Frank ends the silence

Frank Ambrose (FJ Linden) ends the long silence from Linden Lab, with a newsworthy posting on upcoming technology improvements. It makes welcome reading as it spells out the upcoming quarter.

First up, Group limits are raised with immediate effect to 42. Many have been grumbling about the “non-arrival” of this ever since it failed to materialise at the end of last year; hopefully this announcement will finally put a stop to the complaints and confusion. It’s not clear what overall impact the change will have in terms of system performance, and FJ again warns that if there is a major adverse impact, the option will be throttled back to 25  – although those with more than 25 won’t suddenly lose any groups: they simply won’t be able to add more and those below the 25 limit won’t be able to go beyond it.

The danger here, of course is that every suddenly rushes out and just a gazillion Groups as a whole, and SL starts reeling around in shock. Of course, LL will be anticipating something of a surge, so this won’t lead to an immediate turn-off of the facility – but one can well imagine the rumour-mill churning, “Quick! sign up to X,Y Z, A, B, C before they stop you from doing so!”

We’re also promised a new Group Chat system by the end of March. Quite what this is – and how it integrates into the existing Viewer options – remains to be seen. However, and with due respect to FJ, I cannot help but shudder when I read “industry standard” in a press release – and doubly so when it is associated with Linden Lab. Let’s face is, the blogrum software was supposed to be “industry standard” and they still cannot entirely get their collective heads around it…

More improvements to teleporting are being promised – and are needed. I wagged a finger at FJ on his last technology blog, wherein he was suggesting such matters were now a thing of the past because “the software sez so”. That LL are prepared to admit there is still an issue to be addressed and rectified – while blindingly obvious to those of us who use their platform – is actually very welcome news.

So to is the news that LL will continue to tweak and improve matters around the infrastructure in general, and will be once more looking at the Asset system. The latter in particular has long needed a good long, hard look – although again, as FJ has in the past posted, it’s not something that will have an “easy” or even short-term fix. All we can hope for is steady improvement. And this is fair enough.

That said, one thing LL could do with sorting – and granted, this is not precisely in FJ’s bailiwick – is providing full and proper assistance for those suffering inventory losses as a result of Asset system failures. Far too many people are in a position of finding vast tracts of their inventory either vanishing or sitting in an inaccessible part of their inventory (on the same level as the MY INVENTORY and LIBRARY folders). That every ticket and JIRA raised on the matter is closed by a Linden employee with a curt “contact support and request an inventory fix” does not help matters. The fact that some people have been chasing “support” for nigh-on a year to try to get said “inventory fixes” is utterly unacceptable. So even before getting to the nitty-gritty of technology fixes, it’s about time someone at LL looked into the matter from a customer services perspective.

The one thing – when it comes – that is liable to cause some grumbling and growling is Viewer 2.5, with its “ties” to Facebook, etc. It looks like the roll-out of Viewer 2.5 will also herald an official notification about the “new” web Profiles that are already available, as I and others have already reported, as well – certainly FJ hints at them. But it will be the Facebook (Twitter, LinkedIn) tie-in that is liable to provoke negativity – even though this is already effectively there with the web profiles. All I can say in response to any complaints is a simple don’t like? Don’t use!

All-in-all, some good news from FJ – and open and to the point. As someone in the comments states, he really is one of the better communicators in LL.