DISQUS

Unfortunately, what most of the opensource projects are doing is instead just targeting windows and pretending OS X and linux don't exist. See realXtend and Bubblecloud.org for two examples of this approach.

I'd far rather have a not-so-hot unified UI that I can run in OS X without ever having to touch windows than something with bells and whistles that I'm forced to either run windows or not use. I think heading in this direction is a bad move for opensource VW platforms.

I like the terminology and geek speak. Those who don't understand it, ignore it. Those who do like knowing a little bit about the details of what's going on. Nothing's more annoying than supposed technical updates that have no technical information because they're made for people who are lucky to get their computers powered on. The only way we'll actually know what's going on technically at LL is if they tell us.

I wish I had time to do more than scan this right now - I can never figure out how some of you can be so prodigious on your blogs so consistently! Anyone have small kids?

I do want to comment on RealXtend. It's a step forward and two steps back. Why? OpenGL is cross-platform compatible. Direct3D is not. It really pisses me off that they've chosen to go a windows only route to enhance the opensource version of the LL compatible metaverse technologies. That's like the antithesis of what opensource is about, IMO.

I just don't understand how you can be bored when there's building, scripting, podcasting, blogging, communities like caledon or babbage, machinima, exploring the art, music, and builds of very talented creators... the list goes on and on. Bored is as bored does. There is no other explanation. if you're bored in SL, it's because you are boring and not creative. End of story.

I've said it elsewhere, Rezzable may have points on this, but they've been thrashing around for a business model since they entered SL. They had nice builds and great artistry, but in terms of helping any kind of business plan move forward in SL, I haven't seen it. Charging for Greenies only reinforced my view that they had no money making plan in action.

i'm just saying still that LL, any service host, should know which of their servers have degraded performance, and i just don't see the lindens lying to this degree. also, when trying to judge performance, most people aren't going to be able to tell the difference between client or server, if the result is lag, slow texture loads, crashing (unless it's a sim crash), etc.

there's a texture loading issue, no doubt. if it's really bogging down the whole network, that would immediately be apparent to the lindens monitoring network traffic. if they don't see that, but they do see problems with OS performance, then i have to believe there are OS performance issues on OS sims that have heavy use.

i think this one has to still be filed under speculation. i can't even file it under "highly likely" given the evidence i see. if i'm wrong, i'll happily admit it when more facts come out, but i don't see it.

I don't pretend to be on a first name basis with the source code underlying the SL grid, but it seems to me that if the problem was really a texture loading one, wouldn't if affect ALL regions? And wouldn't the lindens be able to tell that it's not just openspaces that are affected, but instead ALL sims?

I haven't noticed any huge instability on the grid, I have noticed textures taking forever to load, but the performance other than that has been fine for me. Little lag, no servers crashing, no finding myself standing still unable to move even though SL thinks I'm logged in...

if everything on the grid was crashing then I'd be inclined to believe this, but if the load is truly only excessive on opensim servers, then I have a hard time buying this theory.

Umm, 42? Seriously, the whole blog revamp/what goes where/metababble on their blog has been the most confusing thing. Communicators they aren't. Even their communication department should be renamed their Confuscation department. They need to learn to simplify, and most importantly, know what it is they want to communicate before they do it.

Torley, this won't help for windows, but for anyone on OS X, currently the hands down winner for me is ScreenFlow (http://www.varasoftware.com/products/screenflow/).

It provides sort of a hybrid between fraps and camtasia. It captures the whole screen uncompressed so the fps is plenty good for SL (my SL fps doesn't go high enough to tax it), and then you can focus on what areas you need to by editing and changing the focal point and zoom with video events on the video track. You don't have to choose compression/format settings until you're done, and you can go back and re-export with different settings at any time.

The ability to edit, do cursor callouts, and also capture your isight cam and do picture in picture (on a separate track again) make it a really versatile app. Not to plug too heavily, but check out slpnvideo.com - any of the videos in that feed made by myself were made using screenflow.

Great post, Torley. It's important to remember to not accept the boundaries that are constantly being set by others, but to always ask "why?" instead, and keep pursuing things that others might not necessarily grok at first (or ever).

Conformism is for the dead.

I wish you'd gotten one of the penryn macbook pros with the nvidia 8600gt m so you could witness the beachballs the os x sl client brings and the system lock ups that the 1.20 rc4 brings. The more lindens that see this stuff, the more likely it is to get fixed. It's become very frustrating, especially knowing what a rockin laptop this is. But SL is crippling at the moment.

You know, I love the MBP keyboard better than anything else also. I do love the new Apple aluminum keyboards, and I have one, but the MBP is by far the best of anything I've used - ever. The aluminum keyboards are harder to adjust to after a day of work using various other keyboards. But using it alone for 2 - 3 days when I can makes me appreciate it much more.

Great to see you liked your Apple store experience. Your work is always appreciated as is your positive attitude. You do good work!

indeed. and open sim is a cool thing. i visited opengrid or whatever it is the other day, and it's ok, but a little different in setting up the av, etc, from sl.

now if only we could port our inventory items.. uh oh. someone's gonna start ranting now.

Bad idea. SL doesn't need a republic, or even a government. SL is not RL, and not everything from RL needs to be dragged into SL.

This is nothing more than a bunch of power hungry people who can't get attention or respect in RL, so their response is to try to "rule" SL. I vote NO. And I'm going to ignore them regardless of who else supports them.

yay. we love rocky and jane

something that i don't see mentioned here, but seems obvious to me, is that attention grabbing mojo comes in part due to perceived motivation. the more i think you are sitting around conversing with others on how to grab me, generally speaking, the less interested i am. seriously.

everyone here talks of camera work and ideas, and those are important, but the best ideas and content most often come from folks who are not trying to sell you something.