Month: January 2011

Viewer 2.5 web profiles and angst

Posted on by Inara Pey

With the news of Esbee’s forthcoming departure since spreading, Viewer 2.5, recently promised by Frank (FJ Linden) Ambrose is rolled out a “Beta” to trumpeting by Q Linden.

Chief among the list of features in this iteration is the new web-based profile feature. I’ve already reported on this, and I like the fact that, in 1.23.x viewers at least, we get the best of both worlds – a web page Profile and the familiar in-world Profile window. Changes to one are automatically reflected in the other – neat.

However, in Viewer 2.5, it seems things are to be somewhat different: the web page Profile actually replaces the in-world Profile in the sidebar (clicking on Profile now apparently pops-up the built-in browser to display the web Profile). While this overcomes the somewhat ugly and limited Profile display found in the Viewer 2 sidebar, it’s not entirely ideal.

However, this isn’t the biggest issue with the new Profile option. People have already commented on the fact that it includes options to link to Facebook and Twitter – and people commenting on the release are also raising objections about the fact that others can click on the included buttons and add Profiles for SL avatars to their Facebook pages.

Me? I’m failing to see the problem. I’m sure there are those in SL who use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn who will find such options a delight and welcome addition. For those who don’t, I tend to say, “so what?” Why get all het up about it? I personally don’t use Facebook, so I won’t be linking anything from anyone to anywhere. I don’t even care if Joe Schmoe or Patty Pattacake out in Facebook land link my SL Profile to their Facebook pages because it doesn’t affect me in the slightest. There is nothing within my SL Profile that allows anyone to beat a path to my RL front door; so if Joe or Patty want to claim Inara as their friend – good for them. I’ve never been someone’s imaginary friend before – the experience might be fun.

And that’s assuming there are people out in Facebook land who are going to go clicky-happy when they happen to stumble upon SL avatar profiles – or worse, say nasty things about us! In sort, where this particular problem is concerned, people really should get over themselves. Now, had the new feature forced us all into Facebook land, then I’d understand (and be a part of) the outcry; as it stands, “mountain” and “molehill” are words that spring to mind.

What I do find telling about this release is that it has been pushed out the door by LL despite the fact this much-heralded feature has an irritating bug sitting in it – which is this: it doesn’t exactly work.

Those using Internet Explorer stand to be OK. But people using Chrome or Firefox or Safari, etc., are all reporting issues – specifically “SSL Handshake Failure”. This is due to the fact that the software requires a security certificate in order to function, and the only way to get that certificate until the Viewer is patched (2.5 Beta 2) is to run Internet Explorer and access a profile…

It’s not a major bug – but many people don’t use Internet Explorer. It’s not liked. Period. Linden Lab know this – just look at the kurfuffles surrounding the release of the “new” forum software, which originally only ran “properly” on Internet Explorer (and which today still doesn’t display all posts in a thread in browsers like Chrome…) users of other browsers weren’t exactly shy in giving vent to their frustrations – and rightly so. Given this problem was discovered before 2.5 Beta 1 was released, one has to ask why was the software still pushed out the door? Why the all-fired rush?

Would waiting just a day or two (or even a week) to get the patch sorted really have hurt that much?

I don’t use Viewer 2 – I’m a Phoenix / KLee Viewer user – so something like this doesn’t really affect me per se – and yet it does; simply because it is indicative that  LL, rather than being focused on stability, usability and the like are still focused primarily on dates on the calendar and ticking boxes – something Philip R himself said back at SLCC they’d “gotten wrong” and would be “fixed”.

Well, the fix appears to be lacking.

Esbee set to depart

Posted on by Inara Pey

Daniel Voyager breaks the news that Esbee Linden, Project Manager for Viewer 2 and more latterly, Snowstorm, is to depart Linden Lab on Friday the 21st January.

Esbee came in for a lot of criticism over the amount of spin she placed around the premature release of Viewer 2, and for various posts relating to the tweaking / damaging / breaking of Search under Viewer 2, although it should be said she, Q Linden and Oz Linden have pretty much kept to their SLCC 10 promises around Project Snowstorm, which has been well worth the effort.

