privateer or Tachyon: The Fringe it's not as immerse, since you don't have the direct story following you or cool voice commentary.
What the game does offer is 'twitch' space combat, where your skills as pilot matter more than your character levels in terms of making or becoming debris.
At the moment I'm having fun preying on the various NPC bots and trading cargo under the constant risk of pirate activity (NPC and player) with the economy very dynamic based on player actions.
The reason I'm sticking around is because I have great respect for the developers and their desire to evolve the game world in the directions the players take it. Throughout the beta they were very responsive to player feedback, and coming from ATITD (which had only two real developers) I've come to expect more from these smaller game companies. I've yet to be disappointed.
I am a deer hunter who both enjoys the sport and the meat, but let's be serious about this. There are reasons why the deer herds are allowed to grow as they do, and there just might be better ways to control their population. And as far as the meat goes, considering the costs the average sportsman pays out to enjoy the sport, we could all be eating some rather well cared for meat in carefully controlled and regulated herds rather than pulling out that poor swamp buck and whatever he happened to be living off of that year.
I'm certainly not saying we should put an end to sports hunting, but we should at least have a reasonable view of why it exists and what it does for the environment. Education, as always, is the key.
The bigger question that we've long been aware of is completely ignored in this article. The world needs a business model or seven which allows those who write content to profit from their work. After the original sequence of bits have been cobbled together, they can be duplicated endlessly without any help from the original author(s). The concept of "intellectual property" is crumbling, and something new is going to rise up in its place.
At first I thought this was a patch to prevent future email worms, but this is just more DRM management. Besides sounding like the Emperor's New Clothes, for this to work wouldn't your mail client have to query the recipient to make sure they're going to pay attention to whatever rules you apply to your forwarded mail? And, of course, query it in such a way that you can't get a spoofed reply forged to look like a legit MS approved mail client?
This sounds like that phone plan where you only get the discounted rates if you get all your friends to sign up with the same plan. Except in this case the rates aren't any cheaper.
My impression is that the vast majority of folks who are critical of my own columns have actually done a very good job avoiding actually reading them.
I actually RTFA, and now I feel all dirty. Why are we giving web traffic to trolls? I'm well aware of the perils of having made up my mind and moving forward with a plan. The more you're committed to an action, the more flexibility and freedom you lose.
I'm not perfect. I make mistake, I go to far, I don't plan far enough ahead, and I make the wrong calls. But you can't (or, at least, I can't) live my life constantly reevaluating a constant stream of information looking for the 'next best thing' and second-guessing myself.
As described these "Linux Pros" sound like super heroes, who have boundless time and energy to explain every nuance to every dipshit reporter who writes a stupid article, always uses the right tool for the job, and constantly stays on top of every new tech that advances in the industry. And they apparently have no interest in having a say in what direction the industry is headed.
It would certainly be nice if we could have the time to evaluate every possible option, explore all their features, and make an elaborate pro/con list for each. I find, however, that reality is not so simplistic. While I'll sometimes just take the good with the bad, I'm not just going to sit down and try the make the best of a bad situation. If I feel the situation warrants it, I'm actually going to try and make an effort to fix it, rather than just get all Zen and be happy when things aren't going the way I'd like.
I'm suppose to fear that zealots turned terrorists might go to far and start holding witch hunts to weed out the infidels from among our ranks? I think instead I shall merely not misjudge an entire group based on my observations of the vocal few.
I've been in the desert for awhile now. I've gathered more than my share of mud and weeds and bricks. Indeed, the peon activities you find in RTS games. But I found a purpose beyond the crafting system which represents the core of the game. I looked beyond the various social tests which are designed to both bring the players closer together and tear our virtual society apart. And what I have found is something that is far more than the sum of its parts.
I now find myself in a vast social web of politics and intrigue. We have no combat system, so our conflicts can't be resolved with raw force. This leads to odd bits of compromise, strange diplomacy sessions, and the rise of true leaders. I have seen raw emotional debates that have struck me more deeply than any 'video game' ever has. I find myself part of a larger story that is still evolving, both with and without me.
And so I work and plot for the day when this story ends and we discover if the strange band of players who have spent so much time together are able to overcome their differences and find a goal we can stand behind, or if chaos will claim our efforts and end our story in defeat.
I decided to look into Egypt since it was a free download and they had a native Linux client. I was bored with the same old cookie cutter games being churned out and wanted something new. What I found is a game in which I feel my efforts matter, and enough brain candy that I'll still be snacking long after our story ends.
Since the game has a free trial that requires nothing more than a download we still get our influx of 1337 newbs, but they don't stick around for long. You're right that the game appeals to a very different category of gamer and the bulk of our active player base seems to be made up of older, more mature, and more interesting people than I normally find while gaming online.
