Viewers, Viewers, Viewers: A Way Out of This Mess

Readers may have noticed controversies and discussions over Second Life viewer software in recent weeks and months. In some cases scandal, in others too much change, still others are simply inoperable in many situations. A constant question is, "which viewer should I use". There have been many answers - as many as there are viewers. Clearly there's lots of opinions and few are satisfied.

Meanwhile, new users continue to have challenges learning the environment. Let's face it: SL and 3D worlds are quite a different experience and it takes time for people to get accustomed to using them. Linden Lab knows this, since we've observed them trying to address that problem by deploying the controversial Viewer 2.0.

Viewer 2.0 seems to work for some, and yet not for others. Why is this so?

I've thought this for a long time now, and I'll say it again: there are two different audiences making use of viewers. First there's the new residents, who are frequently confused by the complexity of the interface, give up and never return, and the experienced existing residents, who yearn for more function to customize or simplify their sophisticated virtual existence.

Here's the problem we've been having all along: we're trying to service two entirely different audiences with a single viewer. Hence, Linden Lab creates Viewer 2.0, which includes features designed to simplify life for new residents, while still trying to address the needs of experienced residents. In my opinion, it didn't go nearly far enough in the simplicity direction for new residents. In the opinion of many long-time residents, Viewer 2.0 confused their operations and made their complex virtual lives more difficult. Viewer 2.0 missed the mark for both audiences.

While Viewer 2.0 marginally improved the experience for new residents, it was rejected by a great many experienced residents, a vast number of whom fled to use a variety of third party viewers. Unfortunately, one of the major third party viewers ran into issues and many residents now scramble to find an alternate viewer - and many of them wouldn't consider Linden Lab's Viewer 2.0.

I've seen situations like this before many times in real life, and a good solution approach is to realize the root cause and directly address it. In this case the root cause of viewer difficulties is that there are two audiences that have very different requirements. Thus, the answer is quite simple: we need Two Viewers, one greatly simplified suitable for stark newbies devoid of advanced and confusing features, and the other a more complex viewer filled with all the features one could imagine.

Of course, the challenge will be that Linden Lab is able to muster resources only sufficient to support one viewer. Right now, their efforts try to do it all for everyone, addressing both audiences but in fact doing so in a less than optimal manner.

Here's my proposal to make life a lot easier for everyone: Linden Lab should abandon development of the advanced viewer entirely and leave it to evolve independently by third parties through open source approaches. Publish and maintain a secure specification for accessing the grid and the underlying open source code, and let others do the job of building advanced viewers. This has worked in the world of web browsers and many other environments; why not here too? To some extent, we've already seen this happening, albeit somewhat placed in shadow by Linden Lab's highly visible Viewer 2.0, often selected by residents simply because Linden Lab made it. But imagine how well these third party viewers could advance if they weren't competing against Linden Lab's viewers?

Meanwhile, Linden Lab could then focus efforts on a truly simplified viewer specifically designed for new residents, one that could actually achieve the vision of "five minutes and you're in" that really has no chance of happening in Viewer 2.0. Consider how well they might do if they didn't have to worry about including all the features required by existing residents. New users could "graduate" to one of the more advanced viewers when they feel confident enough to do so.

Let's make things simpler for everyone. Linden Lab desperately needs a simplified viewer; Residents want (and have proven they can make) an advanced viewer. For me, two viewers is the obvious solution. What do you think?

The Emerald Implosion

If you’ve been reading any SL blogs lately, you’ve probably come across the incredible events surrounding the famous (or infamous) Emerald Viewer. Resignations, reformations, scandals, possible criminal acts and other mayhem ensued throughout the week. I’m not going to detail any of that stuff; it’s been well-covered elsewhere.

Instead, I am going to bring forward my thoughts on how it came to this. There’s definitely reasons why this week’s implosion occurred, and why it may not happen again. All these events are connected at a very high level.

But let’s start at the beginning.

We have a certain company, Linden Lab, who market a very unusual product: Second Life. This product is amazing, but it is also a very complex thing to deal with. In fact, it’s so complex that no one really knows how it should be set up.