Doubtless, when the news breaks, some will be cracking open bottles of bubbly stuff and toasting the “demise” of Viewer 2 – and will be waking up to hangovers and disappointment when their celebrations prove far too premature. While it is possible that this may wrong-foot Viewer 2 development in the short-term – as it appears that Esbee is leaving because she’s received an “offer she couldn’t refuse” from elsewhere rather than being given the royal order of the boot – I doubt it will result in a significant change in tack where Viewer 2 is concerned; and frankly, it shouldn’t. Viewer 2 is far from perfect – but then, so is Viewer 1.x; and while there are still rough edges that need to be smoothed and refined, 2.4 is a far superior product to 2.0 – just as 1.23.5 is far superior to 1.15 (or even 1.18)…

I had no direct dealings with Esbee myself; I did point the finger at her a couple of times for the aforementioned corporate spin in some of her posts, but I did listen to her and Oz and Q at SLCC 10 and found all of them to be a lot more aware than perhaps they’d been given credit. So like Daniel, I wish her well in her future endeavours.

Rodvik’s tough future

Posted on by Inara Pey

So, according to Bob Kumin, or BK Linden as LL’s CFO / COO is known “in-world” (I use the latter term lightly, as I believe he’s actually been in-world um, once since his arrival at LL, and even then had very little to say), Rod Humble – potentially to be called Rodvik Linden, according to some – arrived at Battery Street yesterday. This has prompted some (going on the in-world traffic I was privy to yesterday) to start demanding “where is he?” and “Typical…no announcement from him”, etc.

Well…hang on! Give the poor sod a chance.

There has been lots of “free” advice handed out to Mr. Humble since the announcement of his appointment last month. When you push aside all the (inevitable) bitching about this and that, there is to be sure, a lot of sage advice contained within the responses to the announcement.

Similarly, Profoky Neva started a nice little thread in the blogs, urging three-word recommendations for Rodvik to consider. Sadly, I cannot link to the same any more, as it has, in the mysterious ways of the official forums, been deleted for some reason. Again, while there was much hoo-ing and ha-ing among the posts there, there were many replies that had more than a ring of validity about them.

But – and here’s the rub – the fact that both the comments posted to the announcement and Prokofy’s own thread did contain so much in the way of contradicting viewpoints (“Ditch Viewer 2!” vs. “Viewer 2 is great!”; “Forget Mesh!” vs. “SL needs Mesh!”; “Stop making SL inaccessible to older computers!” vs. “SL needs to keep up with technology!” and so on) that, even without the vitriol, one can see the problem Rod(vik) faces even if he merely glances at the replies.

…listening to the users isn’t actually always the best thing…

We’ve all – myself included – repeatedly called for LL to “listen” to its user base (well, I’ll actually redefine that slightly – I’ve been calling for LL to engage and communicate with us – both of which, dare I say, are somewhat more involved (on both sides!), than simply “listening”). But, what exactly does this mean, and how should LL go about it?

As Tateru Nino points out so well, users themselves have such widely varied views on things, that seeking broad-ranging input from them can – whether we like it or not – lead to as much confusion, angst and anger from said users when the outcome is announced, as simply not seeking input in the first place.

Take, for example, two of the most common cries in the responses to Rod Humble’s appointment as CEO. On the one hand people are loudly shouting for the “trashing” of Viewer 2; on the other, people are praising it. Similarly, and more vociferously, we have people loudly proclaiming that Mesh “isn’t needed”, and other citing very valid reasons why it is.

How do you reconcile such entrenched, widely differing views without pissing off at least 50% of your audience?

Of course these two examples are extremes, and to be fair, a large proportion of the “anti” lobby in both comes down to a simple unwillingness to change on the part of those voicing the objections. For example, many of those denouncing Viewer 2 do so on the basis of “having tried it for 10 minutes” before giving up – yet I wonder, when they first joined SL, how long it took them to get to grips with Viewer 1.x? Longer than 10 minutes, I’ll warrant; so why the impatience now?

But leaving aside the extreme position of these views, it does demonstrate the tightrope Humble has to walk, just where the users are concerned – and as Tateru amply demonstrates in her column with a simple little exercise.

