The KirstenLee viewer is probably thought of as a viewer built by KirstenLee Cinquetti. A recent blog post reveals that the KirstenLee Viewer is now a growing team. If you’re interested in the people behind the viewer, check out the blog post, Meeting KirstenLee and Dawny.
The post has some interesting information about how the team sees and describes the viewer. No longer do they think of it as just for photographers’ and machinimists’ viewer. They see it as more of a high-end general purpose viewer… Ok, …it’s going to be some time before my thinking changes. But, I do use the viewer more and more for everyday use in SL.

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Early this morning Kirsten released a Release Candidate of the new S21(6) version.  KirstenLee’s announcement lists the significant changes in this version. See: S21(6) – RC1 shipping now! Read on for my experience with this version of the viewer.

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This version is released in Windows and Mac versions only. The release is labeled an early build… All the typical versioning designators used by most software developers do not apply to the Kirsten Viewers. It is somewhat like experimental aircraft. Even when an experimental plane reaches a stable model and is sold to others it remains an experimental model. So, it is not completely accurate to say this is an alpha or beta version.

One has to realize KirstenLee is developing for the high-end techie with a high-end machine. Consideration for legacy machines and novice users is NOT high on KirstenLee’s priority list. It isn’t an animosity; it’s just that KirstenLee is not letting requirements to be compatible with older technology disproportionately hold back development of the viewer.

In keeping with that line of thinking this viewer will NOT install on machines that do not meet advanced requirements. I suppose too many people with old hardware and software were complaining of problems. No matter what KirstenLee says about the viewer being an advanced model with advanced hardware requirements people tried to run it on equipment that was not adequate and then complained. Now it should be blatantly obvious when you don’t have the hardware to get it up.

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Kirsten has release S21(4) as a non-release-candidate viewer. I hesitate to call it a production viewer as it has moved into the version 2.7 code, which is very leading edge. Only Linden Lab’s Development Viewer is using 2.7 code. Whatever one chooses to label it, this is the viewer most of us would consider to be for daily use.

The OMG! aspect of the viewer is Mesh Upload… O.O …but don’t get too excited. While it is there, it isn’t working.

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This article is my impression of the new RC2 version of the Kirsten Viewer. I’ll cover the new features and changes in the section titled Experience. (Download)

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KirstenLee has put out Release Candidate 2 of the S21(4) Viewer. See: Build 4 RC2…

I’m downloading but I won’t get to use it for a few hours yet, work is in the way. But, I am looking forward to trying it. I’ll put up a review later this weekend.

It is getting a little complex keeping you clearly informed about KirstenLee’s viewer releases with terms that accurately convey a viewer’s status. It is hard to be clear about which is a production viewer, test or Beta viewer, and a Release Candidate. The problem is some of the code is Linden Lab code not yet in the SL Beta or Standard viewers, which sort of makes all the Kirsten viewers pre-beta viewers. The distinctions are blurred. Suffice to say to say, the Kirsten viewers are as bleeding edge as they come.

The S21(3) is KirstenLee’s official current release. It is available for download.

KirstenLee’s current release announcement is about S21(4) Release Candidate 1 or Kirstens S21 2.6.0.4 RC1, which is available as of 2/7.

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Today KirstenLee has released the first complete version of S21… well… one that is not a release candidate. I’ve been enjoying using the Release Candidate 2 version for several days. I’m happy to see this version out. My impressions of the viewer follow.

Install

The install program shows the version as 2.6.0.3, which shows the viewer is using the newest possible code from Linden Lab, who’s Development viewer is at 2-6-0-219259. The ‘3’ is KirstenLee’s development iteration as 219259 is the Lab’s. The Lab is averaging 68 iterations per day, which is pretty impressive. I suspect KirstenLee has far more iterations than the version numbers show.

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