In response to my last update on the SL 2.1 Viewer Opensource Obscure pointed out another third party viewer (TPV), Icesphere. For a verity of reasons I’m interested in viewers and how they work. Research leaves me wondering whether and where this software is going. Calling it a viewer is a loose use of the label viewer.
The Loss of Civility
The Alphaville Harold has published an op-ed by FoxM Ember. (10y/07m/10) Using the title I copied, The Loss of Civility. The loss of civility and the inability of people to debate controversial issues and move discussions forward to a rational solution rather devolving into profanity, name calling, and locked threads has long been a concern of mine.
I think Fox’s article for the Alphaville Harold is an indication that others have similar concerns and are seeing a similar loss of social abilities. Fox feels the anonymity of the net and virtual worlds adds to the problem. Fox is likely correct on that point. But, other than pointing out the problem nothing is said about how to correct the problem or trend.
Second Life Viewer 3rd Beta Release
On July 7 Linden Lab released another Beta version of their new viewer. (Second Life 2.1.0.206543 Beta Viewer) They say this version is more stable than the current standard 2.0 viewer and they think it is good idea for everyone to update… They could use lots of bug reports, so if you are into helping out… go for it.
This seems to be the only viewer update available this week. Kirsten, Emerald, Imprudence and Hippo don’t appear to have new releases out, this week.
Emerald Stats
New World Notes’ Wagner picked up on the high number of SL residents using the Emerald Viewer. See the article there: Shock Stat: Nearly 1 in 3 Second Life Users Reportedly Use the Emerald Third Party Viewer!
I suppose it would be a “kind of” surprise to anyone not using Emerald or the newer SL 2 Viewer. In older viewers one cannot see the viewer names in Avatar Name tags. Those people not using a newer viewer would be surprised that ‘so many’ people are using the Emerald Viewer. However, I am surprised the number is ‘so low’ …well less than I expected. I usually use the Emerald Viewer and if not Emerald then I’m using Kirsten’s Viewer. In both of those I can see the viewer name in avatar names.
Cyan Makes Steam
For those of us playing the Myst series of games… Cyan Worlds, Inc. is placing several of their games on Steam. The announcement is subtle, just a small addition on their ‘Products – Where to buy…’ page. See: Cyan’s Myst Games – It’s a Coming Soon Thing.
Naali Viewer Review
This viewer is not for Second Life, but it can be used with SL. I’m not sure why one would… The Naali Viewer is for RealXtend. I decided to look at it to see how RealXtend is handling their freeform meshes, you know like the ones coming to SL.
The viewer is large, 72.5 mb of download and 179 mb of disk space. There are currently only Windows versions available, XP, Vista, and Win 7.