[sldev] Upcoming Releases: June edition

[Henri Beauchamp]

On Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:04:11 -0700, Bridie Linden wrote:

> Hello again SLDev folks!
> It's time for another update on our release plans...
> 
> == Viewer: /"...and ya don't stop" ==/
> That's right, take off your shoes + socks to keep count --- we're on the 
> 12th iteration of the 1.20 Release Candidate Viewer. 1.20 RC11 will be 
> available for download today.  A showstopper was found last week that 
> prevented us from shipping.  RC11 has 4 more crash fixes and an 
> important fix to a major source of memory leaks.
> 
> We've been listening to the feedback on Dazzle --- specifically, the 
> request that the Dazzle UI be optional (See VWR-5059).  We've decided to 
> take the next several weeks to implement the ability to toggle between 
> pre-installed skins (Classic look vs. Dazzle) via a preference in the 
> Viewer UI and thus extend the 1.20 RC cycle further.

Excellent !

At least, LL did hear us... :-)

Let's hope this new trend will become the norm and that users feedback
will truly be taken into account for future changes to the viewer.

> We had originally included skin-switching in our plans, but upped the 
> priority after taking a look @ all of the feedback we've received.  We 
> want everyone to be able to benefit from the many bug/crash fixes in 
> 1.20 rather than have the fans of the "Classic" viewer look continue to 
> use the 1.19.1 viewer.

There will still be the users that, like me, stick with the viewers
(Nicholaz' or mine, for example) implementing the good old pre-voice
like UI (the horrendeous chatterbox and the permanent huge music/media
controls that eat up the chat input line are just impossible to bear
for us).

While you are at it, perhaps would it be time to give us back that
good old UI... Oh... and also, give us back the "fly" button in the
movement controls floater, the permanent "Tools" menu bar entry,
the friends and groups buttons in the toolbar, and... and... oh, well
have a look at the Cool SL Viewer and you will see what I mean... ;-P

> The work required to do this is shared across Dev, Rx and the QA teams.  
> While the complexity is fairly small, it will take time to update the UI 
> and confirm the changes.  We expect to do at least 2 more iterations of 
> the 1.20 Release Candidate before we call it Final, likely early 
> August.

Excellent !  It was time to put a stop at the mad rush for express
releases that v1.19 went through and which caused so many troubles
for so many residents.

Till and including v1.18.0.6 almost every new release was a pleasure
to see coming and use, but from v1.18.1 and till v1.20, every new
viewer version has been a real pain, both in stability and usability.

Regards,

Henri.