[Mesh goes gridwide: Create, sell, buy & enjoy all-new things in SL]

Firestorm is somewhat promising, but still suffers from some of the UI disasters of 2.x such as the notification system, broken status bar, and defective sidebar behaviors (yes, it still has them in places.) Maybe, MAYBE they can resolve these things over the next couple months but it really needs a total re-write of the UI rather than "tweak this, adjust that." I think it's wise to be ready for mesh as a content creator, but from a content consumer viewpoint we are still months away from adoption. What good is content that 95% of the residents can't see?

[Mesh goes gridwide: Create, sell, buy & enjoy all-new things in SL]

Mesh is nice and all but there are no good viewers for it. Mesh content is useless until that situation changes. It's a shame that LL refuses to acknowledge that the user interface design in V2.x is a total disaster and keeps insisting on adding features that people do not want (web profiles that are broken.) LL: Please. fix the viewer. Stop being so stubborn and admit you screwed up. It's OK, companies screw up all the time. BUT - it's time to admit it and to begin to address it. A proper viewer design would divorce the rendering and basic management features from the UI anyway. There have been thousands (tens of thousands probably) comments written about what the people really want. You have feedback. Please listen to it and act.

[Technology Improvements for Q1 Including Raising Group Limit to 42]

Groups in general are pretty broken. I would really like to see two kinds of groups: Social groups for tags, chat, notices, and Permission groups for land / object management. The group limit is mainly because for nearly everything you do, SL has to check your group permissions to do things. If groups were separate, there would be no need to have a limit on social groups because it wouldn't impact performance of the grid.

Second: llGroupInvite() and llGroupEject() - let's get rid of the group inviter bots. Give us LSL functions so we can use a scripted object to do group management.

Group Chat: So you are implementing a new system. Please ensure it is jabber (XMPP) compatible. So here you are linking with Twitter, Facebook, etc., but it's still nearly impossible to communicate with someone inworld unless you are ALSO inworld. Group and IM chat should be based on an OPEN protocol and not some nasty proprietary thing from VoiceAge. It works for Google's GTalk so it CLEARLY can handle the load.

Lastly: Yet another plea - address the sim freeze bug that occurs when people with scripted objects TP in and out of a sim which has been plaguing us for nearly 18 months.

[Viewer 2.3 Launches with Display Names]

It is EXACTLY like what I said. Users who want a tag over their heads that has a name other than "blah blah Resident" will need to use a display name instead now since they do not have a choice of last names like we did. What part of that isn't true? It's is also a fact that 1.X viewers can't view display names (though a couple TPV's are starting, but since they lack the lldku libraries due to LL requirements, they are 3x slower and are unusable on older hardware now.)

The vast majority of people did not want Display Names "as implemented." The vast majority of residents do not want the 2.X viewer UI either which is why they are running TPV's. The problem is simple: LL has never really listened to their customers, but they have changed in the last year to being openly hostile to their customers. The FACT that people, including the founder of LL himself, are leaving SL in droves proves this true and that LL is self destructing. The numbers don't lie. The massive layoffs at LL wasn't just a dream.

The problem is that there is nobody at LL looking at the numbers and saying "Hey guys, we have a problem, the residents are unhappy and are leaving."

Being a cheerleader for LL right now is a lonely place to be, it's like cheering for North Korea. Hey guys! We aren't that bad! I'll even kiss a baby on TV!

OK, so why am I still here? Well, half of my SL friends are still here, but that number is dwlindling. For the half that are still here, I have seen their online times cut WAY back, maybe 20% of what it was as they explore other worlds that actually care about customer opinions and needs. I still enjoy owning my own sim and being able to do whatever I want with it. If I can do that for free, please tell me how.

[Viewer 2.3 Launches with Display Names]

Yes, your right, a targeted attack is juvinile, but that is EXACTLY what LL has now done by forcing all new users to have the last name "Resident", thus pretty much REQUIRING people to use display names to get a non-stupid username, and attacking 1.x viewer users since they can't see the other names. My idea is a PROTEST, not an attack like LL has launched.

LL is acting totally irrationally, it's almost as if they are TRYING to ruin SL and drive people away. More and more of my long-time friends are no longer logging in. At this rate, I'll be taking my $300USD I spend on LL per month and going elsewhere in about 6 months since there won't be any point in being here.

[Viewer 2.3 Launches with Display Names]

So I checked my friends list on the web site, and found names I don't recognize. Since I don't use the aweful 2.x viewers, I can't even see which of my friends has decided to change names. LL has blown it completely with Display Names and the half-arsed implementation. The friends list on the web site MUST have a way to see the real user name otherwise you have NO clue who is really online. Thanks to DIsplay Names, my entire friends list can be filled with "John Doe".

In fact, I think that is a great protest. Everyone set their display name to John (or Jane) Doe and show LL just how completely stupid it is. Since so few people use 2.3, it won't impact most of us at all and just make SL impossible for the 2% of the population crazy enough to use a 2.x viewer.

[Bringing Teens to Second Life’s Main Grid]

OK, so teens are coming to the main grid. So when is LL going to start taking action on the abuse reports for BDSM playgrounds in PG areas? There are a couple that have survived monthly abuse reports for nearly a year. Clearly LL is not serious about providing a safe place for teens.