I admit this one slipped past me (I blame my cold, etc., from earlier in the week…again…).
Hello everyone,
Today, the Second Life Viewer 1.23.5 Release Candidate was deprecated. It is important to note that this deprecation impacts only the Release Candidate version of Viewer 1.23.5, and that we will continue to support the official Viewer 1.23.5 Release. If you are still running the 1.23.5 release Candidate, you will see the ‘Viewer Update Required’ splash on your login screen. If you click ‘Login’ before the login screen fully loads, then you will be prompted to complete the required update during the login process. Both of these paths will take you to the official Viewer 1.23.5 release.
During the development of Second Life Viewer 2, you may have noticed that we made a small change to the way early releases were handled. Instead of calling the Viewer 2 early releases “Release Candidates,” as was done with the 1.xx Viewers, we began using the term “Beta” to more accurately represent these early releases. If you were among those who installed and tested one or more Viewer 2Betas, then you might have noticed that we did not release a Viewer 2 Release Candidate; Viewer 2 stayed in the Beta channel all the way up to the final release. Now, in keeping with the Viewer Support policy stated in T’s March 9th, 2009 blog post, we’re now supporting the last two official Viewer releases (2.0.1 and 1.23.5) and the most recent Viewer 2.0.1 Beta. Also in line with Linden Lab’s stated policy, we will be deprecating Viewer 1.22.11 on June 1.
We are always grateful for your help testing upcoming releases, whether they be Release Candidates or Betas. Keep up the great work and we look forward to working with you on Viewer 2.1!
Kindest Regards,
Dessie Linden
As posted on the technology blog. So this is now it…the beginning of the end for official support of 1.23.5.
Yes, I know that the missive says it is because “Release Candidate” is no longer the correct term…but don’t expect to see a 1.23.6 Beta slipping out of the LL gates any time soon. We have the shiny new toy – flaws and all – so the push has started to end support for 1.23.5 through official channels.
I’m actually pretty sanguine over this: I’m not really a fan of Viewer 2.0; few of the whizzy things in it raise more than a “meh,” in me: I’m no media guru, so media-on-a-prim doesn’t excite me overly much. Let’s face it, if I want to watch something on You Tube, I’ll, um, open my browser (and yes, I know that’s a gross over-simplification of Grandad’s new trousers, but it’s about as excited as I can personally get over it). The potential (and pointed-out security vulnerabilities around it also leave me somewhat cool towards it. Similarly, alpha masks don’t excite me greatly (they pretty much strike me as nice, in a missed opportunity kind of way). I certainly don’t like elements of the Viewer 2.0 interface, as I’ve previously noted. BUT…the flipside is, as I’ve also said, I really like KirstenLee Cinquetti’s S20 Viewer which genuinely shows what could be achieved with the new Viewer (and it is interesting to see than many of her innovations are pushing (directly or otherwise) Viewer 2.0 in something of the right direction. If 2.1 and beyond continue in the same manner, I could be persuaded to make the jump in the future.
But, for 1.23.5 lovers, we’re now at the stage where everyone is going to have to climb into the boats provided by third party developers if they wish to enjoy the same levels of functionality afforded to users of Viewer 2 and its derivatives /hybrids.
But even this isn’t without issues. Again, I really enjoy using Emerald, and have yet to see a single negative claim made against the Viewer in terms of data scraping, ToS violations and whatnot actually demonstrated to be fact. I mean, the code is out there to review yet, (and leaving aside the cry of “well the source you see may not be the code used to compile the .EXE you install”), I’ve yet to see a single claim made against Emerald supported by a slice of code, rather than the more common innuendo.
BUT…the Viewer aside, it cannot be denied that there is much that whiffs somewhat unpleasantly over at the Emerald Point sim (and other sims run by the more notorious “Emerald devs”) ad well as, it appears, within the Oynx project itself. While it cannot be denied that some posting in these SLU threads have themselves one or more axes to grind where Modular Systems are concerned, as other are far from being white hats themselves…the fact remains that as long as the more reputable members of the Emerald Viewer development team retain their association with Modular Systems, the more they run the risk of crippling their own credibility.
This is one reason why I’m genuinely pleased to see the likes of Imprudence return to supporting SL and continuing to develop a 1.23.5-based Viewer. They’ve incorporated many of the positive features contained in Emerald while avoiding the more intrusive tools (such as being able to see if someone on your Friend’s list is hiding their online status from you). There are one or two more features I’d like to see added – a wider choice of skins, the inclusion of MU and OOC indicators; a direct double-click tp function (a wonderful boon when hoping around a sim looking after things)…but the current release is very much a breath of fresh air compared to the increasingly vitriolic / smug name-calling that surrounds Emerald.
Personally, I’d like to see a few more 1.23.5-based TPVs out there. I doubt whether it will happen; those who matter seem to be determined to continue down the road of cutting their noses to spite their faces.
In the meantime, those of you currently using the official 1.23.5 might want to start savouring the time you have left with it. 1.22 is now gone, support-wise, alongside the 1.23.5 RC – doubtless someone at LL has a date firmly ringed whereupon the official 1.23.5 will be officially tossed aside to age gracelessly.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 