An alter ego looks at Second Life

Fixing NMAKE fatal error U1077

2011-07-06T16:23:00.000-07:00

Here's how to fix the following bug:

NMAKE : fatal error U1077: 'cl.EXE' : return code '0x1'

NMAKE : fatal error U1077: 'cl.EXE' : return code '0x2'

NMAKE : fatal error U1077: 'cl.EXE' : return code '0xc0000135'

I encountered this while building OpenSSL with Visual Studio 2005 on Windows 7 (I ran "nmake -f ms\ntdll.mak /x C:\out.log" if anyone's curious).

According to google, to fix this I needed to run "vsvars32.bat" before I ran name nmake. Only, for some reason the Visual Studio 2005 command prompt wanted to run nmake in a separate window, and since the new window didn't know about the old window's updated PATH, nmake produced first error (return code 0x1 - can't find cl.exe at all).

The actual solution is to make sure you always run the Visual Studio 2005 command prompt as an Administrator. But, if for some reason that still doesn't work and you really want to bash Windows with a hammer, here's how to do it:

Irritated, I opened "vsvars32.bat" in Notepad++ to see exactly what it was supposed to do. Basically:

@set DevEnvDir=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE

@set PATH=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\BIN;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\Tools;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\Tools\bin;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\PlatformSDK\bin;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\bin;C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\VCPackages;%PATH%

@set INCLUDE=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\ATLMFC\INCLUDE;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\INCLUDE;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\PlatformSDK\include;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\include;%INCLUDE%

@set LIB=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\ATLMFC\LIB;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\LIB;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\PlatformSDK\lib;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\lib;%LIB%

@set LIBPATH=C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\ATLMFC\LIB

This pissed me off. There's no reason I can think of why VS8's nmake shouldn't always do this when it runs (or at very least there should be a flag for it). So, being pissed off, I added all the above to my System Variables, forced windows to refresh my PATH settings, told Windows to suck it, and voila, nmake worked as expected!

Anyway. I wanted to throw this explanation out there in case random a googler finds him or herself stuck as to why the prescribed fix wasn't working. If you bang up your PATH at all, just remember to undo the damage once you're done (even though it feels good at the time, it always seems to cause problems later; silly OS).

Well, well, word "debacle"

2009-11-19T02:41:00.000-08:00

we meet again.

My comments:
- to Colossus Linden.
- in general.

As of tonight, I know four people who've closed or are closing their XStreetSL shops.

"Debacle"

2009-10-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

It's something of a fad to use this word when describing a Linden effort. The Great Island Pricing Debacle, The Adult Content Debacle, etc. As critical I am of the Lab at times, I try to shy away from the word, as it's often too simplistic a term to describe the shit the Lab is actually pulling. This time, though, I'll run with it:

The new Third Party Viewer Policy is a debacle.

First, there is no policy. (Only, there is, but they can't give specifics.) Then there's a threat posted and emailed by LL that users of third party viewers will be banned if the viewer they use doesn't comply with.... well, we'll get back to you on that. Then there's a swarm of rumor-mongering residents, followed by Lindens who have never used an opensource viewer or have any idea of the technical implications of the policy. Then, it's revealed "discussion" about the policy will basically be a Linden pretending to listen while telling us what they've already done, as the Lab always does when it reacts to an unpopular policy.

It's just horrible to watch. The Lindens--in everything they've said (except for private group chat, which I'm not going to quote here)--have shown a complete lack of caring or understanding for opensource developers. And, as anyone who's looked at the viewer source should be able to tell you, it's not going to work anyway. It's going to be another classic case of hurting legitimate usage while doing little to stop infringement (which, if we're going to be honest, will never improve until LL starts getting their own shit together).

Some people I know are predicting an end of opensource releases from LL altogether. Connecting the dots in a certain way, I can see where they're coming from. It's very bottom-line thinking to say "The problem is all these other viewers out there. Opensource was a nice idea, but a mistake." Viewer 2.0 will be closed source, then LL will implement some over the top rules when they reveal how their third party developer registry will work, and that will be the end of that. Once that happens, almost nobody will want to develop the viewer at all, and the few that do will definitely feel the pain.

Not saying that's how it's going to happen, but it could, and makes one wonder just who is deciding what at the Lab.

Anyway, yeah. I'm calling a debacle on this one.

The grid hasn't changed, but I have

2009-10-05T04:43:00.001-07:00

To get personal for a moment, Second Life has always meant more to me than, perhaps, others I won't name. When I think of the virtual world, I don't think of building, or scripting, or exploring, or virtual dating, or live music, or any of the things that supposedly "make Second Life great." For me, it's always been about people. When I think of Second Life, I think of a home in my heart, and an extended family. There are certain times in your life when you're surrounded by great people, and naturally, you treasure them.

After being away from Second Life for nearly a year, it's weird logging in again. My "SL family" really isn't around anymore, except for a few scattered survivors. The virtual world is still just as buggy as when I left. The Lindens still don't give a crap about community projects, small details, or anything but their own agenda, really. The viewer code is stil a mess. The JIRA is still clogged. The gestures are still just as loud and annoying (and group chat is still full of fearmongerers hyping up the latest copybot--when it works, I mean).

Sometimes I'll stare at my monitor in amazement. "Wow, nothing's changed."

I think about leaving, walking away from the keyboard and never looking back.

Then, I remember why I log on these days:

1. Testing new Imprudence features. I love working on Imprudence. It's fantastic fun, and watching others enjoy this toy you've helped create makes the pain worth it.

2. As always, what draws me is a girl. I've liked her for a long time, and we've been reconnecting with lately. She's pretty amazing, I have to say. I like her quite a bit.

Both of these things are positive, so I'm pretty okay with my relationship to SL right now. As a matter of fact, I'd say it's far nicer than when I'd spend days perpetually logged in.

In talking with people, we all miss the one thing that's changed: the old days, when work really was love made visible, and we stayed up sharing it long into the night. That's understandable. Such moments are hard to find, even in SL (actually, prolly especially in SL now that the pioneers have left). As much as I enjoyed the past, though, I have to say: it feels good to be thinking about the future.

"Second Life 2.0"

2009-06-12T22:38:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-12T03:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-11T23:42:00.001-07:00

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

2009-04-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-06T01:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

See?

UI is important ;)

I'm looking at you, Mozilla

2009-03-31T02:57:00.001-07:00

*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).

Sentimental

2009-03-21T15:37:00.000-07:00

So far, I've spent today lounging around the apartment catching up on comic reading (lord, I've missed comics! What did I ever do without them?)

Reading all these drama-filled stories makes me think about a conversation I had with my friend Sarah ages ago about writing an SL book based on the experiences of our avatars. It would have everything: sex, intrigue, drama, action, heart (and did I mention sex?).

My friend Steve used to say similar things about "the gang" back in high school: "We should make a tv series out of this." Of course, our RL adventures weren't nearly crazy as my SL adventures have been, but the rest was there (and yes, too, the sex).

I've been thinking a lot about people in my life lately. Friends, those I care about and am proud of. Every now and again as I stand up from my chair, a name will pop into my mind, and I'll think, "I'm really glad I met them" or "You know, this person makes me proud. I should tell them that more often."

Friendship is an important element to my life. If you cannot be a good friend--if you don't sincerely love and care about the people in your life--then what do you have? It all harkens back to a lecture my logic professor gave once, as we diverged into philosophy: "There is only one kind of immortality," she said, sitting on a desk, "And that is memory. After we are long dead, we will live on in other people's memories of us. The question is, what kind of legacy do you want to leave?"

It was one of those life changing moments where I saw something in the world and--without even consciously realizing it--recognized it to be me. A reflection of my beliefs, the man I want to be.

I suppose that's why I get so angry when people violate my value system. I want to shake them, make them understand, "Don't you get it? This, what you're doing, it's not just you. It's everything. All of us. We're all interconnected." It doesn't seem right that someone should get away with being an ass; it's like... cheating the universe.

But, that's another rant. Right now, I find myself thinking about my old SL friends, imagining all of us living in the same roof. What would have happened? What incredible stories would we have told?

Luc, Sarah, Amy, Gill, Viv, Cee, and many others.

The hyjinx would certainly have been something, but it's the people that'd carry the story through Volume 10 and beyond.

Taking a break while the viewer compiles

2009-03-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

So, here's the progress I've made this weekend:

- Fixed my HD and my copy of XP, now dual booting Vista Ultimate.
- Fixed Vista crashing when media is played right away (upgraded from 0.10.21 to 0.10.22, need to figure out the final archive contents before uploading to S3).
- Learned install.xml handles file:/// paths just fine, but won't update its cache unless the filename changes along with the MD5. Good to know.
- Discovered a bad plugin list made its way into the Windows version of RC2 (bunch of unnecessary junk in there).
- Fixed a few minor bugs while I was there.
- Now, I'm back to working on secret unnamed project again, and making headway. Woo!

Manifestos

2009-03-15T00:43:00.000-07:00

Websites like http://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com are perfect examples of why manifestos rock.

(Yes, it's mushy now)

2009-03-14T23:35:00.000-07:00

I just have to laugh at this. With the combination of RL and... I guess SLish? stuff going on lately, first thing I do when I wake up each morning is head straight to the computer, and I generally stay there until my brain's too mushy to work anymore.

Fun in \linden\indra\lib\python\indra\ipc\siesta_test.py

2009-03-14T04:41:00.000-07:00

def callable_app(req):
    if req.method == 'UNDERPANTS':
        raise exc.HTTPMethodNotAllowed()
    elif req.method == 'GET':
        return None
    return req.llsd

Nice to know what the solution is

2009-03-04T21:26:00.000-08:00

I finally figured out what to do about that PITA git bug I've been experiencing: every time I have a floating file that supposedly has local changes, "git rm -f" it. From earlier this afternoon:

McCabe@MAMALAPPY /c/imprudence

$ git merge next

Auto-merged ChangeLog.txt

Auto-merged linden/indra/newview/skins/default/xui/de/panel_media_controls.xml

CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in linden/indra/newview/skins/default/xui/de/

panel_media_controls.xml

[...etc...]

Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.

McCabe@MAMALAPPY /c/imprudence

$ git reset --hard HEAD^

HEAD is now at 205f160 Merge branch '1.1.0-RC2' into curltimeout

McCabe@MAMALAPPY /c/imprudence

$ git rm linden/indra/newview/skins/default/xui/de/panel_media_controls.xml [...etc...]

error: 'linden/indra/newview/skins/default/xui/de/panel_media_controls.xml' has

local modifications

(use --cached to keep the file, or -f to force removal)

[...etc...]

McCabe@MAMALAPPY /c/imprudence

$ git rm linden/indra/newview/skins/default/xui/de/panel_media_controls.xml [...etc...] -f

rm 'linden/indra/newview/skins/default/xui/de/panel_media_controls.xml'

[...etc...]

McCabe@MAMALAPPY /c/imprudence

$ git merge next

Auto-merged ChangeLog.txt

Merge made by recursive.

ChangeLog.txt | 48 +++++++++++

linden/indra/llcharacter/llbvhloader.cpp | 45 ++++++++--

linden/indra/llui/llfloater.cpp | 1 +

linden/indra/newview/app_settings/keywords.ini | 1 +

linden/indra/newview/llcompilequeue.cpp | 16 ++++-

linden/indra/newview/lldrawable.cpp | 12 ++-

linden/indra/newview/llfilepicker.cpp | 39 ++++++++-

linden/indra/newview/llfloaterchat.cpp | 6 +-

linden/indra/newview/llviewermenu.cpp | 5 +-

linden/indra/newview/pipeline.cpp | 12 +++

.../skins/default/xui/de/panel_media_controls.xml | 75 ++++++++---------

.../default/xui/en-us/panel_preferences_im.xml | 2 +-

.../skins/default/xui/fr/panel_media_controls.xml | 75 ++++++++---------

.../skins/default/xui/ja/panel_media_controls.xml | 88 ++++++++++----------

.../skins/default/xui/ko/panel_media_controls.xml | 75 ++++++++---------

.../silver/xui/en-us/panel_media_controls.xml | 14 +---

16 files changed, 323 insertions(+), 191 deletions(-)

EDIT: nevermind, turns out it only works in certain situations, i.e. not if you make more than one commit that has ghost files attached. There's a new Windows port of git out this week, though. Will have to see if that kills this bug or not.

Beautiful

2009-03-04T20:48:00.000-08:00

World Builder: http://vimeo.com/3365942

Nothing more need be said.

Hello, Avatar

2009-03-04T08:54:00.000-08:00

Things I like about McCabe:

He's quirky.
He doesn't seem to really fit in any one place.
No one else shares his name.

We have a lot in common, this McCabe fellow and I.

Imprudence Source Adventures

2009-03-01T00:58:00.000-08:00

I would like, for a moment, to take you on a tour of the media system Imprudence currently uses (aka the one we've inherited from 1.21.6). First, a little quiz. Can you guess which function currently in the source code is called when you click "play" for streaming video?

