We've been quiet again!? o.0
Sun, 22 Jan 2012
Why so quiet?Firestorm...
We've been very busy preparing a new Firestorm Maintenance release which is actually turning into more of a general release because of the accumulation of more new features! But the main goal of this next release is to address many of the performance and stability issues our last one had. We've fixed a lot of bugs ourselves and have ported many of LL's fixes in too. We are in QA with it right now and it's looking like it'll be a big improvement! We've also recently merged Linden Lab's new FUI (Flexible User Interface) work into Firestorm, but unfortunately it has broken a lot of things...but fear not! We've already started work on fixing what's broken, improving what isn't and integrating FUI into our existing interface to give you the best of both worlds. You can expect our maintenance release to show up in the next few weeks, and our integration of FUI after that. The future looks bright!
Phoenix...
Remember we promised we would keep Phoenix going as long as it's feasible and we will stand by that promise. And it's sounding lately like LL is starting to take a less aggressive stance towards V1 than what we were initially told nearly a year ago. By the sounds of it, LL has no immediate plans now to break v1 by turning off server side functionality. This of course is nothing more than the impression we are getting, there has been no official statement either way. Which means we want to get another Phoenix release out some time soon as well. When? good question.. no time frame yet but hopefully within the next few months. We're hoping we can address some of the performance, stability and mesh related issues our Phoenix users are experiencing on the 1600 release.
Office Hours...
We're trying to get the Phoenix Hour kick started back up again and hope we'll have some news about that very shortly. We've missed having the shows and we've missed having you there. It's very important that we can keep an open line of communication between the project and our users. I'll update you as soon as I have some news.
So there's lots going on in the background, stay tuned! It's all coming your way soon!
Sincerely,
Jessica Lyon and the team.
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Happy Holidays from the team!
Sat, 24 Dec 2011
Wow time flies! It seems like just a year ago we were wishing all of our friends and users out there a Merry Christmas!... err...come to think about it....It was a year ago! Ha! ;)On behalf of everyone here at The Phoenix Viewer Project we would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah or happy whatever it is you celebrate at this joyous time of year.
We would also like to wish you wonderful, safe holidays and a fantastic New Year!
Sincerely,
The Phoenix Viewer Project Inc.
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Q&A Results and recording
Mon, 19 Dec 2011
On Saturday, Dec 17th we held a Q&A for our users. Of course not everyone was able to attend but it was recorded and the link to that recording is posted below. But I would like to just summarize the important bits for those of you who don't wish to watch the recording.In summary...
Q. Why are you killing Phoenix viewer?
A. We are not killing Phoenix or V1 viewers, LL informed us on an unofficial basis that they intend to turn off server side functionality which V1 viewers rely on. Originally the time line was by the end of this year, that has obviously changed however the reality is still the same.
Q. Why have you given up on Phoenix even knowing how many people still use it?
A. We have not given up on Phoenix. We made a promise some time ago that we would continue to keep Phoenix Viewer alive as long as it is feasibly possible and sensible. However our focus is now on developing a viewer you will 'want' to use when the time comes that V1 and Phoenix alternatives are gone. Is Firestorm ready for all of you? not yet... but we're still working on it. But if we spend large time commitments on Phoenix it puts us behind in our efforts to make Firestorm your acceptable alternative. We will not go back on our word, we will continue to maintain Phoenix but at a slower rate than we have in the past. We will keep it alive until it is no longer feasible.
Q. What makes you so sure LL will actually kill V1, with so many people on it they can't afford to kill it.
A. LL is in an awkward position in regards to V1 viewers, at the moment they can't afford to kill it and they can't afford not too. But ultimately we know LL will deprecate V1 viewers because it is not economically viable to remain profitable while V1's are still around. Financially LL can't afford to continue to maintain server side support and protocols for a viewer which is unable to adopt new and innovative features in a timely fashion. LL needs to see returns on investments like new features far sooner than V1's can adopt those features. And if LL cannot continue to innovate and improve their services and platform in a timely fashion, Second Life will stagnate. If LL cannot make a profit we will all lose far more than just V1. This is why we know V1 viewers have a short shelf life. V1 hinders their revenue stream.
You can watch the full video recording here
http://youtu.be/G4eIB-BGYCU
Thanks to Rockcliffe University for allowing us to use their 4 region auditorium for this venue.
Special thanks to Chantal Harvey who pulled herself away from her busy schedule on half an hours notice to record this for us. Those of you who don't know Chantal, she is an authority in the Machinima community in SL and abroad. As a token of our appreciation for taking the time to help us I've included her logo and ask you to pay her website a visit.Clickhereto visit her website or clickhereto see her blog.
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