Hi everyone!

Welcome to the latest edition of your pseudo-monthly JMP update!

In case it’s been a while since you checked out JMP, here’s a refresher: JMP lets you send and receive text and picture messages (and calls) through a real phone number right from your computer, tablet, phone, or anything else that has a Jabber client. Among other things, JMP has these features: Your phone number on every device; Multiple phone numbers, one app; Free as in Freedom; Share one number with multiple people.

Today JMP is 7 years old! We launched on this day in 2017 and a lot has changed since then. In addition to what we talked about in past years (see https://blog.jmp.chat/b/february-newsletter-2022 and https://blog.jmp.chat/b/february-newsletter-2023 for example), in the last year we’ve brought JMP out of beta, launched a data plan, and have continued to grow our huge community of people (channel participants, JMP customers, and many more) excited about communication freedom. So, in light of some vibes from yesterday’s “celebration” in some countries, we’d like to take this opportunity to say: Thank you to everyone involved in JMP, however that may be! You are part of something big and getting bigger! Communication freedom knows no bounds, technically, socially, or geographically. And you make that happen!

Along with this huge community growing, we’ve been growing JMP’s staff as well — we’re now up to 5 employees working hard to build and maintain the foundations of communication freedom every day. We look forward to continuing this growth, in a strong and sustainable way, for years to come.

Lastly, while dates have not been announced yet, we’re excited to say we’ll be back at FOSSY in Portland, Oregon, this year! FOSSY is expected to happen in July and, if last year is any indication, it will be a blast. We’d love to see some of you there!

Thanks again to everyone for helping us get to where we are today. We’re super grateful for all your support!

As always, we’re very open to feedback and would love to hear from you if you have any comments, questions, or otherwise. Feel free to reply (if you got this by email), comment, or find us on any of the following:

• The chatroom remains the heart of the community. You can also join from your web browser or from Matrix.
• The blog, where you may be reading this. Can also be followed in a client like Movim.
• The Lemmy Community
• The Subreddit
• On ATprotocol
• On Twitter

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful rest of your week!

While Doom can sometimes feel like an overnight smash success, the seminal first-person shooter was far from the first game created by id co-founders John Carmack and John Romero. Now, in a rare joint interview that was livestreamed during last weekend's 30th-anniversary celebration , the pair waxed philosophical about how Doom struck a perfect balance between technology and simplicity that they hadn't been able to capture previously and have struggled to recapture since.

Carmack said that Doom -precursor Wolfenstein 3D , for instance, "was done under these extreme, extraordinary design constraints" because of the technology available at the time. "There just wasn't that much we could do."

Wolfenstein 3D 's grid-based mapping led to a lot of boring rectangular rooms connected by long corridors. (credit: Steam )

One of the biggest constraints in Wolfenstein 3D was a grid-based mapping system that forced walls to be at 90-degree angles, leading to a lot of large, rectangular rooms connected by long corridors. "Making the levels for the original Wolfenstein had to be the most boring level design job ever because it was so simple," Romero said. "Even [2D platformer Commander Keen ] was more rewarding to make levels for."

Enlarge / It's been a while since I've seen some of those once-ubiquitous logos... (credit: Valve )

This Sunday, November 19, makes a full 25 years since the original Half-Life first hit (pre-Steam) store shelves. To celebrate the anniversary, Valve has uploaded a feature-packed "25th anniversary update" to the game on Steam, and made the title free to keep if you pick it up this weekend .

Valve's 25th Anniversary Update page details a bevy of new and modernized features added to the classic first-person shooter, including:

• Four new multiplayer maps that "push the limits of what's possible in the Half-Life engine"
• New graphics settings, including support for a widescreen field-of-view on modern monitors and OpenGL Overbright lighting (still no official ray-tracing support, though— leave that to the modders )
• "Proper gamepad config out of the box" (so dust off that Gravis Gamepad Pro )
• Steam networking support for easier multiplayer setup
• "Verified" support for Steam Deck play ("We failed super hard" on the first verification attempt, Valve writes)
• Proper UI scaling for resolutions up to 3840x1600
• Multiplayer balancing updates (because 25 years hasn't been enough to perfect the meta)
• New entity limits that allow mod makers to build more complex mods
• A full software renderer for the Linux version of the game
• Various bug fixes
• "Removed the now very unnecessary 'Low video quality. Helps with slower video cards' setting"

One of four new multiplayer maps added to Half-Life 's 25th anniversary update. (credit: Valve )

In addition, the new update includes a host of restored and rarely seen content, including:

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the latest edition of your pseudo-monthly JMP update!

