Forced to install voice client :(

I think you might be misinterpreting what Nicholaz is actually doing. Nicholaz's viewer is a derivative product. Every time SL releases new viewer source code, Nicholaz goes over it to see which of his patches still are relevant, and recompiles with them. So he IS getting all the device support etc. in the SL released viewers. (Note: he also integrates patches from other open source developers as he sees fit).

Because of the client's fairly modular UI design, Nick was able to change the look of the communicate window without implementing an immense pile of new code. Again, a derivative work.

I'm with those who say Nick's viewer is worth a try if you're having troubles with the released clients. If it doesn't work for you *offers Lexxi some blackbird pie*, ah well!

When you type www.secondlife.com onto the Google search line:

the "Paid Ad" top response is IMVU - google's SL competitor.

I tried voice for the first time and managed to say a few words between headphone malfunctions but nobody replied so I don't know if anyone heard me!

No, not confused at all. Apparently you are, though.

"He is only one man, and can not create drivers and code for ALL possible configs."

Here you display confusion over what hardware drivers are and who creates them. The hardware drivers are not written by either LL or Nicholaz. Even LL "can not create drivers and code for ALL possible configs" which is why we have such things as hardware drivers.

Your point fails due to your confusion. Yes, Nicholaz goes for the larger market an hence does not provide either Apple or Linux versions, that is not his market.

As pointed out earlier by someone else, you seem to lack an understanding of what he is actually doing. Fixing things such as memory leaks with benefit all hardware configurations.

I fail to see how a company whose version control is so poor they grab outdated modules and reintroduce bugs they've already fixed can be said to be doing a great job.

lol.

I know what he's doing...trust me. I've worked in the gaming industry, I'm pretty clear on these kinds of things.

I'm simply stating that he is but one man, working on a few aspects, and LL is...

Nevermind. It's hopeless.

The screen of yours looks huge! It takes up roughly 1/6th of my screen (15" lappy).

Mari

lol -- np, michael, i get your point. An LL developer might justifiably feel a bit defeated by the fact that Nick has a fan club, and they fix bugs all day and actually create the immense scaffolding he stands on top of, and they have no one throwing panties in their general direction.

Then again, they get paid

I, for one, am having abandonment issues. ^^

You claim to, but one wonders how someone with such experience could be so confused as to who writes hardware drivers....

No one has ever disputed that he is but one man working on a few aspects, I'm confused why you think anyone is saying anything else. Or what point you are trying to make by saying that. Do you have some weird notion that you are the only one who is aware of the effort that goes into a large software products, or that knows anything about gaming?

Nicholaz has a fan club because he takes what LL puts out and enhances it (thus being the whole point behind open sourcing your code). Many of us find his viewer a superior product to what LL releases. Much the way many people find an AMG to be superior to a Mercedes. One has to wonder why folks finding his product to be the superior one so greatly concerns you...

Yes he IS one man. who improves what LL is accomplishing, dare I say making it possible for people who may have given up on the stock viewer. No one is saying his work eclipses that of LL.
I'm sometimes amazed you even bother with obviously inferor minds such as ourselves.

salt wouldnt help an accidental coagulated butter!

I don't know if anyone mentioned where to turn off voice at, but you do it in preferences. If you are runing voice you need to make sure that SKYPE is turned off because it can cause great problems. Not sure what though.

Bad day today, sorry if this has already been mentioned.

Nicholaz is one man, yes - but he's doing a hell of a job at finding and squashing bugs - things that LL integrates into its next release of the standard viewer. As LL says, he backs up his criticisms with working code. Is it superior? If it squashes a memory leak, YES. Anything that actually improves the viewer's performance IS a superior product. Unless you find that his version introduces new bugs that destroy performance, there is no basis to say that it is not a superior product when there are key enhancements. The UI thing is a matter of taste. But the functional stuff and stuff that makes my life easier? THAT is a real improvement.

*laughs*

I looked at IMVU today. Actually went through the account sign-up process and fired it up. Pathetic, is all I can say.

Very limited avatar customization - they all look like "Bratz" dolls.

PG-rated. If you so much as have a beer can displayed, you have to tag the area as "18 and over only", and no sexual behavior or speech is permitted.

Your "world" is limited to a "room" that you sit in. You can invite others to your room, but can't walk outside and explore, nor can you build the exterior of places or terrains or...

