Emerald Viewer Banned? Wait a Second....

I have been monitoring the Emerald Viewer chat for the last 24 hours and have been amazed that the anger and grief being shown over the loss of Emerald. I to am sad to see this viewer go, and was angry at not only the Lab but Phox...Arabella and the like. But then I sat back and started to think. (Yes...this can be dangerous! :P) "Something is just not right here."

First, didn't Philip Linden say something about the SnowGlobe Project being be merged into
SnowStorm? Think back, at the key note speech at the SLCC, he did say that they were pushing forward with the SnowStorm project which means that Snowglob WILL EVENTUALLY be phased out.

Think about it, this only makes sense from a software and user perspective. When the Lab puts out new server software the viewer needs to be updated and usually is. What we have to ask ourselves is, how far is too far? When should a project be scrapped and redone from the bottom up? I am suspecting with SnowStorm, this is a complete start from scratch code.

Anyone out there who is an Apple user for more than a few years can remember when Apple changed their OS from 9.2 to 10.0. This was a radical change, very radical. Slicker interface, Unix system, better usability and the list can go on and on. Well, think of Emerald the old viewer as OS9.2. Yes we loved it and no...at first, we really don't want it to change. This is the same problem we are having with the new Viewe 2.0 and from my understanding even SnowStorm.

Now the new 2.0 viewer has a hideous UI. I do mean hideous. Not only that, but the usability is almost non-existent. The person who designed it SHOULD be shot.

It's buggy...I mean...I get bit by more bugs running 2.0 than I do fishing down at the swamp and there's no DEET to help you with these bugs. BUT it has new features that the old viewer doesn't have, and I am suspecting, isn't capable of handling which will eventually, make it obsolete.

Somehow, now bear with me because I am trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, I have a feeling that the Emerald Dev Team was asked to move to the new code and they didn't want to. Now, I am VERY sure this is only part of the problem, but let's deal with one thing at a time. Anyway, This means dumping all the code you have worked long and hard on and then basically starting over again. A daunting task if you ask me.

Now, with the demand to go to the new viewer development, then the knowledge that the Lab wouldn't let Phox, Skills or Discrete be on the Emerald team, a decision, by the way, which I support 100%, I have a feeling that some of them felt that doing this would piss off enough residents (which it did) to incite them to a near virtual riot. So their thinking was; why don't we take advantage of that?

Well, congratulations Emerald Dev team, you did it but at the expense of your users. Now it will be a long time before any of us trust you, and I personally, will never trust Phox with anything he codes again. BUT that isn't the only thing I have a problem with, I am angry about the labs stand of Phox and his hacking:

[2010-03-18 16:43:32] Soft Linden: Nice!!!
[2010-03-18 16:43:41] Lonely <3: The OnyxKDU variant contains the other end of the cipher, and an exported function to retrieve said comment.
[2010-03-18 16:43:44] Soft Linden: I'd figured that library would be the place to hide things. So it shows up in their baked texture.
[2010-03-18 16:44:07] Lonely <3: Yup, Linux variants encode 128 characters of the path, since window title depends on window manager etc.
[2010-03-18 16:44:27] Lonely <3: I've got it nicely tied in to the radar here, it's fun to see the various names I get when all I see on people is a shiny emerald tag.
[2010-03-18 16:44:45] Soft Linden: I'd look at other places you might store that. We were at least planning to start encoding some info there to help us with DMCA takedowns

(The full conversation can be found here: From the Desk of Krisy B...)

While what they are doing, in essence CAN be used for going after people who copy in-world content, and I DO applaud that, my concern is why allow Phox do this kind of coding after his track record? I am gathering this is partially the reason for the change in rules for the TVP list. And yes, I support this too, especially after Phox is heard saying that he put in a channel spoofer in the last version of Emerald:

Some are saying that this was a joke. IMHO, this is something that just shouldn't be joked about. Integrity is paramount and whether this was done or not, should NOT have been said. While we're on the subject of integrity, Arabella's colors came through the wash, unfortunately, as one who's colors run. She seems to back some friends with honesty and others, well screw you.   Why is your integrity fickle, Arabella? You told us you couldn't continue with being dishonest just before Fractured Left.  What happened here?

This whole affair has left a bitter taste in my mouth and I am angered at the people on the Emerald team who selfishly put themselves over the users. The hell they have put us through, along with others on the outside who had a hand on this. I don't know the whole story on how this happened and somehow, I don't think we will ever get the full story, not to mention an honest one. I hope everyone involved can sleep with themselves at night then can look at themselves in the mirror.  Somehow I think there are those who can, but shouldn't be.

In the meantime, I have changed to Kirsten's viewer and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of graphics, even at it's lowest setting is better than anything that Emerald had. I am hoping she will add all the toys I like about Emerald in the interim.

For further reading on the techie details of the new SnowStorm project and what it could mean for your viewing experience in Second Life, take a look at this blog:

The SecondLife Technologist

Well, That's all for now....when I find/get more info, I'll be more than happy to post it here.

Please feel free to post comments...I do have them moderated so no flaming please.

:D Kit

P.S.

Rumor has it that there will be some people banned over this...As much as I like the thought, somehow, Like Hazim and friends, I doubt this will last very long.