The product, SL, is so complex that while it is amazing, relatively few people from the public are able to manage to successfully use it and stay using it. Everyone uses the standard viewer through which everyone experiences the product.

Advanced SL residents grow to want more from the viewer, as they’ve managed to learn many things about the environment, well beyond the basics. But they’re frustrated because they have only one option.

The Lab recognizes this need and responds by open sourcing the viewer code. They hope that the community will adopt the freely available viewer code to develop the advanced features that it wants, while leaving the Lab to put their limited resources against other problems and ventures.

The Lab focuses on growth. They believe that to attract more residents, they need to somehow simplify the experience so that it doesn’t scare people away. Indeed, the survival rate for new signups is abysmally low, perhaps as low as 1%. One of their simplification strategies is a less complex viewer. They begin a project to develop this new simplified viewer.

Several groups adopt the open sourced viewer code and begin tinkering. Some happen to be professional or near-professional developers, but others are not. Hackers and griefers also take a stab at making their own viewers - sometimes for nefarious purposes. A variety of viewer options emerge, all with differing features, support, release schedules and reliability. Some residents try them and begin to have opinions on their favorites, usually based on their particular needs.

One third party viewer (TPV), Emerald, becomes somewhat more popular than others, perhaps based on its frequent release of interesting and unusual features. This viewer is in fact the opposite of the Lab’s work: it’s a complex viewer including *more* features, not fewer. But these features are well-received by many long time residents in the community.

With popularity, more information comes to the surface about Emerald and the folks behind it. It turns out that several of them have known histories as griefers, some being suspended from SL in the past. It is further discovered that mysterious encrypted information is being sent from the viewer to Emerald’s server. The Emerald team does not reveal their real identities, thus making it very difficult to ascertain their level of responsibility.

Aside: it was at this point I concluded it was too risky (at least for me) to continue to use Emerald. Code written by anonymous former griefers, known to be sending unknown information to parts unknown, was simply too suspicious. I, and several others, deleted Emerald from our systems and changed our passwords in case they had been somehow recorded by Emerald. I feared an incident of some kind would occur at some point in the future and didn’t want to be part of it.

The Lab releases their new, simplified viewer: Viewer 2.0. Amidst fanfare, V2.0 included features intended to simplify things for new residents, but for existing residents it was too different, too simple and worse, beset with annoying bugs.

Viewer 2.0 becomes the default viewer - but because it doesn’t match resident’s needs, they flock to alternatives. Which one should they choose? Emerald was the most popular of the TPVs, and it’s usage grew significantly. Legitimate developers join the Emerald team, and it continued to be improved with additional features. Emerald gained many supporters as residents tune into its unique features.

Suddenly, there’s an incident.
 
The Emerald home screen was modified by one of its developers to perform an attack on a rival site, thus using the computers of all Emerald users for this activity. Poor judgement? Yes, indeed! Just as I had lost trust in Emerald months earlier, this incident resulted in a loss of trust by many former Emerald supporters. In fact, Linden Lab removed Emerald from its official list of TPVs.

The Emerald team breaks apart due to the incident and its aftermath, but reforms under new, hopefully more professional management. Time will tell if this is so, as trust is easy to lose but very hard to gain. Good luck to the new team!

But both problems still remain: existing residents need an advanced viewer and new residents need a basic, simplified viewer. Neither group is adequately served today, and Linden Lab needs to develop a strategy to address this critical issue before they will begin growing again.

SL 2.0: Carnage and Cathedrals

There’s a very disruptive change coming from the Real World and it’s going to hit Second Life later this year.

That’s my conclusion after thinking about the implications of the new SL Viewer 2.0 beta that’s been making its way into computers around the SL world for the past couple of weeks. Pieces of the master-plan jigsaw puzzle are coming together and The Lab’s strategy is now becoming much clearer. Let me explain.

Viewer 2.0 is part of a larger strategy for vastly expanding the scope of Second Life. We’ve heard their execs fancifully describe a future where they might have a million simultaneous residents, an unimaginably large number compared to today’s mere 80,000. As unbelievable as that number is, I think they’re not kidding.

To achieve this, they must have: even more compelling content to attract and retain more residents; the ability to hold more simultaneous residents per region; many more new residents; and a great first-hour experience to keep them once they arrive. Viewer 2.0 addresses several of these points, but not all of them.

