"Second Life 2.0"

Screenshots I took while using the "leaked"? UI prototype viewer Tateru discovered and posted about on Massively (she rocks!):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mccabemaxsted/sets/72157619668109264/

VWR-8080

A lot of people have been confused by VWR-8080 (from the comments I've read, they see a change but don't understand why), so I took a bit of time this evening to try to better explain the reasoning: (As LL still refuses to communicate on SL-UX, let 'em explain it on the JIRA.)

A newbie won't stay if they accidentally become naked and don't know why. Neither will they stay if they go out and buy one of those "awesome cheap avatars" from places like Grendel's only to find they can't figure out how it works (some Mentors have this problem, even). Learning that there are Prim Avatars and Fleshy Avatars--and the differences between the two--is a largely trial and error affair. If you've ever helped a noob hair shop, you should be aware of how noobs are confused by the difference between prim hair and the "bald hair" that accompanies it. (You need to wear this hair, but not this hair because it hides your hair. You can right click this hair but not that hair. Hair is hair, right?) Trying to explain why clicking your nametag works one way while clicking your avatar works another also elicits similar confusion (they're both you, right?).

Unless you're doing content creation or editing, the UI really doesn't give you an indication of whether you're wearing prim bits or avatar bits. This is especially difficult for newbies as they haven't had a chance to learn and memorize the same subtleties we all have. We've all been tainted by our experience such that we can look at an avatar and instantly understand what parts of it are prims, what are clothes, etc. True newbies must just see shoes regardless of how they were made; knowledge otherwise can't be apriori. (Although you could bypass this with a tutorial, but why would you want to introduce yourself to others by telling them how confusing your virtual world is?)

Prim-based avatars are really the best way to illustrate this problem, but as I said above it's also an attachment issue. I strongly feel that when you take a problem and make it inherent from the beginning--i.e. changing to prim-based hair and full-prim new avatars--the need to fix it should become even more important. Fixing the inventory means fixing the asset server, and that's just not going to happen in a million years. The UI is fair game for improvement, though.

So, you tell the user an avatar is an avatar, don't worry about what's you and what's not unless you really need to know; just go along your merry way. Right click wherever on your av you want, it's always going to give you your basic avatar options. Hence, the JIRA issue and following patch.

Now, whether or not a fix adequately addresses the problem or creates new ones is a different animal entirely. Clearly, a lot of people had legitimate issues with the final pie menu that arose, so further changes were required. On that front, I take full responsibility for the idea; I won't take any for the ugly edits in 1.23, because that's not my doing. LL rushed out their own version without telling us ("us" being the participants of SL-UX who were currently talking about the issue). They wouldn't even say if they'd apply a patch that addressed people's concerns, then they went ahead and committed something anyway without participating in our discussion. So, I think that says a lot about LL, especially since they later backtracked yet again (what you get when you don't listen to your users).

The pie menu is rather important to me. I've submitted a bunch of pie menu patches, and I've applied the version LL ignored to Imprudence for 1.1. So far there's been nothing but "this is a lot better" comments. Erica Linden (who is awesome in every way) also used it as an opportunity to fix another related major pie menu bug: people accidentally detaching stuff. This is akin to accidentally muting someone (which I fixed on the pie, and someone else far more ingenious than myself fixed fundamentally) in that even experienced users struggle with this. It's far harder to misclick and detach things, now.

Solutions clearly differ.

Fun With Prok

So, I got another "I blame you" IM from someone hating 1.23's pie menu, this time from Prok herself. (As though, you know, I'm the Evil Person Behind The SL Viewer who secretly controls everything. I decided to run with it:)

Prokofy Neva to me
date Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 10:30 PM
subject Message From Second Life
mailed-by im.agni.lindenlab.com

[22:28] Prokofy Neva: I understand we have YOU to thank for this terrible inconvenience and hobble we've suffered for weeks with no groups on the pie chart, which we need to access hundreds of times a day. Shame on you. You should keep your paws of the regular viewer. You already have your hacked viewer to play with.
[22:29] Prokofy Neva: Only a tiny percentage of newbies have dragon and robot and cardboard box avatars like you geeks, and it's an absolute disgrace for you to attempt to shove that down the throats of the general population as an "improvement".



