General News

Second Life Bits & Pieces 2014-21

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The basic SL News is here; servers and viewers. But, there isn’t much to say about those so I’ve mixed in the bits an pieces of news from around the grid.

Second Life will be down for an hour on Thursday, 22 May beginning at 7am PDT. If you are in-world you won’t be ejected. But, you won’t be able to do much. Avoid pulling things out of inventory or changing outfits. Of course don’t attempt any Linden$ transactions. Building is probably out of the question.

This has something to do with the assets database and backend systems.  Firestorm will have the grid status on screen as usual. I’m not sure how many people will notice. I’ll have to see if the SL Viewer’s splash says anything about it.

If the SL Forum is working (I suspect it will be), we’ll see a load of people asking why they cannot login.

Server Rolls
The main channel will get a roll Tuesday. This will be the maintenance release that was running in Magnum this past week. This is a fix for a network issue occurring in busy simulators.

Server RC’s
The Blue Steel and Le Tigre channels will continue to run the AISv3 update package for Server Side Avatar baking. The Sunshine viewer is getting updates and hopefully went into QA today. 

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Is Blocking XP SP2 Bizarre?

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You know that Linden Lab announced they are changing the system requirements to run SL. Ciaran Laval has an article up titled: Linden Lab’s Bizarre System Requirements Move. Now why does he think it is a bizarre move?

Server Scripting Meeting 2014-18
Server Scripting Meeting 2014-18

It is a sort article, so finding Ciaran’s reasoning is easy. The key point I dispute and that changes how I see the move is contained in this paragraph:

This is a very bizarre move considering the client will happily run on Windows XP SP2. There are numerous reasons why clients crash on systems, people running Windows XP are likely to be running older hardware and have less RAM than modern systems, for example, but upgrading to a new OS or Service Pack is not likely to improve their performance to any great degree in terms of Second Life.

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Drax Radio Show #17

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Drax Files Radio
Drax Files Radio

This show covers some VR news, which inspired my DIY article. They touch on Fantasy Fair, which is on going now – May 1 to 11. Then the remainder of the audio is interviews with more Lindens.

Drax and Jo have been talking about the first time user experience. There is no doubt these experiences are a significant contributor to player retention rates… or lack of them. People are adding their ideas to the comments about how the experience may be improved on the Radio Show blog: Drax Files Radio Hour.

Jo suggests that a RL model be used. In many countries people arrive by train, boat, or air. At the arrival points are information kiosks so people can find out how to get wherever they want to go next. Her idea is something like that would work for Second Life. 

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Drax Files Radio Show #16

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Drax has radio show #16 out. Ciaran Laval has a quick summary of the show, not much detail. See: The Drax Files Radio Hour Episode 16 – Drax Meets The Lindens.

Drax Files Radio
Drax Files Radio

If you do not want to take an hour to listen to the show, below I have my take from listening. Of course with that you get my opinions and biases affecting what I heard. So, listen to the original audio if you take exception to something. Also, I skip a lot and just touch on what I found interesting.

01:15 – Drax is, I think, pretending to be amazed that the Lindens are people with the usual human traits; emotions, hard working, enthusiastic, their own ideas…

01:35 – 04:00 – the obligatory promotional section. SL Go, an OnLive app, is a new sponsor of the Drax Files Radio Show. If you have not heard of SL Go… where have been? This is an app that allows tablets (and my Android phone) and older computers to access Second Life™ or other high-end video games. Drax and Jo relate some excellent user cases for SL Go. At US$1/hour or $10/month for unlimited time, this is a great possibility for many people. Listen to this section if you have an interest in alternate ways to access SL.

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Second Life Bits and Pieces 2014-17

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This last weekend was Easter Weekend, for Christians a big deal. Lots to do, family stuff, dress up, and eating good food. By tomorrow I’ll know how much of what I gained is water retention from salty foods. Ugh. But, it was yummy good and fun.

21shoe
21shoe

SL11B

Second Life’s eleventh birthday is approaching. Ciaran Laval has an article up that is interesting and gives the details: Second Life’s 11th Birthday Plans Announced.

I’ve been around SL for 6+ years now. Wow.

The party is June 22-29. 

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