[sldev] Upcoming viewer releases?

Soft Linden soft at lindenlab.com
Tue Aug 28 12:34:17 PDT 2007


On 8/28/07, Nicholaz Beresford <nicholaz at blueflash.cc> wrote:
>
> Well, don't measure your value on what LL does (or does not), be it
> contract, hiring, bug fixing or patch importing ... it's going to
> backfire sooner or later.  They are operating in a reality bubble that
> is almost impenetrable for an outsider.  Someone recently (I don't
> remember there and am quoting from memory) called it their "black box
> mode which drives people nuts".  You're certainly not alone there ...
> many residents feel it, I felt it ... I just learned to mostly adjust
> to it (which I admit is a lot easier since my living doesn't depend on
> any outcome I expect from them).

Linden Lab isn't a monolithic "they." We've got a lot of freedom to
pick and choose what we do, based on what we most think will further
Second Life.

I normally appreciate your comments and criticism Nicholaz, because
you've tended to be good about not complaining for complaining's sake,
but pointing to specific things that need to be fixed. I don't see
that here though, so maybe you could elaborate on that bubble, and
suggest specific things individual Lindens might be able to do to
improve the situation?

The example I know everyone keeps pointing to is the voice release
process, with the closed-source component and only opening the source
to the UI changes when the final release happened. The closed source
stuff was unwelcome but not a surprise - that agreement was made
before the viewer was even open-sourced - and we've learned a lesson
from the handling of the UI component. What are other examples of the
bubble, especially ones where you see things getting worse?

Also, question for anyone: what are some examples of other commercial
companies with open source projects with practices we should be trying
to emulate? If there's anywhere where we're pretty much reinventing
the wheel and we could be using existing wisdom, specifics would help
tons.


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