Of course, there are “obvious” things that need to be done: stability, performance in general, smoothing out sim boundary crossings, etc., – but these are “easy” as we all see and feel them. What about the more complex? How does LL make SL more attractive, immersive, engaging, exciting – fun – for the “lay” user?

The answers here are far more difficult: ask ten people and get 10 different replies. Add to this the fact that Rod Humble isn’t just “answerable” to the users – he is in his post at the leisure of a Board that at times seems both remote from the realities of Second Life and somewhat hostile towards the user base. As such, he is responsible for heeding their collective will and turning their whims into realities – making any potential balancing act on his part, that much harder (the needs of the few (the Board) will always outweigh the needs of the many, if I might be permitted to paraphrase a certain Vulcan).

All this being the case, I’m not surprised that he hasn’t suddenly bounced into the official blogs announcing this, that and the other. Anyone with any common sense, whether they have been looking around in-world or not, whether they’ve been hopping in and out of the Battery Street offices over the last few weeks or not, whether they’ve been involved at all with the inner machinations of LL or not even from arm’s length – is going to need time to get into the office, settle down and take a studied look at what is going on and how things really work.

If nothing else, the legacy of Mark Kingdon would encourage anyone entering the role to do so with some caution. After all, he was trumpeted in by the likes of Philip Rosedale, who went on to talk about him in glowing terms – sharing the same pod, being of the same mind, etc., etc.,  – and look how that finished up (and don’t go blaming Kingdon purely for the way things went).

Given all of the above, I’m actually not that surprised nothing has been heard of from Mr. Humble as yet (and that’s taking it for granted that he did arrive OK yesterday as the new CEO); he’s going to need time to get properly to grips with things before (one would hope) he starts making massive pronouncements on just about anything.

But, that said, it would be nice just to get a quick “hello!” from him, coupled with a short statement confirming he’s “here” and perhaps asking for our understanding while he does get settled at his desk and takes time to settle in.

Blue Mars: on the slate

Posted on by Inara Pey

Avatar Reality are causing something of a kerfuffle over their announcement to move into – and essentially exclusively- the world of mobile devices.

It’s an interesting – daring? – move to say the least, given the current size of the mobile device market (16 million worldwide). Even given the projected growth to some 50-60 million units of various descriptions by the end of the year, together with projections for faster, more capable devices such as tablets and slates – Motorola is about to launch the dual-core Xoom, already regarded by some as an “iPad” killer, and rumours circulating as to a dual-core iPad not too far down the road, while even Microsoft are moving more towards the SOC environment as well – it’s hard to see the benefits of going “purely” hand-held, as Jim Sink, the outgoing CEO of Avatar Reality states is the case.

Granted the desktop client is a hefty thing to run – those complaining about SL’s viewer performance on older machines should try to give Blue Mars a go – but it was still usable, and provided the necessary access. Even with the graphics rendered elsewhere than the client, there is still a huge amount of data to be downloaded at times, and with service provisioning and net neutrality now being revised, one has to one as to what compromises will have to be made in the future in order for a fast, efficient and accessible service to be delivered to mobile devices that isn’t going to end up costing an arm or leg – or both.

Given the overall state of flux, this is a decision that may yet come back to bite Avatar Reality, and bite them hard.

So where does this leave Second Life? Certainly, Linden Lab would be foolish to ignore the emerging market, assuming it does grow as rapidly as anticipated, both in numbers and technology. But by the same measure, abandoning the desktop altogether is something that LL should do at their peril.

If LL are going to enter the market effectively and efficiently, they’re going to have to come up with an application that works to the strengths of mobile devices and the wireless medium – and this is potentially a tall order for the company, given its inability to actually identify and understand its core market (i.e. thee and me). In doing so, they are also going to have to resist the temptation to start blindly chasing yet another perceived audience for their wares, something which seems to have been a hallmark of their meanderings over the past few years (first it was Big Business, then it was the New Users, currently it seems to be the Teenage Gamers). Of course, the danger here is what happens if Avatar Reality appear to have a modicum of success? Will LL blindly chase after them, forsaken rhyme and reason?