Yes, you can create custom content. But you only get paid for it in "Developer Tokens", that you can only use to purchase in-world stuff for yourself. And everything purchased from their "catalog", the central source for 100% of all purchasable goods, is no-transfer.

You can't, legally, cash out your Credits (Purchased game money), Predits (promotional game money, that you can only spend on your own stuff), or Developer Tokens. There may be some way to sell them on eBay, but no legal way to cash out.

Maybe it's a competitor for the Teen Grid users, but most people who have visited SL will look at it as a watered-down, disney-safe and generally worthless chatroom.

I took a look at that and tried it myself. I quickly uninstalled it faster then nuking a prim. It is too "Disney." There was someone on a tech show on the other night and they were developing a something simular to SL with commands, etc just like in SL. Not sure when that will see the light of day...

I hate those things (Bratz dolls). They all look like materialistic whores. WHY in the world parents buy that shit for their kids is beyond me.

Agreed! I won't buy that sort of doll for my daughter.

I uninstalled IMVU and deleted my account there as soon as I finished checking it out. Some day, someone may make a competitor for SL, but IMVU certainly isn't it.

Although...

Perhaps IMVU would be a lovely place for all the SL users who refuse to verify their age to go, when they leave SL after age verification becomes mandatory for accessing 95% of the Mature-rated portion of the grid? They can chat with each other in IMVU, in a sanitized, mostly G-rated world, and never be exposed to any sexual content!

I am not a technical whizz by any means.

With the new updater, on my tiny monitor, I lose a good deal of my SL view, and once again feel like I am plunged into chatroom. I can only see half my friend and that's with the box as small as it will go.

So for all of you saying how you are enjoying the new voice style display, I am happy for you, but to me, Nicholaz is my SL saviour. lol.

There is a problem. I followed the link to his page, and I think I must be thick because, I can't find where I can get his old school version.

For the non-technically minded here - is there a direct link to a simple box or whatever, I can click on, that says a "click this to install old style" type of comment, and it does its thing and I can have my old style back???

Sorry for possibly being stupid....its been an impossibly long day in RL, and I wanted to unwind in the comfort of good ole SL.

Thanks in advance.

I see where the confusion started. I used the word 'drivers'...I didn't mean this. I understand the difference between engine code, and hardware drivers...I misused the term 'drivers.'

My bad. But...

Don't insult my intelligence when I 'assume' some people here don't understand the workings of a game engine. I'm sure most don't...that's not being caddy at all...that's just me fashioning my information and topics with this in mind.

It's a discussion. And I mean to keep it that way.

I am still on the old viewer opting out each time to not download the "new" version. I havent been into SL yet since the update and have a question about the Nicholaz viewer. Do I just download it and if so where can I find it? Or do I download the new viewer and then the Nicholaz? I am not computer savy so any help is greatly appreciated.

Because you designed one of my favorite outfits, Zazas, I'll try to answer your question

The best thing to do to find Nicholaz's viewers is to just visit his blog and read down until you find an entry about the viewer you want. http://nicholaz-beresford.blogspot.com/

However, this last week HAS been confusing, so let me give you these hints:
Look for a post about halfway down his first blog page called "Confused?". This will list the 3 types of viewers out there, and whether or not Nick has a version based on them. He just changed his naming convention so that the current buld (as of the moment I write this) for the pre-voice client is called "Oldschool-m". What you do is install LL's pre-voice client (Nick has a link for that), and then follow his short installation instructions to install his viewer in parallel to theirs, and create a shortcut to it.

New release candidate and a new Nicholaz release to go with it. I am running it now with no problems. A bit quicker than my pre-voice version it is replacing.

if you dont have version 1.18.0.6 installed, d/l and install it first
http://s3.amazonaws.com/download-secondlife-com/Second%20Life%201-18-0-6%20Setup.exe
then d/l the nicholaz 'oldschool' zip
http://www.blueflash.cc/users/nicholaz/OldSchool/nicholaz-OS-m.zip
open the zip, and drag 'nicholaz.exe' into your sl directory.
that's it. dbl-click nicholaz.exe to start the client. you can alt+drag a shortcut to the desktop if you desire.

My biggest complaint is there was no reason to make it more complicated, in what way did it improve anything?
I am not against upgrades, but I am against mucking around with simple easy to use things to make them more complicated

well yer qrong! it is a superior product to me if i prefer it! if it makes my ( and others ) experience better in SL than the LL product, well that is pretty much the meaning of teh word better as far as i can see