Let's Talk Web Viewers and Second Life

Winterfell 2010

Project Zero could certainly be a boon for those with less than hefty computers who just couldn't run PBR.   If the devs do it right it seems to have promise. 

For those of you who haven't been around for-e-ver -- here's some history. 

Linden Lab tried the webpage browser interface with SL back in 2010.  I was living in Winterfell back then and one of the drop off points (there was no onboarding if I remember correctly or very little) was in Winterfell right across the lake you see in the background.  I tried the viewer and visited with some incoming folks  and also had a lot "drop by" as I was pretty much the closest thing to the drop off point. 

The viewer was scaled down. It was so scaled down you pretty much couldn't do anything but walk and chat.  The citizens that were unofficially manning the entrance point in Winterfell  were immediately telling newcomers they needed to switch to the advanced web interface (if I remember correctly there were two choices and the more complex one let you do more).  So that wasn't the best start.  

The program -- according to the SL forum archives -- ended as the year turned to 2011.   

It is a long way technologically from then to now --- a long way (possibly) philosophically also :D. So fingers crossed that this works better in 2025.

I had a very good web interface experience at Cloud Party a couple of years later. That was a fun adventure. It was different of course and the web and connections were not what they are now. We had to use small textures and had a limited amount of -- let's call them "points" (kind of like land impact) that we could use in our plots.  There was no contiguous landforms and you PUBLISHED changes much like we did in Sansar.   

After a great time there it closed unexpectedly only a couple of months after I joined.  It was purchased by Yahoo which never apparently did anything with the tech but I am thinking that the devs got some good jobs out of the deal  (some were former SL devs) and that made me happy. 

My own experience with the Linden version of the web interface when it first came out was not good.  I couldn't figure out how to change my camera. I could move sort of but basically it was BAD. That was likely ME as I saw other folks had taken selfies so they accomplished more than "I". 

With Firestorm joining in the party it will likely feel more comfortable for FS users. Fingers crossed there. 

Philip stated at the community meeting that they will continue to work on both viewers.  That of course has an unsaid "for now" clause in there.  But making things more accessable to more folks is a good plan -- one of the biggest mistakes made in Sansar and apparently that lesson was learned.