I think it’s a great idea, but the implementation would be tricky, as you would need hooks, handles and DBus notifications in every application that you want to support.

Is there a project page yet?

I’m TOTALLY down for joining a dev group if people are thinking of working on this!

echo “nethack on” >> ~/.screenrc

Enjoy ;-)

:-Dustin

Heck, it could even serve a dual purpose as a tool that leads people to cool features in Ubuntu, assuming there’s the conventional full list of unlockable achievements somewhere.

I’m not one for making titles, but…

* Enable the compose key
* Use compose key to enter ten special characters
* More than 15 windows open on a single workspace
* Over 5 windows open on each of four workspaces
* Manually set the time
* Change the application font size
* Change the theme
* Enable Gnome typing break
* Actually obey Gnome typing break

:)

Make *some* of the achievements involve things that need wide user testing, and allow users to opt-in to automatically report when they earn these achievements.

Achievements could be in the vein of:
– connect to 100 different wireless routers
– use an open-source video driver
– write 1000 words using text-to-speech
– use gnome shell for 48 hours
– etc

If we wanted to go crazy with this idea we could have an optional questionnaire at the end of some achievements, e.g. the achievement “use your window manager with controls on the left and controls on the right, each for at least 48 hours” could ask you which you preferred when unlocking it (though I think this would probably ruin the fun/ease/casualness of it all).

Please consider if this can be made work with standard unix stuff and fd.o standards, so KDE and non-DE users can use it.

Editorial Diplomat: Have emacs and vi running simultaneously.

Browser Diplomat: Have at least 2 different browsers running simultaneously.

Conversationalist: Have 3 or more active conversations going on simultaneously. (Active meaning recent activity.)

Digital Traveler: Have more than 10 different networks configured in NetworkManager.

Friend to Rats: Use exclusively the mouse for some large number of minutes with no keyboard usage.

The Enabler: Use NetworkManager to turn yourself into an access point, and have someone else connect to it.

Boombox: Play music with the volume turned all the way up.

Put it on my tab: Have more than 10 browser or terminal tabs open simultaneously.

Multitasker: Have more than 8 windows open simultaneously.

Cryonicist: Sleep or hibernate more than N times without rebooting.

Busy beaver: Have more than 6 calendar items scheduled on the same day.

If anyone wants to start a project for this, count me in.

Please look at WoW achievemnts for inspiration too – http://www.wowhead.com/achievements

The key is non-benefitial, fun, bragging rights. One should get some randomly during normal day (to show off the system once its in place), but then it ranges up to such things that noone would normally do and that you would have to actively work toward to get, even up to achievements that are hard to get even when trying – like “Mile high club – upgrade a package on a computer with associated GPS device while being higher over the sea level than the summit of Mnt. Everest” or “Paris holydays – use GIMP to place your userpicture (from About me) into a photo take in Paris (with embedded GPS location) and use that as your Desktop background”.

– “The Bearded One”: Used hjkl navigation in vi in more than 10 editing sessions

– “Pumping Station”: Ran a shell command with more than 5 commands in a single pipe

– “Useless Use of cat”: Self-explanatory