1.


void LLViewerMediaImpl::play(const std::string& media_url,
                  const std::string& mime_type,
                  const LLUUID& placeholder_texture_id,
                  S32 media_width, S32 media_height, U8 media_auto_scale,
                  U8 media_loop)
{
// first stop any previously playing media
stop();

// Save this first, as init/load below may fire events
mMovieImageID = placeholder_texture_id;

// If the mime_type passed in is different than the cached one, and
// Auto-discovery is turned OFF, replace the cached mime_type with the new one.
if(mime_type != mMimeType &&
! gSavedSettings.getBOOL("AutoMimeDiscovery"))
{
mMimeType = mime_type;
}
LLURI url(media_url);
std::string scheme = url.scheme() != "" ? url.scheme() : "http";

LLMediaManager* mgr = LLMediaManager::getInstance();
mMediaSource = mgr->createSourceFromMimeType(scheme, mMimeType );
if ( !mMediaSource )
{
if (mMimeType != "none/none")
{
 llwarns << "media source create failed " << mmediaurl =" media_url;">setRequestedMediaSize(media_width, media_height);
}

mMediaSource->setLooping(media_loop);
mMediaSource->setAutoScaled(media_auto_scale);
mMediaSource->addObserver( this );
mMediaSource->navigateTo( media_url );
mMediaSource->addCommand(LLMediaBase::COMMAND_START);
}


void LLViewerParcelMedia::play(LLParcel* parcel)
{
lldebugs << "LLViewerParcelMedia::play" << media_url =" parcel-">getMediaURL();
std::string mime_type = parcel->getMediaType();
LLUUID placeholder_texture_id = parcel->getMediaID();
U8 media_auto_scale = parcel->getMediaAutoScale();
U8 media_loop = parcel->getMediaLoop();
S32 media_width = parcel->getMediaWidth();
S32 media_height = parcel->getMediaHeight();
LLViewerMedia::play(media_url, mime_type, placeholder_texture_id,
             media_width, media_height, media_auto_scale,
             media_loop);
LLFirstUse::useMedia();

LLViewerParcelMediaAutoPlay::playStarted();
}


bool LLMediaImplCommon::navigateTo( const std::string url )
{
return false;
}


void LLOverlayBar::toggleMediaPlay(void*)
{
if (!gOverlayBar)
{
return;
}


if (LLViewerMedia::isMediaPaused())
{
LLViewerParcelMedia::start();
}
else if(LLViewerMedia::isMediaPlaying())
{
LLViewerParcelMedia::pause();
}
else
{
LLParcel* parcel = LLViewerParcelMgr::getInstance()->getAgentParcel();
if (parcel)
{
 LLViewerParcelMedia::play(parcel);
}
}
}

If your answer was "none of the above" then congrats! You obviously understand the current state of Imprudence's media system! Although it appears as though all of these should play some role, none of them are involved with the streaming media tab (some are called in other--more mysterious--places, though).

What's really going on is, after it's initialized GStreamer begins constantly checking for updates to your media state. As soon as your state changes, GStreamer picks up on it and sends information to a callback. This is, at least, how streaming video/web currently works. Streaming audio uses a completely different method! Did I mention that there are three places for recording your current state: LLMediaBase, GstState*, and gAudiop? And that all/some/none of these are referenced depending on where you're looking in the source?

Oh, yes. Welcome to the joy that is Imprudence's media system (AKA my demon for the past month).

Sometimes the UI works with you, other times...

2009-02-27T17:14:00.000-08:00

Can you tell I've just discovered Jinnai Tomonori? :)

Sidenote (I'm full of them lately)

2009-02-17T22:25:00.000-08:00

It's always interesting when you not only realize how to do something, but realize that you know all along and just hadn't been asking the right questions.

I need to practice my critical thinking more. I've been out of practice this week (prolly because I haven't done any reading).

Interface Design Guidelines for Imprudence (in no way complete at all)

2009-02-14T18:10:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking about our need for some sort of Interface Guidelines in order to both guide contributors and to cite when we might reject a feature request for usability reasons.

Here's a few that come to mind:

Do NOT rely on tooltips for explanations. If your feature requires a tooltip to make sense, it is not a good feature.
Strong defaults are always preferred over "Give users the option to..." Try not to add any new preferences if you can avoid it.
Do NOT use mouseover to activate/toggle any feature. You can't predict where a user's mouse might be.
State messages to the user as plainly as possible. Avoid technical or flowy phrases; be straightforward.
Do NOT hardcode strings. Add them to strings.xml and use LLTrans instead.
Do NOT hardcode colors that could be skinned. Either add an entry to colors.xml or use one already present there.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure Jacek has a million others running through her head, too.

This is what happens when I read botgirl's blog, heh

2009-02-04T07:41:00.000-08:00

I've been sitting here, wondering, "Who is McCabe? Has he ever had any identity other than my own? Just how alike/unlike are we?"

It's a tough question to answer, because realistically, McCabe doesn't exist anymore. When I chose real life over Second Life, I really didn't give him a choice except to die.

Now, some time has passed, and his home is gone, his inworld friends have all moved on, and his old projects sit in his inventory, unfinished, probably forever. The parts that made McCabe's life unique have been disassembled, leaving only a login name and the persona behind it.

(Should I feel sentimental? I don't know. I put a lot of myself into him, but I also put a lot into my lego builds when I was 6, and I'm not out there buying bricks.)

In looking at his social interractions, I suppose McCabe was me-but-not-me. He was confident where I'd be shy; adventerous where I'd be scared. He felt very much like a fresh start. If I ever moved to a new town and assumed a new identity, that identity would be very much like McCabe.

Yet, he was not me. McCabe was happy with the ethereal; he thrived in a world where imagination and possibility were not just stories, they were currency. The person behind McCabe could never imagine being happy with those limitations (even his emotional needs are far too tactile).

I rather like how even though McCabe's transition from virtual identity to alias was rough at first, it now feels completely natural. It doesn't feel weird anymore when people call me McCabe instead of my real name (if anything, it feels like being back in high school when everyone called me by my nickname). As fond as I was of McCabe's little life, I like me more :)

*stretches* Mmm, mental ramblings.

http://scfire-ntc-aa02.stream.aol.com:80/stream/1004: something about solo piano and intelligent discourse always leaves me introspective.

Yawny-face

2009-01-27T03:48:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling meh and irritated this evening, which means a lot of time spent tossing and turning until I find something to do with this nervous energy. (Tried for three hours to get to sleep tonight, but it was a no-go).

So, here are my options:

Finish my book on the Dead Sea Scrolls. It's a very interesting analysis of the history of the scrolls and where scholarly debate stands on their meanings. Prolly not the best reading for 5 AM though.
Work on Imprudence. There's a branch I need to finish as well as another small fix I need to put in, but I'm not feeling it tonight. (It's been bugging me, not having an actual deadline for RC1. I really want to get this release out there--I've put a lot of work into it).
Indulge in some SL time. There might be a few interesting people on, or wandering by.
Try to beat Cheney's Descent. For some reason, I've become addicted to this little flash joy. I'm sure if Cheney had infinite ammo in RL, he'd be always firing too.
Catch up on the latest news and politics.
Drool a bit.

I'll prolly go with secret option G: browse wikipedia until I pass out.

stretch

2009-01-22T23:27:00.000-08:00

It's been a productive evening. While my viewer changes continue to compile, I've backported fixes for two of my personal favorite UI JIRAs (one just fixed today by qarl--go qarl!), and even found time to browse through the latest round of feature requests on the JIRA.

God, what a mess that was. Obvious issues not linked, issues in the wrong category, issues missing components. (Am I the only one who ever really cared about keeping the metas and feature requests organized, btw?) I had to stop after two pages, otherwise knowing me, I would have gotten sucked into bug reports and wasted my entire night organizing.

Anyway. Stumbled across two small patches that would prolly fit well in 1.1 if there's time and ahh, compile's done. Time to do some testing :D

TG + MG = Err

2009-01-21T10:44:00.000-08:00

McCabe Maxsted says: hey
McCabe Maxsted says: here's a question for you, as a mother. How would you feel if your kids were 13 and on second life?
Indya Etchegaray says: teen grid...ok. main grid....not so good
Indya Etchegaray says: unless accompanied..there are a lot of great educational sites on the main grid.
McCabe Maxsted says: LL's planning on merging the TG and the MG
Indya Etchegaray says: and they bought slx
Indya Etchegaray says: well, there will be more kids who know about bdsm, beastiality, etc.
McCabe Maxsted says: heh

I like the idea of allowing TG accounts to enjoy some of the benefits of MG content, potentially through OGP teleports to verified PG estates (if nothing else strictly for educational use) and allowing the exchange of content-rated assets across markets, but I doubt LL will go that route. Historically, they do the least amount of work possible, meaning what is easiest for them gets done, while what is harder for LL but easier for the community gets pushed aside. (For example, it's easier for LL to just drop the TG completely and maintain one, more restrictive grid).

There are reasons for this (many lindens say how overloaded they all are) but ultimately, mixing an irresponsible and lazy company with minors, acres of adult content, and increasingly watchful government?

*shakes his head*

That's just asking for trouble.

1.1's moving forward

2009-01-19T23:13:00.001-08:00

*rubs his eyes* man, I've been staring at the computer screen for a long time tonight. But, progress has been made!

GStreamer now works again. Huzzah! I figured out what was going on and the issue is prolly rare, but it's corrected for.
I've learned why people weren't hearing sound after installing. I'm not particularly proud of my fix for this, however. Rather than embedding something in the app, I attached a small console application to the installer (it takes ten minutes to compile/link a single source change, then logging on... logging off... was just faster to repro/make/test it this way). The fix works seamlessly on XP, but I'm pretty sure Vista will throw a wedge in that (goes to show how much I still have yet to learn in this area).
My "small little ui fix" that I wanted to get in has turned into a major anti-cruft campaign. Looks like I'll have to hold off on finishing that until the morning, which is fine, really. My head's starting to wobble on its hinges.
Obama gets inaugerated today (check the time, it's after midnight).

The last one really has nothing to do with me, but it's too exciting not to comment on. Finally, no more Bush.

Hubris and testing

2009-01-17T19:31:00.001-08:00

Oh, how 24 hours changes things. Yesterday, Jacek and I decided on January 20th for a code freeze for RC1. I only had a few small bugs on my radar, so I spent the evening relaxing, indulging in a little UI cleanup before I went to bed. When I woke up this morning, here's what I learned:

Somewhere along the way GStreamer had broken for streaming music (well, not so much broken as become annoyingly hobbled). I tried reverting to an earlier version, but it still didn't work.
I packaged a test build to see if other people were seeing the bug or not, but it turns out that while GStreamer works fine on my comp, nobody can stream anything on the builds I sent out.
Trying out various fixes has resulted in bizarre error messages, and even more head pounding on my part (although I did finally figure out what was up, there).

Lesson learned: don't think you've got it down until you actually do, and have the tests to back it up. In this case, "assumption" has just made an ass out of me.

The Linden Way of Thinking

2009-01-14T12:43:00.000-08:00

While at Nyx Linden's office hours, talking about avatars and textures:

