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| Karazhan (general) |
Let me start by saying I'm having fun. So, while I feel a teensy bit guilty about not posting here as often as I'd like as the projects I'm working on are all-consuming at the moment, I am enjoying myself even when I sometimes look at the screen and wonder happened to my comparatively quiet Second Life.
I did take some time out this morning to finally visit Karazhan and pause to think for a while. Unfortunately for you, Dear Reader, the thinking resulted in the following little rant. I will understand if you choose just to look at the pictures and ignore the blathering. :)
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| Karazhan (general) |
Those of you who follow my aimless wandering through this blog will know I finally bit the proverbial bullet and decided to build an exhibit at SL8B. My project is a version of something I've been thinking about for a long time.
I could have decided to display slideshows of hundreds of photographs using a script which advanced the images on a prim or multiple surfaces. Each script call to the server would have a cost and my contribution to lag would have been generous. Then, of course, all of the images would be textures and have to rez and wouldn't that be fun! I didn't have to do that though because of the Shared Media capabilities in Viewer2.
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| Karazhan (general) |
To present hundreds of photographs I just need to create a widget in Koinup which gathers all the pics from anybody who uses a specific tag, create a wrapper to restrict the display of the web page to just the widget, and then align the result on a prim. (which sounds so much more technical than I would have ever believed of myself) The images appear instantly because they don't rez as textures and there is no server side impact because it all happens in the client. This makes my little project feasible. It's not a cure for cancer but it works and I'm pleased with both my efforts and the fact that people are participating.
Now why, given all that, should I apologize to anybody for using Viewer 2? Or taking advantage of its functionality? Personally I don't care what Viewer people choose. I assume, perhaps foolishly, that they make that choice based on some decision making process involving trade-offs on function and performance. They look at their needs and the degree to which each optional Viewer will satisfy their requirements. If their requirements are at the level of colour or button placement, well we all have our priorities. Once we've made our decision there will be consequences.
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| Karazhan (general) |
I don't have radar that tells me how many sexual partners the people on my sim have had or what Viewer they're using or even if they're looking down my shirt. If those things were important to me I'd reconsider my decision. I do like and take advantage of the sidebar, automatic outfits and yes, Shared Media. If you've claimed the right to do without some of the Viewer2 capabilities as a trade-off for something else then how dare you deny me the same freedom?
I am up to "here" with people standing or hovering in front of me announcing that "Nobody uses Viewer 2". It's patently untrue and even as a statement of hyperbole it passes the bounds of good sense. It's also extremely rude. If you can't view the results of all of the effort from me and those submitting their photographs the reason is that you don't want to. That's a fair decision on your part. I'm not passing judgement on your choice of Viewer but I demand the same consideration in return.
There is no right or wrong in Viewer choice. We all have the opportunity to decide for ourselves and it's time those who choose TPV's granted those of us in Viewer2 the same courtesy and respect they demand themselves. I don't care if your choice of Viewer makes you feel special or superior or a member of the cool kids' group. In other words, screw off.
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| Karazhan (general) |
42 comments:
I couldn't agree with you more, why anyone would get stressed out by what viewer anyone else uses I have no idea. I tend to use Kirstens, I like the features in V2 but enjoy some of Kirstens tweaks. I still use the standard viewer though sometimes (like when I need a feature that's broke in a TPV).
Great pictures :)
Thank you :) Guess I got a little cranky ......
Fabulous photos; excellent rant.
Thank you as well :)
Yep! Agreed 100%.
'Viewer Wars' - the most tedious, long-running and pointless debate ever!
Get over it already people!
Ha ha ha! Well said! I too am sick to death of the 'holier than thou' attitude of those who use the third party viewers. They seem to have to announce it regularly in condescending tones about how superior they are to the poor clueless Viewer 2 users.
What truly makes their announcements annoying to me however is that they are so utterly mistaken about the downsides of Viewer 2, AND so completely unaware of the MANY advantages it provides.
The handful of true advantages of the Third Party Viewers are mostly minor interface differences. OR tools you can already add as SL HUDs.
TPV has now gained all the trappings of a religion.. It is based on an unshakable faith and includes its own devils: Viewer 2 and the evil Linden Lab, who (according to the true believer) are only there to make TPV users lives into a living hell.
I stopped trying to argue or explain features of Viewer 2 to these believers, becasue like all true believers, arguement is irrelevant.
I use Viewer 2 for these reasons: It is faster and has several major features that the TPVs don't. Simple as that.
In a perfect world, it would also have quick windlight access, and a better way to display group notices.