me to Prokofy Neva
date Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 10:47 PM
subject Re: Message From Second Life
mailed-by gmail.com

http://graphjam.com/upcoming/?pid=11548



Prokofy Neva to me
date Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 10:50 PM
subject Message From Second Life
mailed-by im.agni.lindenlab.com

[22:49] Prokofy Neva: Glad to get a confirmation that we CAN blame you



me to Prokofy Neva
date Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 10:54 PM
subject Re: Message From Second Life
mailed-by gmail.com

Actually, you CAN'T. The Lindens neither applied my first patch, nor applied the patch where I addressed people's concerns like yours (that patch is now in Imprudence 1.1 btw. You can see a diagram here: http://imprudenceviewer.org/wiki/Pie_Menus).

So really, you need to go squawk at Q Linden I believe it was.

I blame you for not reading the issue fully and seeing who actually did what and for thinking that sending random blame across the Internet solves anything.



Prokofy Neva to me
date Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 10:54 PM
subject Message From Second Life
mailed-by im.agni.lindenlab.com

[22:53] Prokofy Neva: where your ideas are headed: http://www.daylife.com/photo/0gaibQT3385Oe



me to Prokofy Neva
date Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 10:55 PM
subject Re: Message From Second Life
mailed-by gmail.com

Bah! My socialist uprising will crush your puny army!



Prokofy Neva to me
date Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 10:59 PM
subject Message From Second Life
mailed-by im.agni.lindenlab.com

[22:55] Prokofy Neva: No, I see EXACTLY what happened there TOTALLY
[22:56] Prokofy Neva: Why are you screwing with the regular viewer? You have your own stupid hacked viewer "Impudence" to play with, screw with that and leave the regular one alone instead of trying to smuggle your features in with a JIRA hijack.
[22:57] Prokofy Neva: Just because the Lindens didn't apply a patch doesn't mean a thing, the point is you went after the viewer, trying to hijack it for a tiny percentage of your goofy geek users with their robot and box avatars, and that's juts plain wrong. That led to it being messed up for general use, wrong, wrong wrong, and yes, just like taking all the pie, total asshole thing to do.
[22:58] Prokofy Neva: It's not random blame at all, it's a very precise understanding of just EXACLTY what you are up to, smuggling shit into the viewer. You went after it on a total specious grounds with a tiny edge case that nobody needs, and then it went from there
[22:58] Prokofy Neva: wrong wrong wrong



me to Prokofy Neva
date Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 11:07 PM
subject Re: Message From Second Life
mailed-by gmail.com

OR! OR OR OR OOOOOOOR!

It could be because the patch was submitted waaaaaaay before Imprudence was even a germ in anyone's mind.

But that'd require you to look at timestamps 'n' stuff.

Of course.... I COULD have a timemachine and have retroactively submitted the JIRA KNOWING it would piss you off and spread my evil communist ideals into the heart of all that is innocent and pure. Or I could have hacked the JIRA and backdated it, sneaking out the one feature request which would have made SL perfect in order to begin my devious schemes. I could have all of SL and the JIRA at my fingertips and you would never know it for you would not be able to see the depth of my strings, MUWAHAHAHAHA!

Or, you know, timestamps.



me to Prokofy Neva
date Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 11:07 PM
subject Re: Message From Second Life
mailed-by gmail.com

(BTW, you'd better stop using the regular viewer too. There are AT LEAST six of my UI bug fix patches in there. You don't want to be associated with my work, do you? You'd better not be using the default skin! *gasp* I ported that, insidious viewer hacker that I am! In order to not use anything mine you'll need to go back to 1.19. Luckily I maintain an archive of old versions just in case someone catches on to my plots: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Old_versions)



Prokofy Neva to me
date Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 11:14 PM
subject Message From Second Life
mailed-by im.agni.lindenlab.com

[23:11] Prokofy Neva: Um I'm sure they're all ideological annoyances, and I can only reiterate: why are you screwing with the regular viewer? Make your own viewer, and if you get any takers, then you get them, what's a matter, can't find any customers for your own goofy viewer?
[23:11] Prokofy Neva: You could take the JIRA down and put it in your own viewe,r if you believed in it THAT MUCH, for one
[23:12] Prokofy Neva: Your attitude merely exposes you as being a brainless and insolent ass, not a contributor to anything useful
[23:13] Prokofy Neva: I see you are continuing to evade my central point here by engaging in hysterical exaggerations about time stamps: Why the hell do you have to invade the viewer with a silly edgecase for roboxes and people in cardboard boxes??? THAT is the problem. And why can't you ADMIT that it screwed up the groups and other conveniences that you were entirely HEEDLESS of because you don't care about what other BUSINESS might need, you merely wish to i mpose your socialist sandbox on the public
[23:13] Prokofy Neva: Shame on you.


