KirstenLee

The complexity of version numbering for viewers and the code dumps coming from Linden Lab make clearly telling you what version and features your likely to encounter nearly impossible. There has been a load of code added to the S21(6) and changing to RC3, while logical to a developer, doesn’t really tell the user the extent of the changes. I think of Release Candidates as less about features and new code than about bug fixes. This new version is more about new code.

Kirsten puts it very in the release announcement writing:

S21(6) is now a superset of Viewer-Development, Viewer-Mesh, Viewer-XMPP and Viewer-Social 😀

It has been a monster to get everything working, however the result is a viewer of epic cutting edge niceness.

I don’t know what is called when beyond the Bleeding Edge of tech development, but whatever that is, is where this viewer is.

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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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