I think this issue is very similar to Apple computer users always bragging to me in RL about their gear, when what they use is and has always been FAR inferior to what I'm usually running. No amount of rational debate will ever convince them otherwise.
Thank you all - I'm feeling better now. :)
I love the photo's! (will for sure go to that place myself).
Good rant too :).
I am a V2 user and am a minority in my kinda game: combat. For some reason V2 is labelled as too laggy and useless, I never experience that..I love the outfits and all features and am so used to it ( am in V2 since the beginning). Occasionally I switch to Kirstens, but always end up with V2.
I do not mind what others use, to each their own..Choices in viewer-use are there, so live and let live.
I do get ya...it is sometimes tiresome to always have the feeling you need to 'defend' yourself as being a V2 users..sigh. I gave up on that. I like it, so I use it.
ps: love your exhibit :p
Hey Neighbour! Thank you and I love your exhibit as well. Some day I'll get a sword and try it :)
I agree, Honour. I use V2 and rarely pop over to Imprudence. The shared media capability in V2 is too good to pass up, especially since I use Second Life in my college writing courses for students to create virtual projects. In V2, they can use images for FREE. Thank you for posting how you display images. This will help me so much with my students this term. :-)
Yay! well if you have questions just im me - lol, I think I'll put Shared Media in my resume. :)
good rant. I do like a lot of the V2 features but I was unable to use it for a long time. I downloaded the SL development viewer the other day and I really like it. It's so fast. I do still miss some if the features in Phoenix and Kirstens but it's a trade off I don't mind.
Looking forward to seeing your build :)
Thanks Carrie! Guess I'd better finish building it :)
Yay!!!!! I LOVE you, your rant and your photos. I LIKE v2 and I, too, am completely fed up with the sanctimonious and condescending attitude of people using TPVs. You RAWK, Honour.
@Scarp Godenot - oh my yes - you have hit the nail directly with your comment. TPV users do seem to have elevated it to the status of religion.
lol you are the best! kudos! great blog!
@Ahuva and @Bevan /me grins, thank you :)
Awsome pictures, Honour!
I tend to use Viewer 2 on my laptop, mostly because whenever I try a viewer 1.X it looks so "oldfashioned" LOL - and I never thought I would say so.
I do use the Phoenix viewer on my desktop at home, because they have a 64 bit build, and that seems to make my 64 bit ubuntu installation happier - at least it crashes a lot less than any 32 bit viewers.
One nice thing about Phoenix is that the radar shows you what kind of viewers people are using. And as far as I can tell, a LOT of people are using viewer 2.
So just go for whatever makes you happy, and if people have any sense they will log in using v2 just to experience your creations:-)
@Cris *hugs*
Yup...I too could care less what viewer anyone uses. Just as I wouldnt expect anyone to care that ive promised to leave Secondlife if Spewer2 is ever mandatory.
For those of us that have been here a bit, so many of the hidden tabs we end up figuring out.
It's a shame though for those just entering the Secondlife world.
Heh Heh, sounds like one person too many asked you about it though.
Excellent post, sharing it everywhere!
@Brinda you know I wouldn't mind if people asked me about it - it's the smug "nobody uses Viewer2" stuff that pisses me off. :)
@Strawberry - aww thank you :)
Applause!!! Well said, Honour.
I use Viewer 2...and love it!!! I really enjoyed your pictures...can't wait to see the place for myself. :)
@Indigo & @Lavender Thank you both! :)
Yesterday I rezzed a platform for a sky home, on land owned by a group that I own. Sometime afterwards it was returned to me because I was wearing the wrong group tag when I rezzed the platform. Why does this still happen to me regularly? Because although it's over a year since I used Emerald, I got used to an Emerald feature that prevented this from happening.
This is just one of many examples of how TPVs, designed by users for users gave users the functions that were important and necessary.
Why did I stop using Emerald? Partly as I became dismayed at the change of focus away from usability towards encryption and monitoring of other avatars. Partly because I started using Viewer 2 on the day that the beta was released, and found many features that right away were time savers for me, even if some of the time savers I was used to were absent. Favorites bar, outfits that work with no-copy items, chiclet IM icons were functional changes that I liked. I also like the overall black look, and the pruning of the menus.
What I've noticed about the V2 haters is it's gone beyond rationality. "Hate" has no meaning to engineers. Many times people when I asked people why they claimed to "hate" V2 it came down to they didn't like the black, it crashed their system or it wasn't Phoenix. Beyond that, it seems that "I hate V2" is a way of seeking approval from strangers. The one thing people who "hate" V2 have in common is an utter refusal to believe that anyone at all likes or uses V2.