[12:15] McCabe Maxsted: I have a question, if you don't mind
[12:16] Nyx Linden: sure
[12:16] MystiTool HUD 1.0.22: Entering chat range: limonov Verne (19m)
[12:16] McCabe Maxsted: why can't rendering avatars be separated from the particle count setting, so they don't appear invisible?
[12:17] Nyx Linden: actually I fixed a bug a little while ago for that, so if you turn off particles anyone who is "ruthed" appears as a white sphere [link, for those who are curious]
[12:17] Nyx Linden: don't think that's made it into the RC yet
[12:17] McCabe Maxsted: I remember that; I wasn't a big fan
[12:17] McCabe Maxsted: it was in the 1.21 nightly
[12:17] McCabe Maxsted: at least, for a while
[12:17] Nyx Linden: ah
[12:18] McCabe Maxsted: why can't they just be particles?
[12:18] BigPapi Linden: what do you mean?
[12:18] McCabe Maxsted: I mean, not be affected by the particle setting. An exception
[12:18] Nyx Linden: that's only used if particles are turned off. If you specifically change your settings so that you don't render particles, we want to use something else to represent a ruthed avatar
[12:19] BigPapi Linden: The fix gets around that.
[12:19] BigPapi Linden: However, we treat the two particle types as different
[12:19] BigPapi Linden: Since we have a particle pool that we add the ruth particles to.
[12:19] BigPapi Linden: The renderer doesn't know those particles are any different.
[12:20] Morgaine Dinova loves BigPapi's raptor
[12:20] McCabe Maxsted: it can't tell the source?
[12:20] BigPapi Linden: Not really. We also don't want to add lots of logic to particle culling or particle budgets.
[12:20] Kevin Paisley is Online
[12:21] BigPapi Linden: Since for performance reasons we need each individual particle's rendering to be as fast as possible.
[12:21] BigPapi Linden: But nyx's fix allows you to see ruthed avatars even if you set the particle budget to 0
[12:21] McCabe Maxsted nods. Makes sense. Would it be possible to have two separate pools?
[12:21] McCabe Maxsted: or is that too much of a performance drain?
[12:22] Morgaine Dinova: A derived class with a parameter override wouldn't create a slowdown, other than the virtual dereference.
[12:22] BigPapi Linden: Not that much of a performance drain, but it would require changing around more of the renderer. Nyx's fix is cleaner.
[12:22] McCabe Maxsted: it creates more user confusion, though
[12:23] BigPapi Linden: the white sphere?
[12:23] McCabe Maxsted: yeah, having two different types of avatars that newbies won't be able to understand, multicolored IIRC based on your shader settings
[12:24] McCabe Maxsted: simpler for the user to just have one avatar, one unrezed avatar
[12:24] McCabe Maxsted: and always know what's what
[12:24] Nyx Linden: it should be consistent unless you're changing your settings back and forth
[12:24] McCabe Maxsted: which we are always doing
[12:24] McCabe Maxsted: as residents
[12:24] BigPapi Linden: Yes, but it does look similar, and that would also require adding another slider to allow you to budget avatar particles too. :)
[12:24] Aimee Trescothick is Offline
[12:25] McCabe Maxsted: I think it could safely be a default, without a preference
[12:25] BigPapi Linden: Plus the engineering resources to change the renderer to allow you to it that way.
[12:25] Aimee Trescothick is Online
[12:25] MystiTool HUD 1.0.22: Entering chat range: Aimee Trescothick (1m)
[12:25] Nyx Linden: I think this should be sufficient for now -feel free to create a feature request and gather votes if you feel that its a big issue though
[12:26] Morgaine Dinova: I guess the LL manpower issue is the deciding factor. Short of providing a patch for them ...
[12:26] McCabe Maxsted nods. I guess so

Not more than ten minutes later:

[12:34] Aimee Trescothick: someone want to deal with the griefer objects?
[12:35] Aimee Trescothick (turns off particles so she can see again)

I don't think the lindens there quite caught on to the irony, but I did.

In the Linden dev mindset, sacraficing usabililty is justified because it's easier. In my mindset, that's a cardinal sin. Yesterday, while browsing their SVN, I could feel myself starting to get sucked back into the whole LL-viewer-JIRA bit, but witnessing this conversation has successfully killed any lingering desire for me to submit patches to LL again.

Really, shame on me for being tempted by lipstick on a pig.

Imprudence update

2009-01-10T05:20:00.000-08:00

An update on my personal tasks for Imprudence v.1.1.0:

- Finally got GStreamer working with streaming music. Almost all the work involved getting my build environment right (ended up using OA's version of GStreamer 0.10.21, but not their Glib; learned to always put Glib before GStreamer and mix and match certain plugins). I still haven't updated CMake to use these changes, as I was waiting to make sure everything worked first, but I'll prolly hold off on that until we're close to releasing.

- Started working through my list of patches to implement (as well as 1.22/1.23 features to backport). There are also a few changes that have been swirling around in the back of my mind, such as layout fixes and adding a debug setting for wind. I just implemented Armin's minimap tp patch this morning and it's pretty rockin'.

- I've got way too many branches right now, at various stages of development. Now that I have a working baseline, my plan is to start merging them into various groups later today, if I make enough headway through my list. I'm also in need of a "next" branch.

I really hope we get a mac dev soon. It's so nice to see this release finally shaping up.

Brilliant UI parody of Apple:

2009-01-06T22:04:00.000-08:00

http://www.hulu.com/watch/51092/onion-news-network-apple-introduces-revolutionary-new-laptop-with-no-keyboard

"New User Experience"

2008-12-29T21:30:00.000-08:00

This pisses me off:

What a waste, for newbies to spend their first thirty minutes sitting around in an empty sim playing with sliders. There's absolutely no point to it. As I've said time and time again, if you're going to use flash on the website, USE FUCKING FLASH. Create a virtual avatar creator that people can use to edit their avatar's shape and profile before they login.

There is no technical reason why this is not possible (heck, make it an open API, that way 3rd party registration sites can skin their own avatar creators tuned to their specific offerings, like pre-built student avs for colleges, complete with school colors, etc).

You can even throw in handy tutorial bits, such as how clothing works and how to buy accessories. People who don't care will pick from the prebuilt models; the rest will hit the ground running.

The most frustrating part, though, isn't that this system doesn't exist, it's my faith that even if LL took this idea and actually ran with it, they'd find some way to screw over 3rd parties just as they did welcome areas.

*looking at the pic again*

What a waste.

Standing in an emtpy sim, reading two notecards:

2008-12-22T04:32:00.001-08:00

From Gill:

My loves

As you know, all good things come to an end. In September 2006, more than two Actual Real Life Years ago, I started – with the help of some other likeminded souls - a tiny, clunky club in the back of a t-shirt store. We hoped to make somewhere for community, for music, for fun – never really commercial gain, but somewhere for people to be creative, to share, and to enjoy Second Life. That we made it this far makes me so fucking proud I can’t even begin to tell you.

Those who were with me at the very beginning – CT, Lori, Lucian, Kari, Kai, Tooter, Linds, Lia, Deadboy, Russ. Those who came a little later – my Mc, ingo, cecee, my beloved Aidia, Barely effing Schlegal, Push. Daisy, Ringo, Lilly, Marky and my Rhia. Sjofin and Gogo, and Dorian and Lily. From Lonsdale’s hideous square beginnings, to the Emerald City and onto EC, one thing has remained constant and true- our care for each other, our relationships, and the drive to keep moving forward even when things have been difficult.

The things that we have taken from EC though are much bigger than any pixelly paradise. I have met some of the most important people in my life there. As I sit writing this in Aidia’s flat in London, getting ready for Christmas, I can look across at my real life best friend, who I met in one of those clunky row houses – remember those? – at Lonsdale. Mc; still my number one, always. Miss ingo was here – actually here, in person, in Amy’s actual flat, not a month ago. We have photos. They’re scary. I’ve met more special people, both in person and online, through this venture than I care to even try and recount. It’s not going to change. Whether we’re dressed in ridiculous pixelly avatars, or slumped in our PJs on the phone smoking cigarettes, you are my friends and I am grateful and privileged to have been here to witness everything you have put into this, and to watch what we take away.

It is difficult. But you know what, we’ve all been through worse and it’s not often you come out of a loss with people you’d be honoured to call family.

I wish you all a very merry Christmas, and a happy, and healthy New Year, whether it’s with your real live families or your online community, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Go well. Keep in touch.

Gill/Ruby
X

From Amy:

Hi Guys..

In September 2006 Ruby had an idea.. to start a community for pixel types. For music, for friendship, for odd ones. It really was the first SIM to combine music and family and a home. A place where we could live and love and laugh. And boy, did we laugh. Can we forget Lonsdale? And then the rebuild into the Emerald City, and then the EC. Ruby, Mc, Ingo, Barely, Aidia, Luccian, Rhia. How we worked to worked to pull this beast up from the ashes. You all became family. And we cried a lot, we spent WAY to much money on our Tuesday night themes ( yeah, Ruby and I dressed like Pony girl whores, so what?)

And we became real life friends. We shared babies with Daisy, got married in the Sky with Kasabian Beck( dood ), we went adventuring in Arizona we came to London. But as Gill and I sit here, ready for Christmas together in this apartment in our spindly real life house, we are sure of a few things. The EC is done. We are sad, but.. we are fully aware of how important it was to us and what an important part of your life it was. And also, when the times got rough, Daisy just became the good witch. Thank you baby girl.

So I wish you so long, and I wish you good things and I wish you somewhere over the rainbow.

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas..

To. You.

I have nothing more to add.

Interesting

2008-12-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

http://svn.secondlife.com/trac/linden/changeset/1553 has three of my patches, plus several other suggestions I've made thrown in, but strangely I don't feel particularly proud of that fact. I suppose it's just another way my viewpoint has changed this year. Even my contributions to the viewer don't feel like contributions anymore (if anything, they feel like forced entry).

Just looking through the massive amount of changes, I suppose I can see why LL takes the attitude they do in regard to opensource contributions. It's almost like here's someone standing outside your door shouting advice, only your kitchen's a mess and you've got cleaning to do and don't even begin to think about the laundry, let alone the dusting! Sure you opened your curtains so they could look in, but what right do they have to tell you how to run your own house?

If I were a Linden dev, I'd prolly mutter and shuffle OS patches aside too (I'm McDev Linden, after all, I've got McDev Linden things to do!) No new patches submitted to the JIRA (i.e. the current state of things) = good news for me.

Not saying it's right or justified; just, I can see their POV.

A perfect example of LL's attitude

2008-12-03T23:10:00.001-08:00

VWR-10636 is a feature request to make URLs in alerts clickable (you know, those prompts that gives you important info and warnings). Here is LL's response:

Yes, we agree this is a needed feature for increasing the usability of the Second Life viewer! We have been tracking this feature internally as well.

However at this time it is not scheduled for active development, on the short-term road map. Please do continue to add votes and we will track it here

-- Ramzi Linden.

Ugh.

God bless whomever created the noob sculpt

2008-12-02T03:33:00.000-08:00

The Moon Is Down

2008-12-02T01:15:00.000-08:00

I hate December. Always have, always will. December is the month everything changes: my world, my personal life, even my age (the 27th, a proud Capricorn here). Now, it has arrived, and already I can feel the bleak holiday spirit spreading throughout the communities I'm in. Everyone knows it: nothing good comes from December once you pass the age of 16. Even the man who walked on water had his birthday changed to accommodate some pagans.

Still, there are a few bright spots in my virtual life:

Imprudence is coming along well. Due to the freedom of "hey, I can implement this idea and not worry about giving a flying fuck what LL thinks" the improvements have steadily been building. 1.0 will be a pretty awesome viewer, but 1.1? Totally kickass. I almost don't want to get there, just because the excitement for it is too much fun to revel in. The quickfilter, for example, is a godsend.

I've also begun exploring other 3D "worlds" out there (if anything, they're mostly 3D guided tours or flash games), not so much to find a new home for myself but to give their UIs a try. It's interesting discovering just how many of these things there are out there (or at least, have popped up in the past only to quickly die). For example, right now I'm downloading a "lite" 600mb client for a korean anime MMO as well as Google Sketchup, just because I'm curious about their interfaces. (I suppose that officially makes me a UI geek right there).

Last year, my friends threw me a surprise birthday party that packed a sim for six hours straight. It was the second surprise party of my life, and just as well-received as my first. The gifts and the company were beyond fantastic. It's going to be weird, comparing last year to what I know is coming this year: I'll log on, test a few features in Imprudence, log off again. Maybe hang out in the living room and watch movies until I pass out (the usual way I spend my birthdays). I keep reminding myself, "It's better this way. You don't need Second Life anymore," but still, not looking forward to that day.

Damn, this was supposed to end upbeat. See what I mean about Decembers?

Saying goodbye

2008-11-30T21:30:00.001-08:00

As of this week, I am officially saying goodbye to EC, my Second Life home. I've kept my otherworldly presence there for nearly two years now (I registered January '07) but Second Life--like the first life upon which it is based--is never stagnant. It's time to let it go.

Honestly, I'm both sad and relieved. Sad because it had become such a huge part of my life: I met many friends and loved ones through EC, but also relieved, because it was also thanks to that place that I lost my oldest friend, ingo, a woman I love dearly, along with my other close friend Sjo. I was never really able to look at EC the same after that.

Still, there are so many treasured memories. The night I met Gill. My first apartment. Crazy conversations that lasted long after midnight.

The snapshots are full of McCabe, but I never saw myself as just an avatar (if anything, I referred to myself as a "pixelated person"). The bonds I've forged in SL have been real and strong, and have affected my life in a way I could never have anticipated--not just in friendship. EC gave me a home that had been missing from my real life for far too long. Despite my recent bitterness and discontent towards SL as a whole, I'll always be grateful for that. Second Life brought (and continues to bring) people close together; beautiful people who would never have had a chance to meet in real life, otherwise.

(Heh. You really do know "it's time" when you start waxing nostaligically in such broad strokes like that).

