uBrowser integration in Second Life?

Hello,

I've been one of the many people looking forward to any sort of in-world HTML display (even a text-based one, based upon the current Basic Help, would be an incredible step forward), and despite the incredible encouragement and efforts presented publicly last July (if I remember correctly) - although not on a prim - the plain truth is, the in-world HTML browser gets delayed and delayed.

Many have already tested out the uBrowserproject sponsored by Linden Lab. While I understand perfectly the aspiration of getting a full-blown Gecko-based browser, with full support for plug-ins, interactive Flash, and all sorts of niceties, the plain truth is, this is very likely something to be ready in 2007 or 2008 or later - which is totally unacceptable, when you consider that ActiveWorlds have text-on-a-prim for over a decade now, and simpler engines like TSO's are able to write on surfaces as well.

I would kindly request you to reconsider your priorities. Having the ability to write text to a prim's surface is now crucial and not merely a nicety; new HUDs need that feature dramatically. Also, simple HTML browsing, even only text-based like on Basic Help, are desperately needed. I'm quite sure that most of the residents can wait another two years to have clickable Flash movies on a sphere; but in-world HTML and text-on-a-prim is something we desperately need now - not in 2008 or 2010.

It would be far better to integrate the excellent work done on uBrowser into SL; after all, it's not as if we don't have lots of incomplete functionality on other areas (think animations, think XML-RPC, think about the billion functions for LSL that are needed). Incomplete functionality is so much better than "nothing at all"; it's far easier for the residents to adapt their web pages to render correctly in-world than to wait years and years for uBrowser to be fully compliant with the latest and greatest technicalities of web page rendering.

Since we basically have two options now - getting a crippled version, or waiting several years for a "perfect" solution - please reconsider your priorities, and give us a crippled version now. We'll manage, like we managed so well to do amazing things with so much that is crippled in SL.

I understand that the current development model targets towards "perfection" instead of releasing incomplete tools. Well, there is a big risk that delaying HTML in-world will get people so frustrated that they will simply use other platforms where this functionality exists (even if limited). And please - I know you're fond of telling that these things are "just around the corner" and will be simple to do in a few weeks. The first official date I had for some sort of in-world HTML was a 6-week developing effort starting in March 2005...

Start by allowing Basic Help to load URLs and not only links from files on your hard disk. Just that would be awesome!

Thanks for your time,

- Gwyn

Gwyngwyngwyn--it all goes back to cyberpunk in the beginning.

One of my fave cyberpunk archetypes is that of the deadly-but-unfinished weapon (e.g. Reason in Snow Crash) that exudes extraordinary force, but must be used with care. Many similar archetypes are to be found in numerous computer games, where you break into a lab and steal a top-secret concept design.

Similarly here, having a rough HTML browser may be like baby food: nourishing for the first stage, but we're going to grow.

I'm also concerned because we need HTML inworld for our own Linden tools, like Infohub infodisplays. We don't have forever, and as you already know, we continue to seek the community's help with uBrowser bugs to speed things up. A lot of hard work is being done on getting a working implementation available with the core fundamentals.

Needless to say, AND I HOPE EVERYONE READING THIS WILL BE EXCITED... THERE IS A NEW F1 HELP PROJECT IN THE WORKS!!! Several Lindens are working on this, and perhaps as a fitting extension of all the product notecards I used to proofread, I'm looking forward to helping in a similar way! It's planned to be an early testbed of using the HTML browser in SL, and a dual purpose is for it to encourage accelerated development too, because HTML and updated help are both needed! What more appropriate initial usage could there be?

We hope the pairing will pay off profoundly.

This is a consolidation of a lot of connected thoughtlines that've come together. Needless to say, I remember, back in October 2004, when we both mused why F1 Help had hyperlinks.