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Originally Posted by BrollyFerret
To me it seems like a logical next step in pdf online publishing. Adding software tools to enhance gameplay. Since so many games are similar in their character generation routines it figures that a decent bit of software could be devised and a standard be made for rpg mechanics material.
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It may seem like they're all similar and simple... but they're anything but. The amount of calculation it takes to track statistics for a weapon, including modifiers for MinST, Perks, Talents, Striking ST, and a myrid of other things is simply staggering. The complexity under the hood is equally staggering. And those mechanics are completely different from those used in d20 or Storyteller. Yeah, the basics are similar (attributes, skills/feats, advantages, etc), but all the fiddly bits aren't.
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Originally Posted by BrollyFerret
Still I think it might be better to start working on doing/supporting/funding an OSS version, perhaps one where companies can sell datasets for a small fee.
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I think you (like many people) overestimate the number of people interested in participating in these kinds of projects. GCA is the work of one person, with one other person (me) contributing majorly to the project. Without both of us GCA wouldn't exist as it does today (without Armin, not at all, without me probably very little in the way of data files and a lot of enhancements we've brainstormed on). There's maybe two or three other people who have contributed significantly to GCA over the years (and many more that have helped in various ways). So in the entire GURPS community you're got about 5-10 people who really care about contributing to GCA to the point that they volunteer significantly their time, with similar numbers for each of the other character creation programs (GCB, GCS, etc). I don't know about the others, but I don't have the time to work on another project (I barely have the time and energy to work on GCA).