In case it’s been a while since you checked out JMP, here’s a refresher: JMP lets you send and receive text and picture messages (and calls) through a real phone number right from your computer, tablet, phone, or anything else that has a Jabber client.  Among other things, JMP has these features: Your phone number on every device; Multiple phone numbers, one app; Free as in Freedom; Share one number with multiple people.

JMP is 6 years old today!  When we launched in 2017 we had no idea exactly how far we’d go, or that we’d be making one of the most popular chat clients on F-Droid (that is Cheogram Android, which is based on Conversations).  Last year we called JMP “phone-feature-complete” and since then we’ve made all of JMP’s features even easier to use, shepherding big improvements to various Jabber clients, including Movim and Dino, while continuing to provide first-class telephony and messaging features in our flagship mobile app: Cheogram Android.

With so many of the edges now smoothed, and a new onboarding flow almost ready to go, it’s now time to announce: JMP will be leaving beta this year!

What does that mean?  Primarily this is our vote of confidence (as the JMP and Cheogram team) that JMP, and apps we develop such as Cheogram Android, are ready for widespread use.  While of course there will still be improvements to make, we believe it will be able to be recommended to your friends and family (especiall Android users) without reservation.

Naturally there are a couple things to do yet to make that happen, and one of them is to put Cheogram Android in the Play Store at last.  This will be a paid (but still free-as-in-freedom) app that will include one month of JMP service.  Of course, you will still be able to get Cheogram Android from all the other places you can already get it (such as F-Droid and our own repos/APKs).

The other main thing is to set a final post-beta monthly price for JMP.  And, while it won’t take effect until we launch later this year, we are able to now officially announce it: US$4.99/month, with incidental pricing remaining the same (i.e. extra/international minutes will remain what they are now).  Note that there will be discounts for additional JMP numbers linked to your primary JMP number, and also (before JMP leaves beta) a chance to lock in the existing pricing for a period of time.  Having never changed the price since we started JMP 6 years ago, and given the inflation and our own staffing costs since then, we feel the new price will allow JMP to remain both sustainable, and able to face new challenges and exciting opportunities going forward (like the EU’s DMA, for one).  We want to make JMP the best phone number service, and Cheogram the best gateway to everything in the world!

Speaking of Cheogram, a JMP newsletter these days wouldn’t be complete without mention of new Cheogram Android features (2.12.1-2 released in APK form and Cheogram F-Droid repo today!):

• it will now offer to setup Dialer integration automatically when available
• the Call Logs (cdrs) command replaces the usage command (giving you more info)
• the new onboarding flow is improved even more
  
• admins of a Snikket instance can create a new Jabber ID and JMP number all inside the app now (see the video demo)
• new theme: any colour you want! (requires Android 11 or higher)

Note that the Call Logs (cdrs) command will roll out to everyone in about a week.  If you’d like to try it before then, please send a private inquiry to JMP support and we’ll activate it for you.

Lastly, some of you may be interested to know that the JMP/Cheogram team are going to be venturing out to a conference for the first time since March 2020!  In particular, most of the JMP/Cheogram team will be attending FOSSY this year, in Portland, Oregon, USA this July 13-16.  We’ll be announcing specifics of our involvement (whether we have a booth, talks, etc.) closer to the dates.  In the meantime, just know we’ll be there, and would love to chat with any JMP/Cheogram users, prospective customers, or otherwise!

With that, we’ll cap off our 6 years. :)  And what an exciting 6 years it’s been!  With the big launch this year, you can bet on many more to come!

To learn what’s happening with JMP between newsletters, here are some ways you can find out:

• The chatroom remains the heart of the community.  You can also join from your web browser or from Matrix.
• The blog, where you may be reading this. Can also be followed in a client like Movim.
• The Lemmy Community
• The Subreddit
• On Twitter

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful rest of your week!

Enlarge / The Wii U launched in North America on November 18, 2012—the greatest day of all time. (credit: Nintendo)

Ten years ago today, Nintendo released the Wii U—an awkward but endearing console with a tablet-like game controller. Although it sold poorly compared to its smash hit predecessor, Nintendo's quirky game system still holds a place in our hearts. It's a one-of-a-kind device that we may never see the like of again.

The Wii U launched in the US on November 18, 2012. It initially shipped in a "Basic Set" for $299.99 and a "Deluxe Edition" for $349.99 that came with a copy of NintendoLand (more on that later). The console shipped in black or white color schemes with 8GB or 32GB memory versions. It was Nintendo's first HD console.