Prokofy Neva to me
date Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 11:17 PM
subject Message From Second Life
mailed-by im.agni.lindenlab.com

[23:16] Prokofy Neva: Answer the question: what gives you the right to assume there are all these newbies who want to be robots???



me to Prokofy Neva
date Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 11:30 PM
subject Re: Message From Second Life
mailed-by gmail.com

That you do not understand the ways of a Metaverse Oligarch does not surprise me. You talk of socialism! Hah! We have left socialism behind in the dust--a merest stepping stone into our far more rootful and mysteries. You must ask yourself.... nay! You must look into the depths of your SOUL and ask, "How do I know who amongst the masses wishes to be a robot and who does not?!" For the answer is there, if you look deep enough. It is one of the great truths of all mankind, one of the many constants that leads one to enlightenment. That you have not yet grasped this figure tells me that you are not yet ready to understand the True Way Of The Metaverse. Next time you see a prim avatar--be it dragon, furry, horse, or rabbit--dare to ask, "What is your universal truth?!" For perhaps they might lead you towards the answer.



me to Prokofy Neva
date Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 11:41 PM
subject Re: Message From Second Life
mailed-by gmail.com

Are you still there?
How many people want to be robots, Prok?
HOW MANY PEOPLE WANT TO BE ROBOTS?!



Prokofy Neva to me
date Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 11:42 PM
subject Message From Second Life
mailed-by im.agni.lindenlab.com

[23:41] Prokofy Neva: Um, I look at newbies all day, every day, and wait on them more than you ever will in you rentire life, it's a tiny sub-set of a minority using these dumbass boxes and robots, it's a geek affectation, and total bullshit.


Prokofy Neva to me
date Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 11:45 PM
subject Message From Second Life
mailed-by im.agni.lindenlab.com

[23:43] Prokofy Neva: Like I said, .000035 percent

At this point, I got the feeling that unlike the mindless ranting above, this was Prok's ACTUAL OPINION. Off the top of my head, I can think of quite a few avatar shops who'd disagree (".000035 percent" would be only two avatars in a 60,000 concurrency) but the point of trolls isn't to have discussions or exchanges of ideas. It's to, well, troll, hence why ad absurdem etc. is really the only appropriate response.

So, I didn't reply and neither did she, and now I'm waiting to see if I get a rant dedicated to me and my "evil socialist ideals" on Prok's blog or not. I hope so. Jacek's promised me a Prok-Star shirt if I do.

EDIT: Yay! I get one!

MIX 09 Windows 7 presentation

http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09/C26F

Windows 7 Desktop Experience presentation on the development of the new Windows taskbar. Some interesting prototypes in here that were tried and eventually discarded.

Useful visual studio information

How to automatically save files with LF endings in Visual Studio.

You would think this would be built in, but ah well. At least there's a way to do it.

Kentucky e-voting fraud

See?

UI is important ;)

I'm looking at you, Mozilla

*rubs eyes*

You can always tell who the *nix developers are on a mailing list:

"Binary? Why can't you just build it from source?"

Hah.

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Windows, my friend, where it's, "A 300k dll file? Oh ho, not so fast!"

Are the build files mingw/msys? VS6? VS9? Will it work? Not a clue? Download the source and find out!

(But don't worry, you won't be able to build straight from source. First you need to install several hundred MBs of dependency crap--almost all of which you'll never use! Just follow these build instructions. They're outdated, but don't worry, they should work. Probably. Maybe.)

Such an adventure, heh. I swear, I can't wait for CMake to become widely accepted as the norm (prolly just as soon as all the people who are tied to their existing convoluted build processes die off, heh).