Anyway. All that's left is for me to pick up my things, handover ownership, and find a new place to set my home point (have to keep testing this UI somehow, after all!).

mmm, tweaks

2008-11-26T14:43:00.000-08:00

Taking a break from banging my head against OpenAL, I've started working on several tweaks for Imprudence. Some are small (like moving a button) and others are a bit bigger (like reorganizing the profile window to make it more modular). Here's a list of the tweaks I have in my branch so far:

Fully commented colors_base.xml files (insanely useful for skinning).
Friendship offers can now be ignored (this was a patch of mine that's been sitting since Spring on the JIRA).
Removed persistence from beacons (or rather, fixed some Linden inanity). Beacons used to persist through logins, so when some clueless user enabled them and tried to relog, they wouldn't go away.
Moved "Offer Teleport" in IMs to the left-hand side. It seems to fit better there, and acts as an "oh yeah" reminder for me when I automatically go to try to open someone's profile to teleport them.
Moved the "Leave" group button to the bottom to avoid accidental misclicks.
Added the group name to the group invitation title. This was the only shortcoming of my "Invite..." button in the Contacts' group list, a patch that LL rejected because "it'd be too hard to QA".
Reorganized the general profile window. Useless information was removed, the pic size was increased, and there's now room to add more buttons.
Added "Invite to Group..." to the general tab (what's currently compiling). I've had a lot of requests for this, and I think it'll go over well. Group invites have always required way too many clicks. It's rather nice to know that all the improvements in this area have come solely from users (it was a user who added "Invite to Group" to the pie menu. Go community!).

All in all, not bad for two days' work. I feel more relaxed and powerful :D

Losing the dream

2008-11-10T13:33:00.001-08:00

I'm sitting in SL listening to my friend DJ "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John, rather pensive about my future in this place. My optimistic side thinks, "There are still a lot of good people here. I keep meeting them." My more bitter side reminds me, "You've lost a lot thanks to this place. Linden Lab doesn't give a crap about you, no matter how much you want to call this place yours. What are you getting out of being inworld these days? Time to cut your losses and move on."

I feel sad, because I was one of the most ardent lovers of Second Life for a long time there. I mean, I really and truly loved this place, and was proud to call my Second Life a Second Home.

I suppose, though, it's the difference between the Resident View and the Linden View.

For Residents, SL is a place we built with our own two hands. It's our home, our collective experience, a manifestation of the power of dedicated people. Those of us who stay past those first ten hours are strongly emotionally invested in this world.

For Lindens, SL is a job, and the decisions they make are job decisions. They own SL, and they'll do with it what they want with it, regardless of what the people who make it work think. Residents are just part of the business.

This is a bit of a generalization, but you can see it in the attitude of Lindens the more you spend time with them. Those that were plucked from the community (or participated in the world at its founding) share in the dream; those that were brought in from the outside nod politely then ignore us.

In a way, we're lucky to have as much influence over our corportation as we do; what other business holds regular office hours with its customers? Can you imagine influencing EA at the same level we can influence Linden Lab?

At the end of the day, though, for me it's ultimately about what SL is:

Is SL a product, part of some businessman's portfolio?
Or is SL the dream? A communal home? A place of shared joy and adventure?

Having peeked behind the curtain, I have to say, SL is profoundly a product; we are there to make money for someone else, cheaply, and if people lose their virtual homes over it so be it; the community is just noise that gets in the way. The community's dream will never be the dream of Linden Labs

This realization was, I think, what finally killed my SL life. I can't enjoy being in a place that values their profit margins over that deep underlying sense of home and community spirit that first drew me deep into SL. I know there are many exceptions to this, but ultimately my conscience is unforgiving in this regard. SL is no longer a place I can call home. I have become disillusioned, and once you lose a dream--especially one based upon something that was never true, in this case the sense that SL was by residents for residents--there's just no getting it back.

So, don't be surprised if you don't see my avatar hanging around much in the future. There was a time when if I wasn't able to log in at least once a day withdrawal set in. Now, most of my early friends have come to the same conclusion I have--that SL is not worth it--and if I can't log in, I just shake my head and move on to one of the many RL commitments and projects that require my attention.

Weddings

2008-11-09T15:11:00.001-08:00

I always get terribly sentimental at weddings. It's not the wedding itself--I could care less about pomp and ceremony--but watching two lovers be together as a permanent couple for the first time, committed, fulfilling that promise to each other... it touches me in one of those magical, wordless ways. So, today, I am proud of my friend Aimee, and happy for her that she's found love in her life. I know it's cliche' to say "I wish them all the best," but I really do. Love is always worth it, no matter what, after all.

Anyway.

I'm sitting here, munching on sunflower seeds, pondering the Imprudence installer. WiX is quite a headful--perhaps too much for me at the moment. There's another opensource installer that'll work just as well that I'll prolly use until I get WiX down.

*puts on more Star Trek while VS chugs*

"George Bush doesn't care about black people"

2008-11-03T15:01:00.000-08:00

In case you were living under a rock in 2005 and missed the quote from a Hurricane Katrina telethon, here's the video:

I'm going to say it:

Linden Lab doesn't care about SL users.

Feel free to quote me, cite me, whatever. Linden Lab just doesn't give a fuck about we, the users, adn they've shown this time and time and time again. The latest evidence is the Open Space pricing debacle (AKA the 1776 SL revolution). Now, today, they throw us some buzzword crumbs on the blog to reassure the base: http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/11/03/transforming-the-second-life-experience/

Nevermind bringing this up with the core group of users who spend their time each week discussing the resident experience and UI and (up 'til recently) submitted nearly all of the viewer UI patches, no. They want to scale back the Rx office hour to twelve times a year because guess what, apparently resident input now matters that much less.

I'm sick of this company. Sick of the way they behave in relation to users. I'm sure it's just a cultural thing, but the divide is vast (and--frankly--considering how much I've come to love SL over the year+ I've been here, it's fucking disheartening).

Second Life and the Nuremberg Funnel

2008-11-01T03:56:00.000-07:00

The Nuremberg Funnel is an old German legend about a magical funnel into which could be poured all necessary knowledge, condensed so that even the simplest mind could understand. It is the simplest means of teaching; place, pour, and accept.

The funnel has, I understand, also come to stand for a kind of minimalism in user interfaces. Imagine a Nuremberg Funnel that could be used to teach the use of entire operating system in a matter of seconds, or an operating system? No more tutorials, no need for help guides, KB articles, or mans. The interface would take care of itself, acting as a funnel of knowledge so that even the most technologically inept person the planet would be able to easily grasp its concepts.

That is the goal of pure minimalism (or, at least, it should be).

A purely intuitive user interface will almost certainly never be possible, but it's a good goal to reach for, which brings me to the thrust of my thoughts this evening: what would a Nuremberg Funnel for Second Life look like?

It's a tough question, first because second life is so many things for so many people, and second because the system is terribly complex. You can't ask, "What is the point of Second Life?" because there isn't one, nor can you ask, "Who is our audience?" because the audience is--from what I've seen--nearly everybody.

Honestly, I'm not sure where to begin. Back when Dusan Writer held his interface contest, I thought of the interface more as a set of tools, like a toolbox, that would keep the most common wrenches close at hand for the most common tasks. Now, though, I'm uncertain about this approach. Surely, there must be something better, some overarching uniformity that could be applied to this unique set of applications.

Rheta Shan's approac h was to regroup the interface in the form of "workbenches" that group related system tasks, such as appearance, images, etc. While interesting, I don't think her idea is the answer. It answers the question of unification, but not of use (personally, I don't think it'd be any easier to use than the current interface, but the fact that it builds on the two windows I hate the most--Communicate and the build tools--prolly biases me there).

I really wish I knew what the answer was (if anything, this post is just my attempt to properly form the question). Lately, my thoughts have been drifting in a ton of directions with no solid way to compile them yet (perhaps I should just start making mockups like crazy and see what happens again).

Anyway. The question is what's important. What exactly would a Nuremberg Funnel for Second Life look like? How would it function? Is a minimalist version of the interface even possible?

Food for thought, there.

SLim first use

2008-10-30T00:47:00.000-07:00

"SLim is the name of the Second Life chat client. It enables Second Life Residents to text or voice chat with SL Friends without having the SL viewer open. Residents using the SL viewer can use the usual viewer communication controls to text or voice chat with SLim users, and SLim users can communicate with SL viewer users.

SLim does not support group (conference) text or voice chat yet, though we hope to make this available in the near future."

Using the new SLim client:

Step 1: Head to http://secondlife.com/SLim/ Step 2: Download the two clients. Step 3: Register your avatar in a new account with Vivox. It all feels unnecessary considering the blog/forums/website are all moving to single site login.

The login screen is pretty much like Skype, which is nice.

Unfortunately, despite following the instructions, SLim doesn't work for me.

Looking through the feature list, it's a wonder why this client actually exists. Ajax life does everything this client does, only better, and no need to create a new account. SLim can't modify your friends list, nor can it apparently sort or, well, do anything to it (you can't even search for names, let alone IM ones manually, despite documentation in the KB article otherwise).

The benefit is voice integration, but if I want to use voice without SL I'll use Skype (far superior sound quality, and cuts out less).

There is, however, potential. If they can lose the Vivox registration, add a few standard features, and get group chat working before hitting release, I can see myself using this program fairly regularly. Lately, I've been logging in just to IM, and it feels wasteful as well as rude (particularly when I get teleports or notices for events).

Of course, opening up the IM system so I could log into my account from Trillian or Pidgin would be even better, but perhaps once the agent doman's up. Maybe. Hopefully.

Fun with SL error messages

2008-10-27T04:19:00.000-07:00

Using alerts.xml and an online English to Cockney translator (thanks Gill), I present to you Second Life errors as spoken by a Cockney...ite? See if you can guess which one is which:

"Lawd above! Unable ter connect ter [SECOND_LIFE]. DNS could not resolve da 'ost name. Please verify what yew can connect to da www.secondlife.com web site. If yew can, but continue to receive dis error, please go ter www.secondlife.com/suppawt an' repawt dis problem, innit."

"Awright geeezzaa! We're 'avin' barney rubble connecting. There may be a problem wiv yaaahr in'ernet connecshun awer da Second Life servers. You can either check yaaahr in'ernet connecshun an' popperoo testing in a few minutes, click Seaweed ter connect ter aaahr suppawt site, awer click Telepawt ter attempt ter telepawt 'ome. Sorted mate."

"Gawdon Bennet! Camel Toe ter da Official Linden Blog, fer da Latest Jelly Roll Blues an' Infawmashun. OK?"

"Blimey! You are a member ov an' all baregroups ter join anuvver one. Bell Cheese leave at least one group befawer joinin' dis one, awer decline da offer. To leave a group select da Groups... Opshun from da Edi' menu. [NAME] 'as invited yew ter join a group as a member. [INVITE]. Nuff said, yeah?"

I can only imagine how the 'engrish' version would turn out....

More ugh from the Lab

2008-10-23T20:55:00.003-07:00

http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/10/23/update-on-linden-lab-blog-revamp/

Here's the comment I left:

“I’m happy to report that we have some great things ahead for the Linden Lab Blog. We are on track with a multi-stage process of upgrading our Web presence, including both the Blog and the Forums. Our goal? To improve the information you get about Second Life and enhance our dialogue with you.”
Enhancing the dialog by disabling a communication resource without any word until *after the fact*?
Since when was it standard practice to disable the old model before the new one was ready? Would it really kill your *communications director* to continue communicating during the transition? Or are you trying to train us to get used to even more limited communication, because that’s what the past few weeks have felt like.
You keep saying that you “get it,” then you do things that show the exact opposite. You’re not inspiring any confidence in your customers here.

Error messages

2008-10-22T12:12:00.001-07:00

I have an error threshold of about five errors before I start to get really frustrated and my blood pressure rises. For example, here is my recent experience with git bash:

Welcome to Git (version 1.6.0.2-preview20080923)

Run 'git help git' to display the help index.
Run 'git help ' to display help for specific commands.

McCabe@MCCABE-PC /c/imprudence
$ git branch
12015vanillaSL
1210vanillaSL
VWR-9352
bob
browserhome
browsermenu
fuckyougit
fuckyougit2
* fuckyougit3
imp-1216
master
rebranding

McCabe@MCCABE-PC /c/imprudence
$ git checkout imp-1216
error: You have local changes to 'ChangeLog.txt'; cannot switch branches.

McCabe@MCCABE-PC /c/imprudence
$ git reset --hard HEAQD
fatal: ambiguous argument 'HEAQD': unknown revision or path not in the working t
ree.
Use '--' to separate paths from revisions

McCabe@MCCABE-PC /c/imprudence
$ git reset --hard HEAD
HEAD is now at 5494c2d I really hate you sometimes git

McCabe@MCCABE-PC /c/imprudence
$ git checkout imp-1216
error: Untracked working tree file 'linden/indra/llcommon/llhttpstatuscodes.h' w
ould be overwritten by merge.