One would hope not. Rather, given the arrival of a new CEO and the recognition that mobile devices could be an additional string to the Second Life fiddle, one would hope that saner minds will prevail in LL and see dedicated tablet / slate / mobile device access as complementing the current Viewer access through the desktop / laptop / netbook, and not as something to outright replace these.

Such an approach would benefit all – providing LL have the wherewithal to manage it – and open Second Life to widest of all potential technology markets, rather than pushing it into what is – at least for the immediate future – something of a “niche” market – even if it is one that is emerging into something sustainable for the future.

Maximum prim size to increase?

Posted on by Inara Pey

I was bimbling about the Beta Grid this week, looking and bits and pieces to do with Mesh, and noticed that the maximum size limit for prims seems to be around the 60x60x60 mark, rather than the 10x10x10 we have on the Main Grid.

I’ve been told this size limit has been changed to better enable Mesh support on the Beta – which sets me to wondering whether we’ll see the size increase enabled on the Main Grid when Mesh goes live.

The 10x10x10 size limit is, like the 15,000 prims-per-full-sim limit, something imposed by Linden Lab as a trade-off between capability and performance back in the early days of the Grid, rather than a limitation of the software itself. Given server-side processing has increased dramatically over the past 6-7 years, and given that the considered use of “legally cut” megas can mean very little in overall degradation to sim performance ), a move to a larger maximum prim size would be exceptionally welcome  among content creators and hobbyist builders alike, and could quickly bolster LL in the popularity stakes.

TSL closes on the 20th Jan

Posted on by Inara Pey

Terrance Linden, talking to teen on the Teen Grid has confirmed that Teen Second Life will formally close on the 20th January 2011 – my thanks to Blaze Borgin for confirming this.

Doubtless as word seeps out on this matter we’ll see more childish foot stomping, naming-calling, bursts of hystrionics – at least from the adults on the official forums, where most of the adult reaction has been been downright childish. Certainly, many of those about to raise the ramparts, pull up the ladders and shoot fiery arrows at anyone they even suspect is a teenager would do well to reflect on the maturity shown by the likes of Blaze himself when posting on the matter.

I’m sure Blaze isn’t alone in showing this kind of mature objectivity, and it’s pretty much why I’ve continued to take the view that the merger is little more than a storm in a teacup, and that the majority of “grown ups” getting their pants in a paddy really should take a step back…and possibly a valium.

I still stand convinced that overall, the merger will have very little negative impact on the Grid as a whole. Let’s face it, it remains a fact that teens on anything other than PG sim are in violation of the ToS – so ARs remain in force, just as they always have.

And what, precisely, is the problem with adults showing restraint on PG sims? Let’s face it, the ToS and CS also make it clear that sexual acts, nudity and the like are a strict no-no on PG sim – and this has been the case since long before the merger was announced – so is it really that hard for adults to think about where they are and what they are doing and simply moderate their own behaviour just a little more?

Sure, there are some risks – I’ve posted on them myself. Perception is a big one, and in this, LL are taking something of a risk inasmuch as the level of intolerance adults within Second Life have frequently shown towards the “pesky kids” coming into the grid is, sadly, liable to be shared by some adults outside of SL. People of the same ilk as Mark Kirk (R. Illinois), who has already engaged in one anti-SL witch-hunt in his time. No matter what safeguards exist in-world (such as teens not being able to cross from PG to Mature sims on the mainland) do not negate the impression that SL is an “open door” to “innocent” teens being able to look-in on “naughtiness” and “sin”, simply because they can cam into Mature sims. And herein does lie something of a risk – not to individual residents per se, but to SL as a whole; that some of the self-righteous out in the big world will see a campaign in the making here.

But…that said…I’m not sure that even then the sky will totally fall in.

For my part, I’ll continue to see the arrival of teens as nothing major to fret about. The fact that new teen arrivals have apparently been coming onto the Main Grid since late December, rather than being directed solely to TSL seems to have escaped notice, and this has hardly caused any issues other than a few adult noses being put further out of joint. This could be because – as I’ve also posted elsewhere, SL simply won’t have the mass appeal to teenagers some within LL appear to believe, and as such, the teen-to-adult ratio in the main Grid will remain low.