Wow, I pumped out 96 posts in the month of March. This is the third of may be 12 articles about 2015. – To find the collection of Year End Review articles look in the right-hand column and click the TAG: Annual Review.
March 2015 – 96 Articles
This month the Lab was working on rolling out AISv3. Problems were biting people as the transition was being made. Problems ranged from render fails to not being able rez from inventory.
「Hey Ho, Let’s Go」 – Taken in March 2015
March viewers were;
RC Login Viewer version 3.7.25.298971 – This one promoted to main release in March.
RC Tools Update Viewer version 3.7.26.299443
RC Maintenance Viewer version 3.7.26.299845
RC Experience Viewer version 3.8.0.299338
Project Avatar Layer Limits Viewer – This was the start of the project to change how we use layers on the avatar. Basically it changes the limit of how many textures one can wear on a given layer and sets the total limit at 60.
RC Hover Viewer version 3.7.26.299635 – The new HOVER Height feature made it to the main release viewer in March.
RC Tools Update Viewer version 3.7.26.299443
Project Importer Viewer version 3.7.25.298441
Project Layer Limits Viewer version 3.7.26.299805
Project Managed Marketplace Viewer version 3.7.25.298865
Project Oculus Rift Viewer version 3.7.18.295296
Word in March was that a viewer change to improve teleporting and crossing into another region was coming. Also that soon viewers will not install on Windows XP 32 or 64 bit machines.
This is the second of may be twelve articles on what was happening this past year, 2015.
February 2015 – 43 Articles
The RC server channels got an update to fix a teleport problem SL Go users were having.
Maison de L’amitié
Viewer-wise we were being told it would be some time before we saw Webkit abandoned and a move to Chromium Embedded Framework. Well, it is December, almost a year later, and we are seeing the change in RC Second Life Valhalla Viewer version 4.0.0.308641. So, it was some time…
The first week of Feb the main viewer was version 3.7.25-299021. The RC viewers were:
RC Experience Viewer version 3.8.0.298001
RC Login Viewer version 3.7.25.298971
Project Hover Height Viewer version 3.7.25.298129
Project Importer Viewer version 3.7.25.298441 – Getting lots of negative feedback and bug reports.
Project Managed Marketplace Viewer version 3.7.25.298865
Project Oculus Rift Viewer version 3.7.18.295296
Project Tools Update Viewer version 3.7.25.298862 – This went mainstream this month. It is the viewer built with the new compiler.
In February we were noticing a slowing of updates, server and viewer, but improved communication between the Lab and users. We were also noticing slower rendering and more items not rendering.
In mid Feb we saw an RC of Login Viewer version 3.7.25.298971 release. The Lab was A-B testing login screens.
The new versions of the viewers compiled with VS2013 will be driving Windows XP users to other viewers. The Discussion on dropping support for XP had yet to heat up.
More work on and testing of Group Chat was in progress. HUD’s were detaching after teleport. Oz Linden spoke about how bad an idea cache clearing is. See: YouTube Oz on Cache Clearing @ 1:01:20.
Render Muting was in QA. We know it now as Avatar Complexity Information, which as of December was still in the RC viewer stage.
Week 6 saw the conclusion of the 2015 planning meeting. We heard nothing about what was decided. However, excitement within the Lab was said to be high. We already saw the Lab’s post on recent improvements to Second Life; Hover Height, Notifications, Mesh Import, VMM, Graphics Settings Presets, and developer tools.
Gaia Clary was asking for feedback on AvaStar.
The No Link> error started showing up.
Astrid Kaufmat was writing about Fitted Mesh not fitting and the need for a new avatar. At the time I thought there was little chance of a new avatar. But, Project Bento (Dec 2015) has proven me wrong.
A Freeze Frame bug started causing problems. Freeze Frame is a feature in the Snapshot panel. Closing the panel with Freeze enabled froze your world. The only escape was a relog.
This was the month OSGrid came back online after L O N G time offline. Later in the month more assets were recovered.
Road to VR was on about social VR. Lots of people in the SL community, including me, were blogging about VR.
A handy work-around for tweaking a region’s Windlight settings was revealed by Honour McMillan. See: Changing Windlight & HDR. Designing Worlds did a series on photography with Strawberry Singh, Honour McMillan and Wildstar Beaumont. See: Second Life Photography Tips.
MayaStar was released. The Maya side of Blender’s AvaStar tool.
Shug Maitland was blogging her wondering whether SL1 could compete with SL2 (Sansar). Later in the month Oz Linden was speaking on the same point. See: Second Life Continuing … for real…
I like looking back at the year to see what has happened and get a perspective of how Second Life™ is progressing. On a week to week basis I tend to lose perspective. Also, many of the things that have changed this year are forgotten, taken for granted. Other things I am often surprised to realize how long I have been waiting for them.
boule de neige….Un ange – snowball …. An angel
So, I publish my review in bits. I don’t have time to do the whole year in one sitting.
January 2015 – 23 Articles
If you don’t know, WordPress has an Archive feature that allows one to see the articles published for any month in any year a blog was operational. Look in the column of this blog to find drop down.
Writing the annual review is a lot of work and takes time I will be using for RL projects. Ciaran and others have written their reviews of 2014. I’m going to skip mine this year. But, I do have some thoughts on 2014 and the coming 2015.
I have been tracking concurrent user numbers for the past 3 years.
Concurrent Users 2011 to 2014
There has often been a discussion about whether or not there is a seasonal aspect to the use of Second Life. I think the chart answers that question. It shows most clearly in the peak concurrent users line and a bit less in the minimum line, but it is still there.
Notice that about July-August of each year there is a low point in the numbers. From then to February-March the numbers increase to a peak then start to fall to the February-March low point. It seems pretty consistent from year to year for the last 3 years.
I’ve found it interesting to look back to see what has happened in Second Life™ during the past year. In 2012 I did that and published: Looking Back at Second Life 2012. A much shorter version of that is: 2012 – The Short List.
In the sidebar I have an Archive selector. You can select any month to find articles within a specific month. I also try to make use of WordPress categories and tags. Each article has a section that shows published date, categories, and tags. Use category and tags links to find more articles on a specific subject.
This article is about 9,000 words long. If I have time I’ll make the TL:DR version like I did last year. But, don’t count on it.
