Wednesday about 11 AM the Lab made a blog post: Second Life’s Oculus Rift Integration is Ready for Beta Testers. They provide an email address for those that would like to participate in the beta testing.
Ciaran Laval posted talking about it. See: Linden Lab Oculus Rift.
To be part of the beta team you need to have an Oculus Rift. The only Rift hardware currently available is the Developer’s Kit, US$300±. Some Second Life residents have a Rift. They are the people the Lab is looking for.
No Rift? Don’t bother applying.
CtrlAltStudio makes a viewer that supports the Rift. It is a branch of the Firestorm Viewer. See: CtrlAltStudio. But, David Rowe, the developer, has not been big into the user interface. He has been waiting on the Lab to develop that.
Also, David has joined the Firestorm development team. May be join is too strong a word. Partnered… whatever they are working together. That suggests to me that the Firestorm viewer will probably release Rift support shortly after the Lab’s viewer makes it to the RC stage. Or… not. They may decide a better UI is possible and go to work on their idea of better one, which would delay their release…
At this stage I suspect this beta team for the Lab will have to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement. Everyone is trying to figure out how to do UI’s for the Rift. So, my guess is the Lab will want to make their release a surprise.