Strangely, while we have an active player base of around 2k people now, we typically only get 500 or 600 votes around election time. Considering new laws can have a dramatic effect on the game world (such as banishing characters, changing property ownership, and creating a police force) I also would have expected to see more voter turn out.
When asked I find the typical response from the non-voters to be one of two issues. The first is that they don't feel their vote is important. Which is a strange stance to take considering the size of our player base.
The second is that they don't like visiting the polls all the time. This is probably partly due to the ease of submitting new proposals for vote. We get a host of different law submissions, from the seriously to the silly, as everyone tries to push their issue of the week onto the voting populous. Since we haven't divided into large political parties yet, it's still easier to submit new laws than to campaign for them. And it can get tiring to see the same rehashed law resubmitted for vote after yet another edit.
We have the power to change our legal system, be it a change to what it takes to submit new laws to establishing a formal government, but getting a majority of Egypt to agree with your proposed changes is easier said than done.
Hosting files on any popular website is expensive in bandwidth. They're probably just trying to make ends meet.
These closed source data files were already typed up and hosted on sourceforge before WotC stepped in and put a halt to their distribution. This means fans of the d20 system already did the work to write up the data files using the dead tree books they already paid for. They were then hosting it on a system which WotC had nothing to do with, and didn't have to pay for. Fans were already filling this gap for free.
The key here, I think, is control. Wizards is afraid that by allowing the guys at PcGen to distribute their IP for free, people would lose interesting in buying the dead tree versions. To try and counter this threat, much of the write ups in the fan created content contained notes such as "As defined on page 231 of the Players Handbook". This compromise wasn't good enough, it seems.
As another point of interest, Wizards already created and sells their own version of a Character Creator for the d20 system which basically competes directly with the open source PcGen. You can download the demo version for free from their website. As you say, the commercial effort is a lot more professional than PcGen, but PcGen has a lot more features.
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I was not happy from the answer I got from the Gnome developers: "A feature will be implemented if and only if there is a developer who wants to implement it."
And then she goes on to rant how Open Source developers need to cater to their users if open source is to 'succeed.' So, apparently Eugenia doesn't really understand how Open Source software development works. It's not a Leia^H^H^H^Hcommittee. All work is voluntary, which means, as the Gnome devel team pointed out, the only work that gets done is work the devel team feels like working on.
The Freedom OSS provides is the freedom to add features you want either by writing them yourself or paying others to do it. You're also free to whine to the devel team about the features you want... and they're free to ignore you. Freedom is like that.
I used to be you. I used to dismiss all dubs as total crap merely because all the dubs I had heard were, in fact, total crap. And, for the most part, they are still total crap, but that doesn't mean it's all bad. As Anime slowly moves closer to main stream there are a number of vendors pushing for better quality dubs. I now find it disingenuous to dismiss them all as crap, even if the vast majority of them are.
why do foreign movies have to be dubbed?
We hear words much faster than we can read them. I also watch all my Anime subbed and on some of the dialogue heavy titles, you get content overload. I'm specifically thinking of the Ghost in the Shell series Stand Alone Complex, but there are certainly others.
The more mental cycles you spend reading, the less you can devout to admiring the artwork and noticing subtle movements. Most people don't have onboard subtitle processors, and don't see the need for one. And with the wealth of content available in their native language many fail to see any reason to learn new tricks.
Again, you're missing the picture here. That business model is based on generating revenue for share holders. Those who invest in the fan group are doing so for content, they want more episodes. If you merely create another for-profit group, it would be no different than the current business models and would look to sacrifice quality and content in the name of the bottom line.
I hope this never happens for a show just because of the standard it would set.
You're missing out on the big picture. Right now the studios are servants of their advertisers and their networks. Fan owned syndication would mean the fans themselves are the ones with the money and they'll be the ones setting the rules. There are many questions which would need to be answered as the organization rises up to fill the role as distributor. They could cut out the studio entirely and only provide DVDs to members, for instance.
The only trick is putting the restrictions on the fan organization so it doesn't rise up to become just another self-serving money making company. As long as it follows the will of its fan base it will be focused on providing those fans with new episodes, not lining it's own pockets.
I doubt it. We do have patents and innovators are still going out of business.
Unfortunately old school gamers such as ourselves are no longer driving the market. We're becoming more and more of a niche group as the dominant market segment is more than content to stay on the sequel bandwagon. There are plenty of kids who haven't yet Been There or Done That and need to build up their own library of titles, even if we might scoff at their selection.