McCabe@MCCABE-PC /c/imprudence
$ git commit -a -m "seriously, fuck you git"
# On branch fuckyougit3
# Untracked files:
# (use "git add ..." to include in what will be committed)
#
# 0001-VWR-8341-Bring-back-a-UI-indicator-of-Flycam-text.patch
# 1-21_alt_avatars_login_2a.patch
# 3rd Party Libs for SL Viewer (VS2005 edition).rar
# VWR-9352.txt
# linden/doc/contributions.txt.rej
# linden/indra/build-vc80/
# linden/indra/lib/python/indra/__init__.pyc
# linden/indra/lib/python/indra/base/__init__.pyc
# linden/indra/lib/python/indra/base/llsd.pyc
# linden/indra/lib/python/indra/base/lluuid.pyc
# linden/indra/lib/python/indra/ipc/__init__.pyc
# linden/indra/lib/python/indra/ipc/compatibility.pyc
# linden/indra/lib/python/indra/ipc/llmessage.pyc
# linden/indra/lib/python/indra/ipc/tokenstream.pyc
# linden/indra/lib/python/indra/util/__init__.pyc
# linden/indra/lib/python/indra/util/fastest_elementtree.pyc
# linden/indra/lib/python/indra/util/helpformatter.pyc
# linden/indra/llcommon/llhttpstatuscodes.h
# linden/indra/newview/Imprudence 1.21.2 stable.zip
# linden/indra/newview/Imprudence 1.21.2 stable/
# linden/indra/newview/OpenJPEG.dll
# linden/indra/newview/SLVoice.exe
# linden/indra/newview/SLVoiceAgent.exe
# linden/indra/newview/alut.dll
# linden/indra/newview/app_settings/message.xml
# linden/indra/newview/app_settings/message_template.msg
# linden/indra/newview/app_settings/mozilla/
# linden/indra/newview/app_settings/mozilla_debug/
# linden/indra/newview/fmod.dll
# linden/indra/newview/freebl3.dll
# linden/indra/newview/gksvggdiplus.dll
# linden/indra/newview/imprudence-bin (2).exe
# linden/indra/newview/imprudence-bin (3).exe
# linden/indra/newview/imprudence-bin browser edits.exe
# linden/indra/newview/imprudence-bin.exe
# linden/indra/newview/js3250.dll
# linden/indra/newview/libeay32.dll
# linden/indra/newview/llkdu.dll
# linden/indra/newview/llworld.cpp.rej
# linden/indra/newview/mozilla-theme/
# linden/indra/newview/nspr4.dll
# linden/indra/newview/nss3.dll
# linden/indra/newview/nssckbi.dll
# linden/indra/newview/ortp.dll
# linden/indra/newview/plc4.dll
# linden/indra/newview/plds4.dll
# linden/indra/newview/secondlife-bin (2).exe
# linden/indra/newview/secondlife-bin 1216.exe
# linden/indra/newview/secondlife-bin.exe
# linden/indra/newview/smime3.dll
# linden/indra/newview/softokn3.dll
# linden/indra/newview/srtp.dll
# linden/indra/newview/ssl3.dll
# linden/indra/newview/ssleay32.dll
# linden/indra/newview/tntk.dll
# linden/indra/newview/vivoxsdk.dll
# linden/indra/newview/wrap_oal.dll
# linden/indra/newview/xpcom.dll
# linden/indra/newview/xul.dll
# slviewer-artwork-viewer_1-21-2-r96080.zip
# slviewer-artwork-viewer_1-21-r97383.zip
# slviewer-src-viewer_1-21-2-r96080.zip
# slviewer-win32-libs-viewer_1-21-2-r96080.zip
# slviewer-win32-libs-viewer_1-21-6-r99587.zip
# slviewer-win32-libs-viewer_1-21-r97383.zip
nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

McCabe@MCCABE-PC /c/imprudence
$ git checkout imp-1216
error: Untracked working tree file 'linden/indra/llcommon/llhttpstatuscodes.h' w
ould be overwritten by merge.

I created the fuckyougit3 branch because git originally gave me a "you have local changes to floater_instant_message_ad_hoc.xml cannot switch branches" error when I tried to checkout to the imp-1216 branch, and "git reset --hard HEAD" didn't fix it. In the past, I'd discovered that committing to a new branch would then let me checkout to the branch I want (hence fuckyougit and fuckyougit2).

So, I created fuckyougit3 and tried to checkout to imp-1216, only this time I got a new error message: git couldn't change branches, a *.nib folder in linden\indra\mac_crash_logger\ could not be modified. Fine, I said, I'll delete it manually. I browsed to the folder and sure enough, it was read only. I tried to modify the flag, but Vista gave me a "you do not have permission to delete this folder" error (something I really hate, because it will often prompt you for ADMINISTRATOR permission first. Talk about confusing error messages...). Trying to delete just gave me that annoying "cannot delete, screw you" error (should have known better).

Closing down explorer and half my processes finally killed the folder, which is where my command line entries above start. Reading the manual didn't seem to help, so I sent an IM to Jacek (my git expert). She recommended just doing a forced checkout:

McCabe@MCCABE-PC /c/imprudence
$ git checkout -f imp-1216
Checking out files: 100% (400/400), done.
Switched to branch "imp-1216"

Finally, the right branch. I can't help but wonder, though, what the heck is up with all these error messages I keep getting. Am I fucking up Imprudence? Is the crash bug I can't seem to track down somehow related to some mismanaged source file or not?

Either way, I've hit my error limit for the next hour or so.

The pumpkins are coming! The pumpkins are coming!

2008-10-21T16:56:00.001-07:00

(See MISC-1728)

10,000 and counting

2008-10-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

With VWR-10000, the JIRA viewer category has officially crossed the 10,000 issue mark as of this morning. Almost wish we'd had a betting pool to see when it'd happen :)

15,448 issues have been filed since January 7th, 2007. At 653 days later, that comes to about 23.7 issues filed daily.

Of course, there are ups and downs, particularly when an optional version becomes mandatory and all the bugs that were reported by power users get re-reported by the rest, and many are incomplete or better directed towards support.

Still, though, I'm curious just how SL's JIRA rate compares to other people's issue trackers.

Fun source comments

2008-10-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

void crashAndLoop(const std::string& message)
{
// Now, we go kaboom!
int* crash = NULL;

*crash = 0;

while(true)
{
// Loop forever, in case the crash didn't work?
}
}

(from llerror.cpp)

Pondering inventory loss

2008-10-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

On Oct. 8th, I submitted WEB-826 to add a link to the inventory loss wiki page to the JIRA's dashboard. At the time, there had been 19,994 visitors to the inventory loss page:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Inventory_Recovery_Steps

Now, checking today, the number of visitors has jumped all the way to 20,959! Admittedly, those are not unique hits, but 965 visitors in 12 days is still a heckuva lot of people considering SL's active population size.

Imagine the number of visitors if you stretch that number out over an average month's time (2,452) or a year's (29,352). And those are just people who are seeking help in the *right place*! Imagine all the people who seek help in the wrong place, or who file JIRAs, or contact support directly, or don't do anything at all but complain to their friends. Who knows just how many people have lost their inventory items due to the way SL currently handles things (support, if you ask, will advise you never to use "Replace Outfit" as it causes no-copy HUDs to be lost).

The point is that we have no idea just how severe the inventory loss problem is, but it clearly affects a significant portion of the SL population (I've lost tons of items before, myself, although nothing I really care about yet). Despite promises of an open initiative, there's been no follow-up, and no evidence that inventory loss has lessened or worsened other than anecdotal evidence (and WEB-276 still remains resolved as "fixed").

A look at what's to come

2008-10-18T21:44:00.001-07:00

Tonight, I got tired of banging my head against back-end stuff and doing inworld work, so I decided to sit down and add at least one feature to Imprudence. Here's the result:

The inworld browser can now be accessed from the view menu.

Your "Home" URL can now be set/loaded.

The browser window remembers the last page you visited, defaulting to your home page on relog.

Not exactly on par with the work Jacek's been doing lately, but I have to say, I'm rather pleased with myself. A good way to spend the evening.

(BTW, you can see two linden bugs in these screenshots: VWR-3947, and the classic skin using the silver skin's scrollbars (this was fixed in 1.21.3).)

Developing a new skin, part 1

2008-10-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

Currently, developing a new skin for Second Life is a difficult task. First, you need to understand what each xml file does. Then, you need to learn what limitations there are in the files. Finally, you need to learn how to trick the viewer into bypassing them.

The good thing is that there actually several ways to bypass the xml limits to create some truly interesting skin choices. For example, using only the xml files, I was able to change this:

To this:

Now, it's obviously not finished, but there's some interesting edits I discovered while making it. For example, adding the background. I started with one image embedded in a panel. In floater_chat_history.xml, I added:

<panel bottom="2" filename="panel_bg_history.xml" height="290" max_height="290" left="0" width="535"       follows="left|right|top|bottom" use_bounding_rect="true"/>

The contents of panel_bg_history.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<panel bottom="0" default_tab_group="1" follows="left|bottom|right|top" height="21"
   left="0" name="bg_history" use_bounding_rect="true" width="100">
  <icon bottom="-24" color="255,255,255,255" scale_image="true"
   follows="left|right|top|bottom" height="26" image_name="chat_history_background.tga"
   left="0" width="100" />
</panel>

This covers up the background with a nice LCARS image background. The height is offset so that the background starts just underneath the window title (covering the window title with a panel makes it undraggable, for obvious reasons). Another, more complex (and heck, professional) way to do it would be to add the individual components of the LCARS background as separate images and aligning them via XML.

To skin the title bar, you need to the tag to hide it with an image. Here's what I added to floater_chat_history.xml

<icon scale_image="true" follows="left|right|top" height="18" image_name="title_history.tga" left="0" width="535" bottom="-18" />

title_history.tga aligns with my background panel image, creating the illusion of a seamless panel. Part of the problem with this method is that it doesn't resize well. At medium sizes, the window looks good, but at large/small sizes the window looks pretty bad. So, I made my chat history unresizable (converting the one-image background into multiple components should fix that--something I'll have to look into later).

The rest of the edits are all basic changes to the file: modifying layout panels, positions, etc. So, there you have it. Some fun skinning tricks.

GUI Olympics

2008-10-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

The 2008 GUI Olympics officially began this week. Basically, the GUI Olympics are a skinning competition in multiple categories for prizes. From the home page:

The GUI Championships is an inter-website contest in which top graphic designers from around the world compete for $15,000 in cash and prizes.

This year's contest focuses on WindowBlinds, IconPackager and Dreams. Anyone can participate as an individual or part of a team.

I love competitions like these. Not just for the incredible talent they attract, but looking at how different people solve--and don't solve--problems has always been intensely inspirational for me. I wish I had more skill with photoshop. Much like NaNoWriMo, it's a contest I'd love to try my hand at if I ever find a cure for my lack of self-discipline.

If anyone wants to participate, you can download a 30 day trial copy of WindowBlinds and IconPackager, as well as Dreams for free.

While Visual Studio chugs...

2008-10-14T23:53:00.000-07:00

As it seems Imprudence is taking forever to compile, I thought I'd post an update.

Good things that happened to me today:

* Had a nice long talk with Indya on Skype. We met a few days ago through a mutual friend, and hit it off. Once again, I've discovered someone through SL that I probably would never have met in real life.

* Jacek taught me how to use Git. I'm really quite impressed with it, now that I feel like I know what I'm doing. I suspect she must have read my mind, because earlier I was thinking, "I wish I could make sense of this. I really need to work on a new branch." She's a good teacher.

* Last piece of EC's theater is nearly complete. It's really something special, having this building placed. Gill and I worked on it together; she designed it after a theater she grew up loving, and in that way I love it too. It's a little bit of us, together; it means a lot to me to give that to her.

* Took more screengrabs for my LCARS skin. Contemplating multiple configurations, even though there's a lot of limits as to what's possible.

Not-so-good things that happened to me today:

* I woke up sick as a dog this morning, fighting dizziness and nausea. I tried to work, but ended up spending most of my day curled up in a blanket, napping.

* Vista froze while compiling Imprudence.

gnashing teeth

2008-10-07T20:36:00.000-07:00

You know what really frustrates me as a user? Knowing exactly what I want to do, but having no idea how to do it. I know it's possible. It's a built in feature. I just have no clue how to use this feature, and I feel like I've tried every damn option to get it to do what I want it to do, but it won't.

What pisses me off the most is that I know other people out there are doing what I want to do with this program (otherwise it wouldn't even exist). Only, there's no documentation. No help file. No tutorial that's accurate. And every time I look where I would consider the feature I want to naturally be, it's not there!

I just feel like a fucking idiot, trying to use this damn program, and I hate it.

Did you know?

2008-10-06T15:20:00.001-07:00

Thanks to WEB-106, the JIRA will now be getting wiki formatting in the description and comment fields on October 8th.

This has some interesting ramifications for code blocks and list formatting, but even more important than that, if you read the misc section:

The JIRA's getting emoticons!

rolling up the sleeves

2008-10-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

Last night, Jacek challenged me to name one major usability improvement in Second Life since 1.16. I figured it should be easy. Not only have I read through an insane amount of release notes for my Old Versions page, but I started using SL with version 1.14, so you'd think I'd be able to rattle off a few usability improvements off the top of my head.

Only, I couldn't. I can't think of one major usability improvement in the SL viewer Mind you, I can think of several fixes for broken Linden designs (un-fucking-up the communicate window, the featurettes branch), but one major usability feature? Drawing a blank.

Man, we've got a lot of work ahead of us.