Compared to the Nintendo Wii's 101 million sales, the Wii U sold a mere 13.56 million units during its more than four-year lifespan (November 2012 to January 2017). And it moved far fewer units than the PlayStation 4 (100-plus million) and Xbox One (50 million). So many consider it a failure—but the "Big U" still kept a diehard following that endures .

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the latest edition of your pseudo-monthly JMP update!

In case it’s been a while since you checked out JMP, here’s a refresher: JMP lets you send and receive text and picture messages (and calls) through a real phone number right from your computer, tablet, phone, or anything else that has a Jabber client.  Among other things, JMP has these features: Your phone number on every device; Multiple phone numbers, one app; Free as in Freedom; Share one number with multiple people.

Today JMP turns 5 years old!  We launched on this day in 2017 with a fairly basic set of features: bidirectional Canada/USA SMS and MMS, with incoming calls directed to a pre-existing phone number.  Since then we’ve kept pushing further and further toward feature-parity with the most popular mobile phone number providers, adding outgoing calls, international texting, and group texting.

We have been actively testing the final piece of this work, international calling, and are pleased to announce today that we made it!  With the addition of international calling, which is available to all JMP users as of right now, we are now phone-feature-complete.

What does this mean?  In short, we now support all the features that other providers of mobile phone numbers support: bidirectional MMS (including group texting), domestic and international SMS, and domestic and international calling.  So if you or your friends have been waiting to try JMP until we finished all these features, now is the time to get the word out and try it!

On top of international calling, we now support using as many minutes per month as you like (with 120 Northern America minutes worth of credit included by default) - see our new comprehensive pricing page for details.

You may be wondering: Where do we go from here?  Well, we still have much work to do, and many more newsletters like this one coming up to let you know about it!  There are two main areas of work left:

First, we want to keep our finger on the pulse of telephony, specifically making sure that we add any features that mobile carriers are adding to their phone numbers, like RCS.  If we find such a feature supported on at least Android and iOS, we’ll get it into JMP as soon as possible (for RCS, the rollout is limited, and only on Android so far - if you know of other phone number features we’re missing, reply to let us know!).  Also, we have not forgotten about the many kind requests we’ve received for JMP numbers outside of the USA and Canada.  Those are on our list!

Second, we want to make JMP as easy to use as possible.  There is still much work to do here, particularly on simplifying signups, adding and managing contacts, and group texting.  We want to make sure that group text threads are easier to follow, which requires a little bit of development work yet.  And we are actively working on improving the Cheogram app that many of you have started using on Android, to include these fixes and an easy way to signup for JMP.  In the not too distant future you’ll be able to install the Cheogram app, pick a JMP number from the app, and start using it right away.

In other news, Dino 0.3 has been released which brings with it voice calling features compatible with those used by Converations, Snikket, Movim and JMP! It’s still early days and so there may be some compatibility issues, but reports say the features are working for people.

Lastly, as part of JMP’s 5 year anniversary, we are unveiling our new logo today too!  You can check it out at the usual places, such as https://jmp.chat/ and elsewhere.  Our old logo (which is still live at its old location for the nostalgic) has served us well for the past half decade, and we appreciate all it’s done for us.  The new logo reflects how increasingly close we’re getting to JMP being easy to use for the average person, and hopefully our approachableness.

As always, we’re very open to feedback and would love to hear from you if you have any comments, questions, or otherwise.  Feel free to reply (if you got this by email), comment, or find us on any of the following:

• The chatroom remains the heart of the community.  You can also join from your web browser.
• The blog, where you may be reading this. Can also be followed in a client like Movim.
• The Lemmy Community
• The Subreddit
• On Twitter

Here’s to many more years of JMP!

XMPP a.k.a. Jabber, a communication protocol for message-oriented middleware is probably the most mature technology for free and federated instant messaging. (IRC is far older, of course.) On 2019-01-04 we can celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first XMPP server release:

Jeremie Miller began working on the Jabber technology in 1998 and released the first version of the jabberd server on January 4, 1999.

In the last twenty years, we have seen protocols and services come and go, but XMPP, an IETF standard, is here to stay. It is backed by an international community of developers, does not depend on a single company, and is enhanced continuously by the XSF. Btw.: XMPP is not only used for chatting, but also for IoT, WebRTC, micro-blogging and social networks!

#xmpp #jabber #birthday #anniversary #jeremiemiller #federation

PS: ‎Ge0rG‎ pointed to the link to the original announcement on Slashdot. It reads:

Jeremie writes

"Jabber is a new project I recently started to create a complete open-source platform for Instant Messaging with transparent communication to other IM systems(ICQ, AIM, etc). Most of the initial design and protocol work is done, as well as a working server and a few test clients."