I fear it's going to be awhile before the gaming industry finally eats itself by turning off their primary market base either by milking the hype-engine dry and/or chokes on a consistent series of under-performing titles. Until then Big Money will continue to push more of the same and Joe Gamer will continue to buy it.
The idea being it was time devoted to thinking outside the box, such as trying new ways to do old things. Billable projects still came first, so this wasn't a hard and fast rule, and for the most part I just used it to account for my time spent on /. :)
A HUD was my first thought, but TFA was (very) short on details and mentions only the MP3 player. Without a HUD, bundling a visual device with an audio one seems less like a convenience and more like a fashion statement. There are situations where I'd take off my sunglasses and leave on my headphones, so I suspect they're not looking to target the Bat Utility Belt generation so much as the grande Star-Schmucks quaffing jogger who wants everyone to see how hip and trendy they are.
Now I'm the one who could be taking his kids out of school... but I no longer feel it's something amazing. Perhaps I'm just old and disillusioned now, but I only see the marketing angels. For me, the magic from this series has all been spent.
I'll be taking my kids out of school to see the next Harry Potter, they can have that dream for their childhood instead.
At the end of the interview he says "No, I actually don't think we disagree." This screams to me that he's convinced he's right and anyone who disagrees is missing something.
I still believe he honestly feels he's focused on the best interests of others, but has spent so much time at the top of the ladder, he's forgotten the view from the lower rungs.
No, the information that a bug has been found should be made available to you so you can take whatever action you deem appropriate.
So will all the evidence he provided Apple when they called him up and he "answered all the questions they asked regarding how I got the torrent, how long I had seeded it for etc. I was honest and as helpful as I possibly could be."
The same traits that got him in trouble in the first place, which causes him to say, "I suppose sometimes, honesty has a way of kicking you in the arse."
When I mentioned it to a few people in various IRC chat rooms, they had asked if they could get a copy too. I made the foolish assumption that since I wasn't a developer, and I had a copy that it would be ok if I shared it with 5 or 6 fellow mac fanatics.
And then he's surprised when it escapes out in the wild. Don't they teach kids the safe sex warnings anymore? You're not just sharing with all your friends, you're sharing with all their friends too.
Depends on your tastes. In the Quest for Numerical Superiority games, conflict is often merely a measure of who's got the bigger numbers, which often merely translate into who's put in the most grind time. There are other groups of (older) gamers who don't want to compete against a crowd of players who have a lot more time available. A niche market of MMO games which can cater to smaller sized groups and offer challenges which are more social and/or intellectual and reward creativity rather than hours logged online would certainly appeal to players like myself.
I played though Tale 1 for more than a year and was ultimately turned off by the players rather than the game itself. ATITD is a simple enough design that offers a lot of freedom to its players to shape and change both the game world and each other, but the host of players which the game attracted seemed more interested in simple building games rather than any sort of social puzzles. Despairing what I considered a massively unrealized potential I eventually left seeking greener pastures.
It certainly seems likely that gamers such as myself are too finicky for commercial ventures to bother catering towards, but I continue to follow the actions of companies like eGenesis with interest.
Now my family seeks my approval to de-louse their machines of (ad/mal/spy)ware. Since they are family I only charge them 60$ an hour... unless they switch to Linux in which case I offer my services for free.
The Networks need to wake up and smell the burnt toast. While not quite TV on demand, it's close enough for the average user who doesn't need cable to watch most anything being offered.
Considering what people are currently paying for digital cable, this market has been ripe for the picking for years. The Networks might want to stop trying to figure out how to maintain control of their existing markets and start thinking how they will continue to exist in the future... perhaps without turning their customers into criminals.
As an old Elite addict looking for his fix, Vendetta fit the bill rather well. In the terms of Privateer or Tachyon: The Fringe it's not as immerse, since you don't have the direct story following you or cool voice commentary. What the game does offer is 'twitch' space combat, where your skills as pilot matter more than your character levels in terms of making or becoming debris. At the moment I'm having fun preying on the various NPC bots and trading cargo under the constant risk of pirate activity (NPC and player) with the economy very dynamic based on player actions. The reason I'm sticking around is because I have great respect for the developers and their desire to evolve the game world in the directions the players take it. Throughout the beta they were very responsive to player feedback, and coming from ATITD (which had only two real developers) I've come to expect more from these smaller game companies. I've yet to be disappointed.
I'm certainly not saying we should put an end to sports hunting, but we should at least have a reasonable view of why it exists and what it does for the environment. Education, as always, is the key.