Spore UI

2008-10-01T04:18:00.000-07:00

Having played through my first six hours of Spore, here are the conclusions I've drawn, UI-wise:

Building UI, Ease of Use:
Spore 1, Second Life 0
- Relying solely on point-and-click, there's practically no barriers to entry. Anyone can use Spore's creator to create something fantastic, even Granny.

Building UI, Power:
Spore 0, Second Life 1
- As always, when dumbing down occurs it's at the cost of power features. In Second Life, I have far more control over what I create (even though Spore beats SL soundly in the looks department, none of those options are presented to users).

Camera Controls:
Spore 0, Second Life 1
- I have to say, I have not found any other application that nails the camera as well as Second Life does. Spore comes close, using a left-click-move, right-click-rotate system, but left-click movement is often error-prone ("No, I clicked here! Why won't you just move there?") and are not flexible enough to really give that feeling of open exploration Second Life provides. (Spore attempts to overcome their strict camera limitation by "fading out" objects that would normally block the camera, allowing you to move forward with mouse clicks; this works most of the time, but isn't robust enough to handle times that it doesn't.)

Fun Factor:
Spore 1, Second Life 0
- Earlier this evening, I tried to fly across a sim to attend an event only to get lost in a web of ban lines. While in Spore you just have fun, in Second Life you have to make your own--and sift through everyone else's attempts while doing so.

General UI:
Spore 1, Second Life 0
- There is a clear consistency to Spore's UI that Second Life simply lacks. The UI for the most part stays away unless you purposefully seek it out, giving it a nice immersive quality. There are a certain limitations that those used to a more powerful UI should find frustrating, but the defaults are strong enough it's easy to get used to them.

All in all, a lot to learn from. I have wanted to create a more iconic/immersive version of Second Life's UI for ages now; Spore gives some good hints as to what such a skin might look like, and how it could function.

(If I'm up to it, I will expand on this with pictures tomorrow. For now, bed time)

SL Pencil Collection

2008-09-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

So, tonight, I finally finished that damned pencil collection. You can use it to create mockups of pretty much any element in the SL user interface, and while Pencil can be frustrating at times, for the tool that it is, it works out pretty well. Creating this was an interesting learning experience. In the beginning, I had no idea what I was doing. Now, I can look at the other collections and explain them.

I love journeys like this. First, there is copying, then improvisation, then you set out on your own to use what you've learned and see what you can discover. It might be something as small as poking away at a few xml files for a month, or something as grand as your realizing your life's dream. Everything is a process, a journey, with unexpected surprises. You learn much by trial and error.

For example, here is me learning how create a spinner in Pencil:

And here is me learning how to create a slider:

I love the journey aspect of these two images: capturing the process; ideas, trials and errors, coalescing into form, each attempt building on the last.

I dunno. Makes me happy.

One Day Poem Pavilion

2008-09-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

In indulging my font fetish this morning, I came across this: http://people.artcenter.edu/~jsong5/thesis/index.html

The results of an extensive exploration with shadows, the One Day Poem Pavilion demonstrates the poetic, transitory, site-sensitive and time-based nature of light and shadow.

Using a complex array of perforations, the pavilion’s surface allows light to pass through creating shifting patterns, which–during specific times of the year–transform into the legible text of a poem. The specific arrangements of the perforations reveal different shadow-poems according to the solar calendar: a theme of new-life during the summer solstice, a reflection on the passing of time at the period of the winter solstice.

Yes, that IS a gigantic grin on my face you're seeing :D

Imprudence and Forking

2008-09-22T03:34:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of commentary on the internet on forking and why it is or is not a good idea. It can happen over something as small as a text entry field to entrenched policy disagreements.

In the end, though, there are four fates for a fork:

The fork dies off.
The fork merges back with the original.
The original dies off.
Both successfully survive.

The biggest problem with forking, ironically, comes from the same tool that allows forks to exist in the first place: the GPL, and other opensource licenses. The GPL is particularly notable, as under it, if a fork is successful, there is nothing to stop the original code base from merging the fork's code back into itself, effectively killing interest in the fork in the process (death by mass adoption).

This is interesting, because while it might seem as though forks are handicapped by the GPL in the opensource world, when it comes to LL's viewer, the GPL actually works strongly in a fork's advantage. Consider two unique properties about Imprudence:

1. LL cannot use our code. Our viewer is licensed under the GPL, which is incompatible with LL's viewer strategy (they release a GPL version, but maintain the option to release closed source versions, i.e. the electric sheep's viewer). Unless we officially submit a change to them as a patch, thus waiving our rights over the code, LL cannot use what we create without first waiving their option to release a closed-source version. They're simply not going do that.

2. We, in turn, can use all of LL's code we want. The viewer is opensource, thus continuously released into the community. If they improve something we can improve it more. In the meantime, we can rely on them to tackle server-side issues and those more suited towards a corporate environment.

Basically, our advantage is huge. In this case, the normal disadvantages of forking are waved, and the only thing that could ever kill our fork is prolly disinterest, but I really don't see that happening any time soon. Of course, someone from the community could still come along and fork Imprudence to build their own viewer--and I'd be interested to see if that ever happens--but they'll run into the same problem other opensource forks have: the code is open for the entire community, including us, to use.

All in all, very interesting stuff.

Why don't more blog posts contain these?

2008-09-19T01:36:00.000-07:00

Spent some time tonight thinking about just how I spend my life here on the Internets. Basically, the above is my main daily "habit"--all the big stuff, without the random surfing/linking/watching that would fill the screen (if you're on any of my friends lists, I've sent you enough links that you know what I'm talking about ;).

Also: my friend Bella pointed out to me that you can enable the Home button in Google Chrome under Options > Basics. Once they fix the stop button (FF it nailed when they combined stop/refresh), I do believe I'll have found a new default browser.

(I just can't get enough of shooting my mouse straight to the stop of the screen to click on tabs. It's liberating, and a great reducer of browser anxiety. Go Fitts!)

Spore Report

2008-09-16T22:19:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been reading reviews of Spore lately, trying to get a feel of how people are reacting to the creation tools. Not having a copy of the game myself, I'm hoping to gain some insights into the videos I've seen. So far, though, almost all the articles I've read that go into specifics have been complaints:

1. The DRM is excessive. This is true (some really interesting user reaction).
2. The game is dumbed down. This is also true (read an interview with Will Wright).

Not much help there, but I did find the Will Wright interview particularly interesting, if nothing else for his comment that yes, he really did purposefully dumb his game down to appeal to a wider audience. As a consumer, you always know people do this. You see it in Hollywood, on TV, etc., but it's still a bit jarring to hear someone actively admit it, especially after you've been hearing about what a creative revolution their product is going to be for the past two years. Weren't we all expecting art? Wasn't that the point of all those youtube sneak peeks: that this was greatness on the horizon?

It's just, something I wasn't quite expecting. If your goal is to make cash, I can totally understand this, but for some reason I've always had a mental image of Will Wright as someone with a more artistic bent (something that perhaps comes from playing so many of the early--i.e. failed--sim games).

Anyway. Tonight, I knocked two more tasks off the ol' belt. Gotta love that feeling.

Of course...

2008-09-16T17:37:00.001-07:00

...some fundamental flaws never change, no matter how great your UI is. I stopped using Word years ago because I found I couldn't copy text from Word into another application without having all sorts of Microsoft-specific meta-data get carried along for the ride, ruining the text completely (copying from a Word document straight to Blogger fails, for example).

The workaround I found was to paste the text into Notepad first, then copy it from there. Needless to say, Notepad has since become most frequently used application in Windows, and two years later I still haven't gone through half of the 25 free trial uses for Word 2003.

UI is great. But first, your program has to work.

That Sense of Mastery

2008-09-16T16:44:00.000-07:00

The Story Of The Ribbion

Not only is this presentation an absolutely fascinating look at the development of the Office 2007 Ribbon and usability development in general, it also has many implications for improving usability on SL. One thing I've been thinking about increasingly lately--and it's something I've mentioned at several Rx office hours in the past--is the need to gather the kind of feedback the MS team had: how do real people actually use the UI? What do they click, what don’t they, how do they access a specific feature the most? How often do people *really* use the toolbar?

I don’t want to ever go the Google route and increase usability by dumbing down the software (Google Talk is very usable, but only because there’s very few options to use; Chrome, similarly). SL is too powerful for that. But improving the overall structure and coalescing the myriad of choices available in some statistically valid way… I can really see the Second Life viewer benefitting from such an approach.

My favorite part was when he talked about regaining the sense of mastery a person should have over their software. Certainly, this has been missing from SL for some time. In my case, I feel like a Master of SL in the sense of a “Keeper of Arcane Knowledge”: someone who has worked with the UI enough he can prolly tell you most of the tips and tricks to find what you need. Even then, executing them often feels like punching a wall with my fist (I believe I've mentioned my "typical SL headache" before).

Right now, I'm writing this post on the copy of Word 2007 that came with my loaner. At first glance, the interface felt strange, almost threatening, but now that I’m actually using the software I have to say it feels a helluva lot nicer than Word 2000. Cleaner, more powerful. Like I’m in control.

Would be great to feel that in SL again

Twitties

2008-09-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

If this blog were a twitter, it'd read:

"Leveled up McCabe's icons. Did some social networking. Updated profiles and flickr. Felt productive and connected."

Another day on the grid

2008-09-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

*cranks up Feist*

I'm not sure what to say about today. Long? Rough? Disheartening? I'm rather wary of posting, as anything I write at the moment will most certainly run along the lines of this, thematically.

Bah.

Let's see here.

I've spent the last two days inworld, getting things done. I have four main projects in my sights at the moment--two big, two small--and I am going to be so incredibly happy once all are done, and I can just focus on one thing at a time rather than round-robin.

*ponders inserting length opinionated rant about SL here*

Knaw. Already enough of those around.

Imprudence Transcript!

2008-09-11T16:53:00.000-07:00

The transcript from Jacek's appearance at Benjamin Linden's OH is up (sadly I couldn't make it, for various consciousness-related reasons). It's a good read, though, and Jacek did all of us proud in her presentation of the project.

I think my favorite question comes from Ben himself:

[15:49]	Benjamin Linden:	is one of the goals of Imprudence to undo the communicate window?
[15:49]	Benjamin Linden:	:-)

I literally laughed out loud. Grumbling about the Communicate window is something I've done rather often, and with good reason, I think (it took FAR too many versions for the window to even become usable. First the jamming of the Friends/Groups list in the IM window--literally, just jamming them in there--then the waiting for controls that don't waste so much screen space... then the waiting for the ability to detach it.) Like I said, lots of good UI ranting opportunities, there.

So, what would I do differently?

I've had a several ideas floating around in my head for while, although I haven't really talked to Jacek about them in detail, or presented them in a mockup (which I plan to do).

Here's a general overview of what I consider the future of the Friends List to be:
- Detaching the Chat History and Contacts List by default.
- Preserving alt-tabbing between Contacts, Chat History, and IMs, even while detached.
- Integrating people search (and the features used in people search) into the Friends List
- Simplifying group tasks by adding more functionality to the Groups List, such as group invites.
- Possibly reverting the massive checkbox chain (do we really need to see all of those, for every name?) in favor of three checkboxes and art, like it used to be (in functionality, but probably not the same in presentation).

Anywa. These are all future thoughts (and just thoughts, mind you). For now, we're still talking about first release stuff.

Malbers did make an interesting point that we will be a good proving ground for LL's own UI work, but I like how Jacek emphasized that Imprudence is not going to be just another an extension of LL. Imprudence is our own project, with its own goals and unique roadmap. (I'm really hoping Dusan has luck with Benjamin on opening up their usability data, as well as the mysterious Linden viewer roadmap. While we don't necessarily need them, they'd be invaluable to have).

Cheers to Jacek for the awesome presentation (although I still wish I could have been there myself. "Down with Search!" "Camera controls in every window!")

Now, back to work :)

Patches, patches

2008-09-11T09:38:00.000-07:00

So, I got a call from Fry's Electronics yesterday: "Hello, is [McCabe's Real Name] there?"

Sensing they wanted to charge me money, I replied, "No, he's out. Can I take a message?"

The guy was nice, though. All he wanted to know was if I'd made a backup of my HD (I had) before they sent my laptop off to Toshiba for repairs. I told him don't worry, [McCabe's Real Name] would be fine.

So, looks like I'll be on Vista for another month and a half, at least, I'm stuck with this loaner. Which means reinstalling all bits and pieces need to recompile the viewer, and VS2005 (since 2003 won't run on Vista). I'm actually excited, as once I get everything set up it'll give me an opportunity to finish/update several patches of mine that I'd like to include in Imprudence:

VWR-1597: Toggle 24 hour/12 hour time in the viewer. I already have a patch for this based on 1.20 RC10, I just need to update it.
VWR-1670: Show local time zone in upper right, and in event listings. A natural extension of VWR-1597. I think a lot of people will appreciate this.
Including the wiki viewer skins in the viewer. This is something I'd like to do for the first release, as it's an easy patch and promoting skinning has been dear to my heart for a long time now. I'm also hoping we get a new Imprudence skin sometime soon, depending on when we can find a good designer.