The whole situation a fascinating study in how not to do user adoption.
@Aquarius - thank you for your comment. :) I think choice is good but all choices deserve the same level of respect. And so do the people who make them.
Most of my harsh comments on V2 were made after experimenting with the earlier versions of it. I do understand there has been great improvement.
I thought the whole thing about the net and web was CHOICE. I use 3 different viewers for different reasons and different worlds. Some perform on my machine better. Some I like separated by world/viewer. I use vanilla SL 1.2.5 in SL a lot, but have used other viewers also.
I've stayed away from ranting on V2 because to be fair, I don't use it enough now to comment on it. I am sure soon I will be using it though.
BTW, nice EXPRESSION, not a rant :) and ty for even considering server ecology; it is one area I feel is inherent in the medium, as canvas size, weave and treatment are in painting. It is part of the environment and should be considered in as thoughtful a way as you have :)
@Miso - thank you :)
well, if you are not using the HaxViewer3000, you clearly suck =p
if you want to see my boobs bounce then use the appropriate viewer (they still won't bounce though)
viewer choice is pretty much that eh? a choice =)
nicely written and excellent photos!
@iliveisl LOL thanks :)
I could see people getting indignant about v2 when it first came out, because I heard that people lost inventory, friends lists, etc when they switched over. But by now, it really is a preference.
I use Imprudence mainly because it had many of the features of Emerald, it allowed me to use a tattoo layer, and my tv works in that viewer (compared to the old SL viewer). Plus I find it faster than the popular Phoenix viewer(on my computer, anyway). I also use Kirsten's Viewer when I want to take nice photos. But the interface gives me a headache after a while, so I know interfaces like that (i.e. V2)would not be for me for every day use.
The Shared Media feature in v2 sounds great, as well as the other features that come with every new release. And I think it's terrific that we have a variety of viewers to choose from to suit our varied purposes in SL. I guess some people feel the need to put down others, no matter, shape, size, or viewer that they use.
Right on!
Although I switch interchangeably between viewer 2 and TPV I just don't understand the religious attitude of people who hate V2. I like it and I can honestly say that it seems to me that the graphics are just crisper and faster in V2 than the other viewers and the interface while different is not an issue for me at all.
I love viewer 2 and I'm proud!
@Monica Thank you for the comment :)
@Bodzette LOL
I use a third party viewer. For the longest time I just didn't want to have to adjust to Viewer 2. Well I realize that sooner or later I'm gonna have to give up the old ways if I want to participate in moving forward with technology in sl. I've no issue with what viewer is used and adjust accordingly. Great shots, can't wait to see your exhibit and I hope one of my images flashes by while i'm looking. Gradually getting use to the viewer 2 layout.
yay Venk! It won't flash by and you'll have plenty of time to see it :)
oh how refreshing to hear a positive mention of Viewer2.. i have been using it since beta, knowing the features that were to come. shared media was the one i really wanted. now i have it :) i mean many people seemed to simply fret over the change in interface.. well, heck, that is technology.. things change.. and usually pretty fast. i have grown accustomed to just keeping my digital mouth shut about V3 because of the intense adverse emotional reactions its mere mention seemed to generate. it feels good to tell the world i really like V2 :) \o/ !!!
duh, i mean V2 :)
@Zola well then Yay! :)
Hi Honour,
Let me start by saying what gorgeous pictures!! I’ve been reading your blog and it's articles, and would like to offer you a link exchange with my sites. If you are interested please let me know.
Cheers!
Cathy
Karazhan looks lovely; your photos gorgeous. I definitely plan to visit. Just a philosophical, general observation: the ongoing football mentality for discussing various topics is an interesting (best I can put it) phenomenon. I'm not sure when it happened that the practice of "fighting to the death" in order to be the "VICTOR" on topics or personalizing/villifying different viewpoints became the foundation for "dialogue." Or even disagreement. The grace of agreeing to disagree is a really beautiful, powerful thing. And I realize, not at all easy to do. But if there need to be a "fight," perhaps that's one practice worth fighting to keep alive and active. From personal observations over the past 4-1/2 years inworld, the vast majority of the inworld community embraces a live and let live mindset...which has always been perhaps one of the most powerful aspects of SL and virtual worlds. Apologies for my lengthy reply! Thanks, as always, for highlighting all the very many wonderful things in SL.
Great article! I too, couldn't agree with you more.
Great post.
Very much appreciate seeing this. I think I've quoted the link at a few people already who were headed down the path of a tirade about viewers. :)
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