The bigger question that we've long been aware of is completely ignored in this article. The world needs a business model or seven which allows those who write content to profit from their work. After the original sequence of bits have been cobbled together, they can be duplicated endlessly without any help from the original author(s). The concept of "intellectual property" is crumbling, and something new is going to rise up in its place.
At first I thought this was a patch to prevent future email worms, but this is just more DRM management. Besides sounding like the Emperor's New Clothes, for this to work wouldn't your mail client have to query the recipient to make sure they're going to pay attention to whatever rules you apply to your forwarded mail? And, of course, query it in such a way that you can't get a spoofed reply forged to look like a legit MS approved mail client?
This sounds like that phone plan where you only get the discounted rates if you get all your friends to sign up with the same plan. Except in this case the rates aren't any cheaper.
I actually RTFA, and now I feel all dirty. Why are we giving web traffic to trolls? I'm well aware of the perils of having made up my mind and moving forward with a plan. The more you're committed to an action, the more flexibility and freedom you lose.
I'm not perfect. I make mistake, I go to far, I don't plan far enough ahead, and I make the wrong calls. But you can't (or, at least, I can't) live my life constantly reevaluating a constant stream of information looking for the 'next best thing' and second-guessing myself.
As described these "Linux Pros" sound like super heroes, who have boundless time and energy to explain every nuance to every dipshit reporter who writes a stupid article, always uses the right tool for the job, and constantly stays on top of every new tech that advances in the industry. And they apparently have no interest in having a say in what direction the industry is headed.
It would certainly be nice if we could have the time to evaluate every possible option, explore all their features, and make an elaborate pro/con list for each. I find, however, that reality is not so simplistic. While I'll sometimes just take the good with the bad, I'm not just going to sit down and try the make the best of a bad situation. If I feel the situation warrants it, I'm actually going to try and make an effort to fix it, rather than just get all Zen and be happy when things aren't going the way I'd like.
I'm suppose to fear that zealots turned terrorists might go to far and start holding witch hunts to weed out the infidels from among our ranks? I think instead I shall merely not misjudge an entire group based on my observations of the vocal few.
I now find myself in a vast social web of politics and intrigue. We have no combat system, so our conflicts can't be resolved with raw force. This leads to odd bits of compromise, strange diplomacy sessions, and the rise of true leaders. I have seen raw emotional debates that have struck me more deeply than any 'video game' ever has. I find myself part of a larger story that is still evolving, both with and without me.
And so I work and plot for the day when this story ends and we discover if the strange band of players who have spent so much time together are able to overcome their differences and find a goal we can stand behind, or if chaos will claim our efforts and end our story in defeat.
I decided to look into Egypt since it was a free download and they had a native Linux client. I was bored with the same old cookie cutter games being churned out and wanted something new. What I found is a game in which I feel my efforts matter, and enough brain candy that I'll still be snacking long after our story ends.
Just as cattle have been bred to become mindless meat animals, so too are consumers being bred to become mindless spending machines.
Strangely, while we have an active player base of around 2k people now, we typically only get 500 or 600 votes around election time. Considering new laws can have a dramatic effect on the game world (such as banishing characters, changing property ownership, and creating a police force) I also would have expected to see more voter turn out.
When asked I find the typical response from the non-voters to be one of two issues. The first is that they don't feel their vote is important. Which is a strange stance to take considering the size of our player base.
The second is that they don't like visiting the polls all the time. This is probably partly due to the ease of submitting new proposals for vote. We get a host of different law submissions, from the seriously to the silly, as everyone tries to push their issue of the week onto the voting populous. Since we haven't divided into large political parties yet, it's still easier to submit new laws than to campaign for them. And it can get tiring to see the same rehashed law resubmitted for vote after yet another edit.
We have the power to change our legal system, be it a change to what it takes to submit new laws to establishing a formal government, but getting a majority of Egypt to agree with your proposed changes is easier said than done.
These closed source data files were already typed up and hosted on sourceforge before WotC stepped in and put a halt to their distribution. This means fans of the d20 system already did the work to write up the data files using the dead tree books they already paid for. They were then hosting it on a system which WotC had nothing to do with, and didn't have to pay for. Fans were already filling this gap for free.
The key here, I think, is control. Wizards is afraid that by allowing the guys at PcGen to distribute their IP for free, people would lose interesting in buying the dead tree versions. To try and counter this threat, much of the write ups in the fan created content contained notes such as "As defined on page 231 of the Players Handbook". This compromise wasn't good enough, it seems.
As another point of interest, Wizards already created and sells their own version of a Character Creator for the d20 system which basically competes directly with the open source PcGen. You can download the demo version for free from their website. As you say, the commercial effort is a lot more professional than PcGen, but PcGen has a lot more features.