Start work on SL 2.0

Most of these issues go away if that top portion is hideable...

No, not really.

www.pages.drexel.edu/~mmj29/temp/client.jpg (resized to 800x600 from 1024x76

That's how my windows are aranged and sized. If History is closed my IM window doesn't overlap the chat bubble-thing as it comes up, if the History window is open it takes up that location instead witout covering the IM window. Friends window covers the history window, but I rarely have it open, but I keep it tall and skinny because I want to see as many listings as possible and wider doesn't help (covers more view without displaying more information).

Both IM and History windows are about 6 to 8 lines tall, giving me enough room that as long as people aren't paragraph rping I can read everything and have some previous line recall. I don't need 40 lines worth of what was said, more often than not that'd be about an hours worth of conversation, more if I'm not chatting or in very quiet areas.

Also, wider History and IM means more text in fewer lines meaning more lines for previous text. Note the 1/4 inch space under the floaters that "Stand Up" and "Stop Flying" buttons can appear without overlapping anything.

Other people may arrange things differently, but most people I've heard about keep the chat windows wide and short and the friends list narrow and tall. They don't work as well the same size as each other!

You'll be pleased to know that Rob LInden (I think it was) said at his recent office meeting that the Chatterbox interface had more issues raised by users than anything else in First Look Voice, so the LInens are quite aware of the issues and are trying to figure out what to do.

I'd imagine that SL 2.0 already exists in the imaginations of some LL staff as well as among residents!


For SL 2.0 I'd want all objects, inventories, avatars etc. to be transferrable so that if and when the it arrives, we can just go seamlessly from the old world to the new.

My wishlist for SL 2.0 is:.....................

Photorealistic graphics with proper shadows like in Gran Torismo.

Smooth avatar movement in all areas, flexible things like hair or skirts that are not phantom but rest against the surface they come into contact with.

In 'build', making the existing prim shapes fully sculptable with push/pull, bend and variable rounding-off options. Also I'd like to be able to have it so hollow prims, including cylinders, can be cut to shape when they intersect so that there are no unwanted bits protruding on the inside.

Also useful would be a facility for turning a small group of linked prims into a single complex prim once you have no further need to edit the linked parts.

I think for most of this you will be waiting for the next major version of the PC, one with heaps more processing power and next gen video cards.

On a positive note, I believe cards are already being developed to streamline the physical collision detection part on the server to achieve most of these features! Bring it on!!!

Interesting to see how widely people cast their views here, to understand the history of big projects and code in the whole biz, not just gaming or MMORPGs or ISPs...

Historically, there have been many examples of what I like to think of as "Zit coding". This is where a great outburst of heat and growth ends in a splurt of ultimately destructive release. Powerpoint v1 was "zit coding" - they didn't dare change it for years afterwards and I think the story was they actually lost the original coder. I remember code like that from COBOL days; Lotus Notes did the same thing between v3 (the NT and OS/2 version) and V4 (basically the EVERYTHING version).

SL reminds me a lot of Powerpoint - there were some earlier conversations about thing like peel-off windows and multiple monitor support in which Lindens used phrases like "the original monolithic C++ code" that has all the bad signs of un-modular development, or of intense reliance on a particular body of library code which itself has diverged from a particular compatibility path.

Also, looking more widely across the business, imperfect backward compatibility is the rule, not the exception. People are used to finding that stuff doesn't work, and using workarounds because the new stuff has something they really badly want. Apple have changed major processor architecture what, four times? Did this do them great harm? nnnnope!

Ok.. I posed in the wrong spot.. I guess I will just paist it here also, and I know this has probably already been brought up, but here are my thoughts on this...


"What the... -.- I log into First look the first time.. and find that the Voice Enabled completely bogs my computer down... and thats not even half of the communication problems.. this Communication window...??? Come On! ok.. here it is

1. If the Sim or You have voice disabled.. you should not even have the volume bar above the IM's... or it needs to be hidable... Place the Call button on the same hidable panel with the Volume bar.. and make it smaller

2. Get rid of the Send button, were all not stupid.. bring back the close button as it was quick and convienent then a small x at the top right... also move the Profile button back to where it was and once again make the Call button under a voice button with the Volume bar, hideable of course...

3. I kinda agree with the managment of friends in the IM window.. because thats all you really need it for.. look to see if there online.. send an IM to them ... whatever.. simple.. easy to incorp because its pretty much built into it already... but This Group Management under Communication is horrible, there are way to many buttons for group managment to be just under Communication, and if your going to keep it that way, Put them in Order like this....

Activate, Info, IM/Call, Leave... Search, Create

and if I double click it.. I want to see the info.. as its quicker that way to manage groups as it used to be, its more the only reason many would double click it, if they wanted to send an IM to it they would know it.. and be ready to do so, I think it would be best to bring up info... then accidentaly bring up an IM to accidentaly send somthing you don' want to, to the entire group while your typeing to somone else inworld...

see here /333/d7/193011/1.html