TM: 25:10 – “Some newer things re not better, i.e., Viewer 2. Viewer 2 is very discouraging I gave up on it.” Rod’s response was, “Fair enough.” Rod was also confused by the User Interface. He hopes people will see the progress they are making in improving the user interface. The new technology in the Viewer 2 code base is too much to give up to try and go back. Starting over is just not something anyone wants to do. They will continue making changes to the viewer. Rod does not like the sidebar and hopes to replace it. \o/ So, he says put that in the ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ category. Meaning it probably won’t happen for some time. But, this tells me Rod is more an SL user than a previous CEO.

TM: 30:15 – Will SLV have stereoscopic (anaglyph) render? At some point. For you that do not know, it is already n Kirsten’s Viewer. One version has both anaglyphic and … for the shutter glasses. But, neither work well in that version. The anaglyphic works well in the current version.

While Rod loves the idea of stereoscopic, he wants to keep his engineers working on bugs and polishing to get the core working right.

TM: 32:00 – Will there be an in-world marketing channels of SL merchants? Rod says at some point the communications are going to be revamped so the toasts, IM’s, chat, etc are not popping up all over the screen. At that point it may be possible to add a marketing channel. That does not mean spam ads like banner ads from Google. No spam.

TM: 32:50 – Will there be in-worlds tools so one won’t have to use Blender and etc. outside SL? This is one where I keep saying it is unlikely to happen. However, Rod says that is something he would like to do. BUT, that is a long way down the development road. Rod wants the core fixed first. I’ll put that in the ‘believe it when you see it’ category.

TM: 33:30 – Will Linden Lab take a percentage of in-world sales? No. Rod explains a bit of his philosophy on this subject. But, I’m tired of typing.

TM: 34:30 – What would LL do to better service in-world groups? Rod says the group tools have grown up over time and now have a usability collar around them. It is not going to be an easy change. But, they do have changes planned. Rob loves web profiles and hopes to extend the ideas to groups.

TM: 36:30 – Will LL support help special groups? Rob points out that they did help Duran Duran. But, he would rather have the core issues that make support necessary fixed. Rob feels that  makes it better for everyone and is better then providing special support to favored groups.

TM: 37:00 – Please give us more detail about the new user experience? When Rod first looked at the data they could see people trying to signup and fail. They changed the registration process and now they get signed up. After login they would fail to figure out how to move or do anything. Basic Mode fixed that so they can get around. Then what to do next? People could not find anyone beyond the sign in landing area and would leave. With the destination guide people are finding people. The next obstacle is getting them to get clothes, buy something, make something, join groups… the next step seems to require manipulation of objects. Getting them past that hurdle is the next step.

Over the next two quarters Rob hopes to complete the task of getting new users into understanding how to manipulate things in SL. Once that happens the Basic and Advanced modes will leave. Or at lease as it is now will change. The Basic Mode viewer was a stop gap measure to allow faster development without driving the existing users nuts.

TM: 42:10 – Will LL reconnect with global users? Yes. Rob says more localizations (read translations) are in progress now.

TM: 44 – End

 Best Way to Reach Rod

(TM: 28:00) To contact Rod, post in his profile feed. Twitter works too, not as well. His old Gmail address works, but expect slow response, slow as in weeks. One can also direct message him on the SL Forums and SLUniverse, both places where he hangs out.

Summary

We got to learn a lot about Rob Humble and his beliefs and perceptions of Second Life. Amazingly, many of his thoughts about and desires for Second Life match those of my friends and me. He didn’t like Viewer 2. He thinks it is better now.

He wants the core of SL to just work. He wants support services to support and be quick about it. He wants new users to actually be able to sign up and use SL and have fun with it. He thinks privacy is important and like to have his separate identities.

He doesn’t know what Second Life is. He likes that ambiguity. He believes he understands some of the things that make SL attractive and that have kept it popular for over 8 years. Mostly it is the human desire of SL users to be creative that has kept SL popular.

New features are coming. Groups and group chat will change to be more web profile-ish. Lag reducing changes are coming. Customer service has and is improving.

New creative space products/games are coming. The Lindens are building a mesh region to learn how to build better building tools.

Many of the things residents have wanted for years are being implemented.

Second Life is becoming more social.

It should be an interesting  year and I feel up about the direction of SL.

UPDATE: One of the questions I skipped was about gateways. Never mind why. There is an excellent post at Prim Perfect titled So what were these community gateways? An answer for Rodvik Linden.