[sldev] Introducing the Imprudence Project

[Adric R]

As some of you might have read recently on massively (
http://www.massively.com/2008/09/02/imprudence-for-second-life/), Jacek
Antonelli and myself, along with other interested members of the community,
have launched a new viewer project designed specifically to address
usability in the Second Life viewer: Imprudence.

Imprudence is an opensource viewer fork for SL, and the general open grid.
As an independent viewer, we have more freedom to innovate than LL does to
make usability changes. Where they are conservative, we can be bold and take
chances, try new things. The hope is that good ideas will flow back and
forth between Imprudence and the linden viewer, making the SL experience
better for all.

Right now, we are gathering input on our forums and mailing list as well as
considering patches for our first release. If you're interested in
contributing, or you simply want to follow along and learn more about the
project, I encourage you to head to http://www.imprudenceviewer.org and join
in the discussions currently going on. We are looking for a wide range of
contributors from across the spectrum of the community to give their input,
not just programmers. In other words:

Have an issue with viewer that you absolutely long to improve? Let us know.
Have a UI idea but don't know how to present it? We'll help you.
Have a patch that you doubt LL will take? We want it.
You're not a code monkey, but you're interested in usability, UI design, or
just making using SL a better experience? Our minds and ears are open.

The broader our opinion base, the better the project becomes. Our goal is to
make the viewer more usable for everybody (accessibility features are also
high on our list).

I know to some, the case for usability might be seen as "quibbling over
details", but both Jacek and myself, as well as others, consider usability
an essential component to good software. (Interest in other projects like
Dusan Writer's UI contest shows a clear demand, for example).

In summary:

- Imprudence is new opensource viewer for SL and the open grid, focusing on
usability.
- Contributions are welcome, encouraged.
- Imprudence is a project for programmers and non-programmers alike.

I also recommend reading our Imprudence Manifesto:
http://www.imprudenceviewer.org/manifesto/

As well as our list of potential ways to contribute:
http://www.imprudenceviewer.org/contribute/

-- Adric AKA McCabe Maxsted inSL(tm)


-- 
"Work is love made visible." — Kahlil Gibran

"We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear
into an age of unreason if we dig deep in our history and doctrine and
remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared
to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes which were for the
moment unpopular. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot
escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of the
Republic to abdicate his responsibility." -- Edward R. Murrow, March 9, 1954
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