Again, the challenge is just in finding time. I got a lot done inworld last night, but still not close to finished.

LHC

2008-09-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

CERN Rap from Will Barras on Vimeo.

(This is, by the way, the greatest rap in existence.)

So! The LHC comes online tomorrow, and geeks the world over are chomping at the bit for the largest experiment ever attempted.

In particular, this Second Life geek is wondering, "Why has nobody built the LHC in SL?"

It'd be a simple build. To take an Alaskan senator out of context: "a series of tubes". You could use particles to simulate, well, particles, and with images like these how can you not want to wander around this place in 3D?

Someone should really contact CERN. They're missing a golden opportunity.

Well where else did you think prims come from?

2008-09-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

Just so you know

2008-09-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

You prolly should not let me keep FF open for more than a few days, max, or this will happen.

Frustrations of the Windlight Line

2008-09-08T06:42:00.000-07:00

In order to repro certain bugs, I keep a copy of 1.18.5.3 installed (and yes, 1.18 still connects to the SL grid. See my viewer version archive for more on that). It's handy for testing those "But this was always that way I swear!" or "I'm *sure* this was a server change!" bugs, and I like how sneaky it feels logging onto a viewer nobody ever uses.

Anyway. This morning I logged onto 1.18 on to test SVC-3404, and noticed just how much simpler its toolbar looked, compared to the current incarnation. I started to wonder, just how would using the old UI feel after getting so used to Dazzle and all the changes in 1.21.2? So, for a few hours, I tried it out.

What I found surprised me: the more I used 1.18, the more I liked it. The interface felt cleaner, simpler. I was completing tasks faster, and my usual pauses of frustration where I ask the UI "Just how do I do that again?" felt refreshingly shorter. There were features I sorely missed, like clickable names and the new landmark windows, but my headache was definitely less.

Furthering the experiment, I tried logging back into the 1.21.2 public nightly, and sure enough my headache returned. Different, inconsistent icons and unusually shaped buttons required more attention to figure out. Far too many UI elements assaulted my eyes. While parts of the layout felt intuitive, others felt random or misplaced, as though they had been bolted on as an afterthought. As I became consciously aware of all these things, a phrase popped into my head that summarized perfectly the sensation of going from 1.18 straight into 1.21: "This feels like a bad sequel."

For Imprudence, I really think it's best that we start from scratch. There are just too many poor implementations in the current layout, and the thought of getting bogged down in trying to untangle years of what really are just UI tweaks makes my head spin (the Communicate window takes up about 80% of my screen space when I use it with the friends list attached--the result of having a vertically sorted list embedded in a horizontally sorted window).

If anything, I might just create a 1.18-based skin for 1.21, a sort of "classic pro". Something cleaner, but with just as many features.

Bah, so much on my plate right now. I'm still trying to find free moments to focus on finishing that Pencil stencil.

Hippo Awards Results

2008-09-06T12:31:00.001-07:00

So, if I could describe my mood in any one word at the moment, it would be "miffed". I didn't even get an "honorable mention" in the JIRA organizer category. I wasn't really expecting to win (see previous entry), but not even a mention? Honestly? I'd say that's low, considering all the work I've put into the JIRA over this past year.

A little qualifier: I'm on the JIRA every day. I've got a good sense of who's active, who's not, who's doing what. I was *really* hoping this award wouldn't be "political," but surprise surprise it was. Ella is great, but new to the JIRA. Wark doesn't really do much of anything at all, and what he does do he blusters about (do you need to comment every time you change a priority? Really?). Both people were mentioned, and, like the winner, have had some major face time with the judges. Myself? I'm more the person in the back of the room, quietly moving/sorting/linking/commenting and generally organizing.

Just how prolific have I been in this? An easy way to compare is to take the contents of the last complete archive of the JIRA mailing list, August, and plug that text into http://writewords.org.uk/word_count.asp (a free online word counter). My name appears a whopping 631 times, even beating out Alexa Linden for the top name on the JIRA for that month.

To be fair, it was a pretty active month for me though on the JIRA. What about, say, the month before? Plugging in July, my name appears 248 times, not as much as the winner--Harleen--at 360. June has a similar result, with her again beating me at 268 to 149 for top resident (and even worse in the spring, where I was mostly absent from the JIRA due to RL reasons, although still came in second each time. I'm a shy commenter, too--I mostly link/edit, then move on if I'm not resolving).

All of this is fine, and I'm glad she won (heck, I was going to nominate her myself, but didn't as I wasn't sure I could accurately list her contributions). She certainly deserves it. I was just hoping that my efforts, even though consistently second place, were worthy of some form of acknowledgment. (Or at very least, that someone else besides other JIRA geeks had noticed). To have someone whose monthly contributions to the JIRA are generally half mine or less--when they even reach double digits--be touted instead really kinda feels like a slap in the face, especially lately since I've been trying to gear up my JIRA presence more.

As a friend informed me afterward, I did get a mention for my work on the classic skin--something that resulted as a byproduct of my desire to learn and catalog the viewer GUI (which I've done). I like my skinning stuff, but frankly, I ran into a dead end with that when LL decided to abandon viewer skins to the wiki, effectively killing what could have been a promising side project (and something I'd happily have spearheaded. I might try to revive that again in the future. I still have a ton of tutorials in my brain that I just haven't had a chance to write, even).

Really, it was the JIRA category that made me proud, and the one I was hoping for some sort of acknowledgment in. Rationally, I'm sure they were just trying to make sure everyone got equal treatment, which makes sense, but emotionally I feel slighted.

Meh.

As Jacek said, another in a list of reasons to say "screw you" to LL and the way they manage things.

There, rant over.

Google Chrome

2008-09-05T22:31:00.001-07:00

There's a new browser on the market, and her name is Google Chrome (probably chosen because "Dazzle" was already taken ;)

Chrome is available only for Windows XP SP2 and up, so if you're left out in the cold this blog has a pretty good rundown of the features in the new browser. Specifically, here are the ones that interested me:

No menus. Much like IE7, Google chrome has taken its menus and placed them in a pull-down icon.
Tabs on the top. This is a fantastic idea, and one of the aspects about using Chrome I like the most. It makes tabs more clickable, and really emphasizes the "browserness" of the program.
Makes FF3's "most visited" feature a centerpiece.
No Home button. This is the change I hate the most. I love the home button--it's the fastest way to convert webpages you don't want to look at into useful ones.
No search bar in the upper right. Interesting choice as it simplifies the UI (to search, just type your query into the address bar and it'll automatically search google for it). I miss my imdb/wikipedia pulldowns, though, as well as FF3's ability to add any site's search engine while you're browsing it.

On the whole, the UI feels pretty solid. Not as robust as FF, but then again what is? It's done very much in the google style of "provide the basic functionality--we'll get to the rest later. Maybe," which will probably turn FF users off but IE users on (Safari users will still be off in the corner, wondering when the Windows version will stop sucking so other people can use their browser too). As soon as some plugins start appearing, I might just convert though. FF3 has given me nothing but pain when it comes to flash video, but so far no problems yet in Chrome.

"This place would be great if it weren't for the users"

2008-09-04T18:43:00.000-07:00

MISC-1516.

I really REALLY want to reply to this person with, "Get stuffed--it's reopened. The only reason it's not a dupe is because it's been discussed everywhere else on the face of the planet and you just happened to be the first one to make a JIRA issue about it. Get over yourself." Of course, that wouldn't be very nice or productive, and I'm not inclined to starting flame wars, but the urge is there.

Something about dealing with a certain group of people has just been getting under my skin lately. Honestly, I think it has to do with participating in Mentors Q&A.

I'll give an example of what talking to mentors is like.

This morning, I needed to direct link to a KB article, but for the life of me couldn't remember how to format the link correctly. I used to have a script in my inv, but like so many items in my nearly 50,000 long inv, it's slipped through the proverbial crack. So, I thought I'd ask the mentors group. Seems rational, right? Of all people to have a copy of the script, mentors should. Or should at least know the proper formatting so I can create my own.

First reply: someone explaining how to hit F1 and find support.

I explained that I already knew what support was and that I just needed a script that could format KB articles so they can be linked correctly, or the correct formatting if someone knew it.

Again, more useless chatter.

By then, my patience had worn pretty thin. I normally get fairly annoyed by the inane chatter of the mentors group--particularly the inaccurate answers to questions, or questions no mentor should have to ask--and to be fair, I generally ask questions of the mentors group that fly over their heads, but not even knowing how to use the KB? How can you call yourselves Mentors, or claim to mentor anybody when you don't even know how the support system works?

I bit my tongue, and settled for a frustrated remark along the lines of "forget it, I'll figure it out for myself" (which garnered the unusual reply of "that was uncalled for" by some random mentor).

While I was searching for the answer to my question about KB article formatting, someone must have logged in and seen the exchange, because I got an IM with an offer to recreate the script for me--totally unnecessary and very much appreciated. In response, I sent out another message to the mentors group saying if anyone wants a copy to IM me and I'll send it to them. Only one person did.

Fine if you don't know that KB articles could even be hotlinked, but to not even be curious? Or want to see something that'd show you how?

Grawr. I've got all this irrational "stupid people suck" energy that I don't know what to do with. Maybe I just need a nap. I imagine I'm fairly high strung at the moment.

OVER 9000!

2008-09-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

Disabled UAC, and all is well! The result is VWR-9007, which is a very me patch (by that, I mean a small change in an attempt to bring a little more consistency to the viewer).

Aha, what do you know, my gmail just dinged.

Looks like almost exactly two hours after the issue was created, my patch has officially been imported and assigned, along with another one of my old small patches: VWR-6518.

Hmm. Looks like I posted just in time to catch a linden triage. Well, that takes my whole "let's see how long this takes to be ignored" theme and just throws it out the window, now doesn't it.

Root of roots?

2008-09-04T06:22:00.000-07:00

Did you know that on an Administrator account using a special Administrator-level command prompt you cannot use "diff" to create .patch files in Windows Vista?

Why not, you ask? Software incompatibility? A Vista quirk? Microsoft sticking it to GNU? No.

"Access denied."

That's right. According to Windows Vista, there is an account level above Administrator, and if you're not logged into it, Vista doesn't want to hear from you. Tough beans, and all that. I was going to attempt to submit a quick viewer patch before bed, but sadly, looks like my lowly Administrator account simply is not worthy.

Maybe next time, I'll try "C:\IDDQD" first, but something tells me Vista isn't going to like that one much either.

(God, I hate Vista).

The Imprudent Ones

2008-09-01T18:15:00.001-07:00

So, the day has arrived! The doors are officially open! Imprudence is open for business: http://www.imprudenceviewer.org.

If you're curious just what Imprudence is, I recommend reading Jacek's blog post on our website, but for the skimmers out there, here's the deal:

- A new viewer, forked from LL's.
- Focusing on improving usability and drastic, needed changes.
- No more patching against the mysterious linden crystal ball of features.
- No more long waits to see your patches integrated.

Join the forums. Participate, discuss, spread your ideas about the UI and usability of SL. All input is welcome.

Why "Imprudence"?

A lack of caution. A bold statement. Willing to make the necessary changes that LL--for numerous reasons--won't.

Child-like eyes

2008-08-29T21:20:00.000-07:00

There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million.
-- Walt Streightiff

I tend to live by this quote. In all things, there is something wonderful; a unique beauty to behold. Not just in people, but objects, processes, theories, words, and even in the more despicable acts of human nature--where common sense judgments can be swift and absolute--there is an Art which both fascinates and horrifies us, a kind of unique beauty that makes us question our lines in the sand.

Right now, I'm thinking about all the places I've been in Second Life over the past week. From dancing with a group of rabble-rousers in a box in the corner, to standing with my friend Bella on the brink of hell, fighting ogres, to rocking out to live guitar with the hobos, and yes, to even indulging in my dark sense of humor, I keep thinking about that childlike sense of wonderment, asking myself, "How can you enjoy Second Life any other way? And why would you want to?"

Just my random thought for the day.

Is Second Life Surrealism?

2008-08-24T12:52:00.000-07:00

There are many fantastic images from Second Life. Certainly, windlight has been worth it, if nothing else than for the snapshots on pages like the one I've just linked to. Likewise, one cannot argue that the artistic elements of Second Life are transcendent. To not only create the painting, but live it; an immersive process not unlike living in a museum's statue wing. Where else can one wander through Van Gogh's "The Starry Night"?

Still, though, is it surrealism?

I'm thinking now--or rather, having been thinking all morning--about the first Surrealist Manifesto (Le Manifeste du surréalisme), circa 1924, penned by Andre Breton. Some passages:

They say that not long ago, just before he went to sleep, Saint-Pol-Roux placed a placard on the door of his manor at Camaret which read: THE POET WORKS.

