We don’t hear much from the Linden Commerce Team. But this week the new Direct Deliver system made it to the Release Channel in the main grid. We know because the Server team told us. It is currently testing in Le Tigre regions. That means there is a chance it will move to the main grid this coming Tuesday, if things go well. 

As best I can tell the new features are not enabled. Visiting Le Tigre sandboxes I see none of the new folders needed for Direct Delivery in my inventory. Presumably this is a code compatibility test. They are checking to see if adding the code breaks anything else.

Also there are the other inventory services using HTTP Inventory. Those services are to make Inventory load faster and more reliably. I think new API’s are part of the deal too.  So, new viewers should see a speed up in inventory while in Le Tigre channel regions.

Failed Deliveries

A sore point in Second Life has been failed deliveries, especially from the shopping cart in the Market Place. Buy multiple items in one purchase and you are likely to have at least one of the items fail to arrive. You usually get a refund or your account is never charged, but not always, which can lead to lots of drama.

A new inventory service backend has been built and is infrastructure for Direct Delivery (DD). It is planned that this change will solve delivery problems.

Arriving Purchases

One issue with purchased items is where purchased items arrive. That is the main reason for my ever using Recent Items, to find new purchases. Currently, you may find newly purchased items in a folder in the My Inventory root. Or you may find them delivered as objects arriving in My Inventory -> Objects. It depends on how the creator packages their items.

With DD all purchased items will arrive in a system folder named… they didn’t tell us… Probably INCOMING something or other. They may still be in a box, but the new system will allow merchants to avoid using boxes/packages and provide their goods in folders. That will get us away from having to unpack things. The point is, no matter how it is packaged, it will always arrive in the same place.

Offline Delivery

Offline delivery is another feature. To assure delivery now one needs to be logged into SL and in-world when purchasing from the Market Place. Otherwise, you may not receive the item purchased. The new system will accept items whether you are online or offline.

Some third Party Viewers have the option to accept all deliveries while you are offline. That opens a door for griefers, but has not been a problem.

Inventory

Legacy viewers will get the new inventory folders for incoming and outgoing items. The outgoing is for merchants to get things into the Market Place.  So, viewer version is not an issue. Whether the folders will work in third party viewers (TPV) is another question, but it is likely they will.

DD ETA

Unknown. As I said we hear little from the Commerce Team that is developing the feature. But, many of us are hoping to see it arriving soon, within weeks. Probably just as many of us expect it to be broken on arrival.

On the other hand, the new backend and Market Place changes could solve many of the problems.