Second Life and Virtual Worlds
Things about SL
A new version of the Dolphin 2 Viewer is out. The released planned for this slot was to be a 2.6 version. But, things change. Bug fixes, features, and the load of changes coming out of the Lab seems to have pushed this release out the door. It may be several weeks before we see the next release. There is lots to upgrade going into 2.6. The Development viewers are coming out in 2.7 versions.
I see today that AM Radio’s regions are going to close in 6 months. (See: AM Radio Regions Closing Down In 6 Months – by Daniel Voyager) It seems every week or so some region is closing. I have to wonder how many regions are closing and if the closings are a Second Problem or just the natural evolution of the grid.
Metaverse publishes stats on the number of live regions available on SL. Since December 2010 the number is static. Growth can be said to have reached plateau… or stopped depending on how one wants to spin it.
The tools used to build our viewers are not the hot topic among most residents. However, the VS2010 in this latest project test build is all about the tools. VS2010 means Microsoft’s Visual Studio IDE (Integrated Development Environment). Getting to where this tool can be used to develop the SL Viewer has been a main topic in the viewer development circles. Why is this important to you?
It will be a big deal for those with newer computers. First, the VS2010 is a tool much like Microsoft Word but for programming. Developers use it to write programs. It enables links to programming libraries, like Word has Thesaurus and Dictionary. It has syntax checking that is very much like spelling and grammer checking for word. Imagine if you could literally not read a document, it scrambled all over screen, just because a comma was in the wrong place. That is the level of precision with which programmers must write. VS2010 provides lots of help and support. While that is nice for the programmer, the benefit seen by residents is faster updates and bug fixes.
I previously wrote in the server update that gzip was added into the inventory download process. At the time there was no viewer that used the feature. The change over to the new HTTP with gzip inventory download is the new feature in this Beta release.
This version also has the avatar physics, bouncy boobs, bellies and butts. It is officially labeled Enhanced Body Physics. See: Enhanced Avatar Physics courtesy of Bea Linden.
There are some boring bug fixes in this version.
There are some known problems too. A big one is the Crash on Start if English is not the default language. Also, tattoo layers lost the ADD choice. They are WEAR only. That is a bug. Some body parts may disappear… guys be careful… a relog should fix the problem.
If you compile your own viewer, you can now compile using VS2010.
Lots of things are changing. They aren’t visible changes that offer us new buttons or things to do. They are things that improve the operation of Second Life. I’ll point out some of the changes in the recent server updates.
The code preparing things for a change over to XMPP Chat have propagated through the main grid.
The Estate Management controls for handling special users, think teens but its not limited to teen, to deal with access, L$, chat and etc. are in the main grid now. I’m not clear if the new viewers, think Development and Beta, have caught up with the change. So, residents may not be able to use the features yet.
In some circles I have a reputation for long posts, no… really. Whatever, I do look forward to Gwyneth’s posts on Second Life issues. Today (well… as I write, yesterday as you see this) she posts an interesting 5 page article on the integration of Second Life and Facebook. We have all heard the people complaining about SL adopting more of a social network style and fears it will be another Facebook. I have my reservations about Facebook, in spite of being somewhat addicted to Facebook’s Backyard Monsters. Gwyneth presents the integration in a new light. So, if you are interesting in reading a more positive spin about Facebook (in just 2 pages) and what may improve SL, read on.
My post here is a short and incomplete summary of Gwyneth’s ideas. I’ve touched on those things that interested me and added my thoughts. For her full article see: Facebook integration