There is still a great deal to say, but I did want to touch lightly, in passing, upon a subject which in itself would require a very long exposition with a different precision. I shall return to it. For the time being my intention has been to see that justice was done to that hatred of the marvellous which rages in certain men, that ridicule under which they would like to crush it. Let us resolve, therefore: the Marvellous is always beautiful, everything marvellous is beautiful. Nothing but the Marvellous is beautiful.
... One night, before falling asleep, I became aware of a most bizarre sentence, clearly articulated to the point where it was impossible to change a word of it, but still separate from the sound of any voice. It came to me bearing no trace of the events with which I was involved at that time, at least to my conscious knowledge. It seemed to me a highly insistent sentence - a sentence, I might say, which knocked at the window. I quickly took note of it and was prepared to disregard it when something about its whole character held me back. The sentence truly astounded me. Unfortunately I still cannot remember the exact words to this day, but it was something like: 'A man is cut in half by the window'; but it can only suffer from ambiguity, accompanied as it was by the feeble visual representation of a walking man cut in half by a window perpendicular to the axis of his body. It was probably a simple matter of a man leaning on the window and then straightening up. But the window followed the movements of the man, and I realized that I was dealing with a very rare type of image. Immediately I had the idea of incorporating it into my poetic material, but no sooner had I invested it with poetic form than it went on to give way to a scarcely intermittent succession of sentences which surprised me no less than the first and gave me the impression of such a free gift that the control which I had had over myself up to that point seemed illusory and I no longer thought of anything but how to put an end to the interminable quarrel which was taking place within me.

An incredulous statement; fascinating, unique.

Totally involved as I was at the time with Freud, and familiar with his methods of examination which I had had some occasion to practise on the sick during the war, I resolved to obtain from myself what one seeks to obtain from a patient - a spoken monologue uttered as rapidly as possible, over which the critical faculty of the subject has no control, unencumbered by any reticence, which is spoken thought as far as such a thing is possible. It seemed to me, and still does - the manner in which the sentence about the man cut in two came to me proves it - that the speed of thought is no greater than that of words, and that it does not necessarily defy language or the moving pen. It was with this in mind that Philippe Soupault (with whom I had shared these first conclusions) and I undertook to cover some paper with writing, with a laudable contempt for what might result in terms of literature. The ease of realization did the rest. At the end of the first day we were able to read to each other around fifty pages obtained by this method, and began to compare our results. Altogether, those of Soupault and my own presented a remarkable similarity, even including the same faults in construction: in both cases there was the illusion of an extraordinary verve, a great deal of emotion, a considerable assortment of images of a quality such as we would never have been capable of achieving in ordinary writing, a very vivid graphic quality, and here and there an acutely comic passage. The only difference between our texts seemed to me essentially due to our respective natures (Soupault's is less static than mine) and, if I may hazard a slight criticism, due to the fact that he had made the mistake of distributing a few words in the way of titles at the head of certain pages no doubt in the spirit of mystification. On the other hand, I must give him credit for maintaining his steadfast opposition to the slightest alteration in the course of any passage which seemed to me rather badly put. He was completely right on this point, of course. In fact it is very difficult to appreciate the full value of the various elements when confronted by them. It can even be said to be impossible to appreciate them at the first reading. These elements are outwardly as strange to you who have written them as to anyone else, and you are naturally distrustful of them. Poetically speaking, they are especially endowed with a very high degree of immediate absurdity. The peculiarity of this absurdity, on closer examination, comes from their capitulation to everything both inadmissible and legitimate - In the world, to produce a revelation of a certain number of premises and facts generally no less objective than any others.

Exploring the depths of this new state of conscious awareness, the flow of free thought.

The mind of the dreaming man is fully satisfied with whatever happens to it. The agonizing question of possibility does not arise. Kill, plunder more quickly, love as much as you wish. And if you die, are you not sure of being roused from the dead? Let yourself be led. Events will not tolerate deferment. You have no name. Everything Is inestimably easy.
What power, I wonder, what power so much more generous than others confers this natural aspect upon the dream and makes me welcome unreservedly a throng of episodes whose strangeness would overwhelm me if they were happening as I write this? And yet I can believe it with my own eyes, my own ears. That great day has come, that beast has spoken.

If man's awakening is harsher, if he breaks the spell too well, it is because he has been led to form a poor idea of expiation.

Dreams have their own rules (or rather, interpretation of what a "rule" should be); what we experience in a dream is perfectly natural to the dreamer, yet would strain even the most accepting minds if experienced in consciousness.

Those who might dispute our right to employ the term SURREALISM in the very special sense that we understand it are being extremely dishonest, for there can be no doubt that this word had no currency before we came along. Therefore, I am defining it once and for all:
SURREALISM, n. Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express - verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner - the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.
ENCYCLOPEDIA. Philosophy. Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected associations, in the omnipotence of dream, in the disinterested play of thought. It tends to ruin once and for all all other psychic mechanisms and to substitute itself for them in solving all the principal problems of life.

At last, the definition itself. Pure psychic automatism. The mind flows straight to the pen, and what results, results. In today's language, it might be defined as "Giving the subconscious form," or simply, "Shooting straight from the gut."

So, is Second Life surrealist?

Yes and no.

mIn SL, Most of the what we encounter has been dictated by conscious thought and intent, and is definitely not surrealist.

There is, however, some wiggle room. SL is more than just a world for vision, it's also a tool, the same as a paintbrush and canvas. The collective whole... the potential interactions... certainly lend themselves towards surrealist uses.

Where else but their own subconscious can a person pull the idea of a hair cannon? Is a swimming woman with a knife in her hand and a lightbulb overhead any different than a man being cut in half by a window, logically? Or in commonplace acceptance in SL's world, much the way the bizarre is commonplace and accepted in our dreams?

Our avatars are tools for surrealism; an open invitation to enter the gateway of the storm and leave our preconceived notions at the door. It's sad that so many continue to hold onto reality's filters, but exciting, too, to see in one place reality so exactingly recreated, then, in the neighboring sim, so utterly destroyed.

That, really, is the beauty of the place. Or, as Breton might opine, what makes it marvelous.

Button to clear map beacon

2008-08-24T08:07:00.000-07:00

This morning I stumbled across an old version of the viewer I'd forgotten I was working on. I was attempting to solve VWR-5719 by adding a "Release Keys" style button to the viewer:

The button works fine for clearing the map beacon, but isn't triggered correctly when the beacon is activated from landmarks or tping. After I stopped using 1.20.10, I forgot all about finishing this patch. It's sat on my HD for weeks, dejected.

Right now, I'm on a loaner laptop with zero compiling software. I'm not exactly keen on downloading/installing all the bits and pieces needed to compile the viewer, but perhaps when I get my laptop back I'll finish this.

Hippo Awards

2008-08-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

So, the announcement of the Hippo Awards finalists is coming up, and yours truly is a nominee.

I imagine I'm mostly unknown in the larger SL community, so some might see my name listed and ask, "What has he done to deserve this?" Well, here's a list:

Second Life Old Versions - an archive of previous release, beta, RC, and first look viewers that I've collected and maintain.
Second life skinning tutorials - numerous howtos, from how to get started skinning to basic guides to some nifty advanced tweaks you can do to the xml files.
I'm very active on the JIRA. According to Gig's statistics page, I'm the 6th most prolific commenter and the 2nd most accurate bug reporter (as well as a member of the "good citizens" group, so I move things around too). I try to work on resolving dupes and sorting out old issues that have been left in tangles. A few JIRAs I'm proud of:
WEB-566 - a tool for those who can't move issues to get them to the right place. One of my favorite projects has been working on making sure as many issues as possible get filed in the proper category.
VWR-7893 - my port of the classic second life skin for 1.20+, which has since been integrated into the viewer. I made this with zero documentation and no help from linden labs as to how to even get started on it.
VWR-6559 - a meta issue for small tweaks to the viewer, with an emphasis on usability patches. Almost all the issues linked here have patches, many by me.
VWR-2149 - a meta issue for collecting numerous issues relating to the avatar displaying incorrectly. Many dupes have been resolved thanks to this.
WEB-753 - added new components to the JIRA. I sorted/updated/moved/resolved all the relevant issues in VWR, MISC, and SVC, a pretty lengthy cleanup.

I doubt I'll win Best Project Organizer (Zha and the AWG will surely take this, or Lex Neva, who absolutely would have won in this category last year if it were available) but still, even though most of my contributions this year have been mostly behind-the-scenes sort of things, I think I've done my fair share. Gotta be proud of that.

Asking how

2008-08-23T18:59:00.001-07:00

What is Second Life? Is it a game? A platform? A 3D chat interface? The future of the Internet? Or just a glorified drama sink?

Just when I think I've figured out, something or someone comes along and takes me completely by surprise, showing me a whole new aspect of SL I had never before imagined (the striking detail of some of the sims I've visited makes me wonder how anyone who has explored this world would want to leave, for can't they see the potential?).

What I do know is the same thing every newbie knows when they first login:

- Second Life is a 3D world.
- You are there.
- You can do stuff.

Not very comprehensive, I know, but this information immediately begs several questions, all of which are--not surprisingly--on the tip of a newbie's lips: Where can I go? What can I do? How do I do it?

The first two questions are ones no open source contributor can answer. LL is in charge of their own virtual world, and it's up to them to make users aware of what they can expect in that world ("Showcase" is a definite improvement. There's a lot more they could do, but that's another rant entirely).

The "how do I do X?" questions, though... now these are questions an open source contributor can influence.

Understanding them is the key to improving your user interface. No matter how compelling your product is, if it's not usable then most people will avoid it. (A simplification, I know, but a relevant one).

From what I've seen, LL has taken a different approach. The Second Life viewer--or rather, the means by which the user interacts with the 3D world and accomplishes tasks--has been based not around its users, but around the programmers who coded it. Evidence for this can be seen in the esoteric nature of the menus, swiss-army-like windows, and lack of consistent icons or strong intuitive cues.

To new users, the lack of a consistent interface feels much like the entrance of a labyrinth, making the initial learning curve--that is, the learning curve for actually beginning to explore the depths of SL, not master them--unnecessarily high.

Questing minds will undoubtedly been intrigued by the possibilities of everything presented to them (and they have been. These are the "pioneers" of Second Life: one of the reasons why I still love this place).

The rest of will login for an hour or a day, look around, and say, simply, "Pass."

Every mentor has seen it. Newbie appearing on their friends lists for only one day; follow up IMs never returned; friendship requests not even declined. SL's retention rate is abysmal, and a good portion of the blame can, IMHO, be placed squarely on the UI (a whole 'nother rant there, too).

Now, how to improve that UI? That is a hard question (especially since LL has as of yet to release any usability data to the community). You might as well ask, "How does one transform bad art into good art?" At the moment, the thought process would be about the same.

Still, though, something must be done. Not just for the users, but for second life in general.

Stay tuned.

An alter ego looks at Second Life

Fixing NMAKE fatal error U1077

Well, well, word "debacle"

"Debacle"

The grid hasn't changed, but I have

"Second Life 2.0"

VWR-8080

Fun With Prok

MIX 09 Windows 7 presentation

Useful visual studio information

Kentucky e-voting fraud

I'm looking at you, Mozilla

Sentimental

Taking a break while the viewer compiles

Manifestos

(Yes, it's mushy now)

Fun in \linden\indra\lib\python\indra\ipc\siesta_test.py

Nice to know what the solution is

Beautiful

Hello, Avatar

Imprudence Source Adventures

Sometimes the UI works with you, other times...

Sidenote (I'm full of them lately)

Interface Design Guidelines for Imprudence (in no way complete at all)

This is what happens when I read botgirl's blog, heh

Yawny-face

*stretch*

TG + MG = Err

1.1's moving forward

Hubris and testing

The Linden Way of Thinking

Imprudence update

Brilliant UI parody of Apple:

"New User Experience"

Standing in an emtpy sim, reading two notecards:

Interesting

A perfect example of LL's attitude

God bless whomever created the noob sculpt

The Moon Is Down

Saying goodbye

mmm, tweaks

Losing the dream

Weddings

"George Bush doesn't care about black people"

Second Life and the Nuremberg Funnel

SLim first use

Fun with SL error messages

More ugh from the Lab

Error messages

The pumpkins are coming! The pumpkins are coming!

10,000 and counting

Fun source comments

Pondering inventory loss

A look at what's to come

Developing a new skin, part 1

GUI Olympics

While Visual Studio chugs...

*gnashing teeth*

Did you know?

*rolling up the sleeves*

Spore UI

SL Pencil Collection

One Day Poem Pavilion

Imprudence and Forking

Why don't more blog posts contain these?

Spore Report

Of course...

That Sense of Mastery

Twitties

Another day on the grid

Imprudence Transcript!

Patches, patches

LHC

Well where else did you think prims come from?

Just so you know

Frustrations of the Windlight Line

Hippo Awards Results

Google Chrome

"This place would be great if it weren't for the users"

OVER 9000!

stretch

gnashing teeth

rolling up the sleeves