Phoenix viewer is leaving?

[Peisza Funizza]

What does it mean Jan 1st no more support of Phoenix Viewer?  I have a mac what is my options?

[Echo Hermit]

Welcome to Second Life Answers,

It means you can still carry on using Phoenix if that's the viewer you prefer, but over time it may not work, and there will be no direct support available from the Phoenix/Firestorm developers.

There is a very full explanation of what will happen, by Jessica Lyon, developer of Phoenix on youtube. Here is the link.

[Rolig Loon]

Your best option is Firestorm, which was created by the same development crew as Phoenix.  You can configure Firestorm to look and behave like Phoenix in many ways. Its only disadvantage for some SL residents is that it has a larger, more complex code. Residents with older, less powerful computers that can only handle Phoenix's old-style viewer code may have trouble running it. They should probably switch to one of the few remaining old-style viewers.

The Phoenix/Firestorm developers announced over a year ago that they would not be doing further development of the Phoenix viewer, and many of us were surprised that it took them this long to make the final announcement that they are no longer providing support.  Phoenix is based on an obsolete viewer code (V1) that is increasingly difficult to keep compatible with current versions of the SL server code.  There are major server upgrades coming within a few months that will break many V1 functions, so Phoenix will behave worse and worse.  See http://www.phoenixviewer.com/ for more details.

[Baloo Uriza]

Singularity is also a strong option.

[Archangel Mortenwold]

You can download and install either Singularity or Cool VL Viewer if you prefer ease of use and stability over resource-hogging, crashy viewers with lower frame rates such as Firestorm.  To download these, you can go to the following web sites:

http://www.singularityviewer.org/

http://sldev.free.fr/

Having tried and given up on Firestorm long ago, and having been put off by the pathological dishonesty and elitist attitudes of its developers, I can safely say that once Phoenix no longer works I will be using these viewers full time.  The programmers put a lot of effort into integrating the V1 user interface to the V2 and V3 code bases, and as long as those viewers are maintained, those of us who think viewers should use fewer computer resources, have higher frame rates, and actually work on people's computers, have a way to gain access to Second Life.

Good luck!

 

[ScorpioSeven]

unhapply ,the engeniers dont understand noghting about our point of view , for them the computer its just numbers , for 

us SL , was like a dream , i loved others viewers , i can´t never forguet  Emerald viewer , that was the first that LL  dont wanted so phoenix came after , now the best choice its singurarity , i realy hate that  estupid , irritable LL  viewer 

and  dont understand  why LL finished with all others without listen the  people i can tell you Emerald at time was around 80 of all second live avatars , phoenix pasted  60 % so its sad  why LL want realy make us forguet those viewers ,  those viewers have open windows we imagine SL its real , LL viwer sims a computer what ever , its sad ,. I will refuse use their viewer m just because i never liked that , so the best choise now its singurarity , i just ask ( untill when LL will persecute Singuraity ) too ...

[Rolig Loon]

So long as you have the current Mac OS (or at least something better than OS X 10.6), your Mac ought to be able to handle any of the current viewers.  Almost two years ago, Linden Lab began developing some major upgrades to their original viewer code.  Some involved support for mesh, which has made new types of clothing and buildings possible in SL and (more important) has reduced server load significantly so performance is much better than it was years ago.  Perhaps the most significant improvement is the Server Side Appearance project, which is now almost complete.  When LL throws thje final switch to activate the last pieces, we will never again have to worry about wandering around looking like fluffy clouds.  Avatars should rez much faster and more reliably, and many clothing problems should vanish.

Making major changes like that means giving up some features of the old code that created all those problems. LL abandoned the original code when they retired the 1.23 viewer 4 years ago.  Some third party developers kept the old code base as long as they could, so that residents would have that option during the transition.  Phoenix was one of those.  Last winter, as LL was finally getting close to the deadline for the Server Side Appearance project, Phoenix developers finally pulled the plug on their old code. 

For now, Phoenix still works.  In a week or two (or three?), though, anyone using Phoenix will see all avatars as gray, pasty-looking people.  The old code will not support the basic improvements that are in the new design.  There will always be people who look back at the "good old days", forgetting that those days also meant all-day maintenance every Wednesday, teleporting with your head up your butt, looking like a cloud much of the time, not having even flexi skirts, not having Voice, and not being able to script many of the rather tricky functions that we take for granted today.  Nobody likes every one of the changes we've seen over the years.  I can list a half dozen things that I think were dumb changes. Life moves on, though, and most changes make SL more flexible and more enjoyable.

[Baloo Uriza]

Emerald was malware, though. Go read the history. Keep in mind that this is all open source, so if the viewer doesn't do what you want, it's your fault for not providing the code to make it do that.