Skye Wishbringer

When I first heard about this tonight, it was amidst a good deal of panic and grousing. From what I was hearing, I was astounded that Linden Labs would dare make such a huge business model mistake. Then I downloaded the Simple Inventory Project Viewer as a test to see what they were talking about. At first, I didn't see the difference until someone pointed out that I had to click the 'Folder View' link in the inventory. Okay, here I was expecting something much different from the stock Heirarchy Inventory. What I got was much much worse. Like, show-stopping worse. I don't know who thought this would be a good idea, but this is a potential disaster. It appears to me to be little more than the Heirarchy Inventory - Neutered SEVERAL functions that are not only useful, but ESSENTIAL. As a new user, sure, I could see how this could be handy to help keep things organized. As long as you never get any items EVER. As a seasoned user, with several items ALREADY organized into folders, I saw no difference from the first impression. All my items were still already in their current folders. Except that now I could no longer select the dropdown box to list their contents. Sure, click a folder, go into its contents. But wait. What if, as Michi above says, you have to handle many different items of inventory? I'm sorry, Linden Labs, but we're not all using stock avatars with one or two items of clothing each. Some of us are wearing MULTIPLE items, and that's just avatars that aren't even wearing prims! That -requires- the ability to be able to select multiple items. CTRL, SHIFT, None of that is going to be in the SINV? That just left me dumbfounded. Who in the world thinks that being forced to only select one item at a time was a GOOD idea? So I thought, maybe I'll just look it over a little more. Maybe I'm missing something. No, I got it all. LL didn't leave enough options in the SINV for me to even begin to think I was missing anything. What I saw was all I got. And what I got was just plain neutered. It's the Heirarchal Inventory system. Minus everything that makes it functional. This is akin to offering me a car, but all you give me are wheels and a few axles. Sure, I can get around on them, but it won't be very long until all the other components (I.E. AN ENGINE) are going to be painfully missing. Add that in, and suddenly all the other things that are necessary (I.E, SEATS AND A STEERING MECHANISM) are going to be painfully missing. But Linden Labs can prevent all of this from being a devestating tragedy. Offer the SINV to first-time users. But MAINTAIN the ability to use the Heirarchal Inventory. Make it an icon, a button, a more button, an option, whatever. But leave it in there. This mentality of imitating Apple and taking out more and more features and dumbing it down to make it 'easier' for users has to stop. You've reached the point of singularity where you are not only alienating your existing users, but you are at risk of turning off any prospective new users who might come in. Bottom Line: The SINV is USELESS to anyone with more than one inventory object ever. It is going to cripple all of your users with the ability to generate content that generates you income. It's going to disenfranchise more of your user base and it's going to discourage your potential new users. If this is your new business model, may Wall Street have mercy on your Bank Accounts.