Second Life and Virtual Worlds
Things about SL
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.
Rod Humble is the new CEO of Second Life, as of January 2011. Many of us are curious what he will do with Second Life. What direction he will take it and does he see Second Life as we do? …well… really… All I care about is does he see it as I do and is my fun time safe?
I can’t say yet. I also can’t tell you whether he sees SL as you do or even for sure how he sees SL. Or whether our fun activities are safe or whether SL has peaked and is headed for decline. One can certainly get enough opinions on the eminent downfall of SL or it being on the edge of an eminent explosion of new users from social media. But, we don’t really know what will happen.
Danial Voyager has posted a blog article that provides links to a collection of the latest interviews with Rod Humble. You can read those to get a first hand sense of who he is and some insight to what he is thinking and might do. (Link to an audio interview added below 2/16)
In Second Life many new products require some color matching to look right. The most notable of course is prim feet and shoes. Also, the skin color of genitals, which has led me to wonder if male color blindness includes black and white blindness… If you have been to one of SL’s Chippendales-like places you understand that comment. I suspect part of the problem is the number of different ways devised to match the color in SL. I’ll try to sort those out for you, so Second Life Color Matching and color picking are easier.
Also, if you haven’t bought your first pair of prim feet and shoes yet, I know where you can get a gorgeous pair for L$25. Read on.
See the latest review: Firestorm Beta 2.5.2 (16922) Release Review
This release is the Preview Release of the Firestorm Viewer. This is still Preview 1. This not a Beta version, it is a preview. It is not intended for daily use. However, something like 1,200 people are using Preview 1 as their daily viewer. So, you may fall in love and over look its flaws. Whatever, this is my first look at the Firestorm Viewer Preview.
Today a new Phoenix Viewer version is out. Yay! This version has lots of bug fixes and should be way more stable than even 818. (Download) This may be the last upgrade and is certainly one of the last upgrades for the Phoenix Viewer. Get your copy now.
Also the Firestorm Viewer Preview 2 was released today. I’ll get to it in a separate review(Firestorm Viewer Review). OOPS… My mistake. I saw a new Preview Announcement and did not realize it was a RESEND. Only Preview 1 is out.
Update: Listening in on the Group Chat, several people are having problems with version 908 and uninstalling it. No word from the Phoenix Team as to how pervasive problems are or aren’t. Be sure you get the correct Windows version, SSE or not. Be sure you clear your cache before starting the viewer. After the install and before starting the viewer reboot the computer. And any time you have a viewer problem or viewer crash, reboot the computer.
This is my first look at the Catznip Viewer for Second Life and OpenSim. It appears this viewer is targeted at residents that want an RLV (Restrained Love Viewer) that uses the SLV2 user interface. The last release of the viewer was in December 2010. The author of the viewer is having computer problems, and that has slowed things down.
This is not a viewer on the TPV Directory. The author claims the viewer is TPV Policy Compliant. So, using this viewer is at your risk.
Kitty writes the Catznip Viewer Blog and does a good job of explaining features in the Catznip Viewer.