While much has been written about the features of the new viewer for good or evil, there are two things that stand out above all the rest in my mind. First: Shared Media and Second: Mesh import. Yes, Mesh import has not yet been released, but The Lab has indicated they’ll be releasing it “later this year”. It’s my belief that these two features will change the landscape so utterly there will be a New Virtual Order.

Shared Media, if you haven’t heard, is the ability to bring web content directly into the Grid. At first glance this might appear to mean you can view your spreadsheet or powerpoint presentation in world. Perhaps you’ll watch a YouTube video. Yeah, that’s likely quite useful for some, but many residents question what value it could possibly do for them. Who needs spreadsheets, anyway?

My belief is that viewing plain old web pages, videos and documents are not the best use of this feature. Instead we’ll see a complete revolution in the control systems for in-world items. Gone will be those bush-league blue dialog boxes that make operating many virtual items terribly frustrating: makers must fit their system into only twelve identically ugly buttons, and this makes almost every complex item confusing to use.

Instead we will soon see the development of very professional control systems that are as beautiful and functional as you’d see on contemporary web pages - because they WILL BE web pages! And you can do this all from within LSL scripts. It's not about viewing YouTube on a prim - it's about using the maker’s easy-to-use web-like controls on a prim.

We’ll also see a flood of data entering and leaving the Grid via these new web interfaces, providing unimaginable capabilities. One simple very example: an in-world game with a terrific interface that you can also play outside the grid via the website - using the exact same interface! The applications that could be made are almost limitless. Let’s face it, the previous development environment was extremely primitive and it severely limited what creators could build. Many doors open with Shared Media, and The Lab is no doubt hoping for significant innovation.

Mesh Import is the ability to load existing 3D designs from the outside into the Grid, without having to tediously build things in-world with the rudimentary 3D tools provided. Sure, lots of amazing things have been built using them, but consider this: there are immensely powerful 3D modeling tools outside the Grid, used by tens of thousands of professional modelers to produce perhaps millions of incredibly detailed 3D models. These models, with a bit of tweaking, will soon be rapidly flowing into the Grid, and their quality will probably trump existing content. When word of the ability to convert these models into dollars gets out, I expect to see many new content developers arriving with vast libraries of amazing items.

There will be a great fog of skepticism throughout The Grid over whether these new features are good things. Many will say they have no use for them and question why they are being introduced when many other issues could be addressed instead. But I think they are necessary, even if we don’t know precisely what we’ll do with them. I think this because these are very powerful tools, and in the history of mankind powerful tools are always picked up by creative people to produce wonderful things. In the 1920’s skeptics said talking movies would be the end of film, and many asked why bother with sound at all? Were they right? The introduction of voice and many other innovations to film eventually made it possible for James Cameron to produce Avatar, an experience beyond the conception of a 1920’s filmgoer. Second Life must also innovate to take us to amazing place we can’t yet imagine.

What does this mean for existing makers? Generally it’s not good, because if you’re not a 3D model mesh importer or a web coder, you might have a hard time keeping up with amazing products made with the new techniques. Gadget makers in particular may be forced to convert their products to the new web interfaces simply to keep up with the competition - and that’s at best. At worst their products may simply become irrelevant if they are replaced by direct web content. Since most existing content makers are part-timers who might not have the time or training to make the transition, I’m expecting a large turnover in the maker population.

I anticipate two more developments: something to significantly increase server scalability and a broad advertising strategy to attract a very large number of new residents - and perhaps advertising specifically designed to attract new makers. We’ll see this advertising appear once all the elements of SL 2.0 are in place. They’ll all arrive on the Grid using Viewer 2.0, of course, since that’s a key part of the strategy. There will be a tidal wave of new residents and makers.

The new makers will build most energetically, while carnage awaits many existing makers. But when the smoke eventually clears, we’ll see a million residents, walking through the new cathedrals of an awesome virtual reality.

New Viewer, New Thinking

I can now reveal that for the past few weeks, I’ve been a member of a very secret group that was invited to preview the much-anticipated new Second Life Viewer 2.0. Since the viewer was publicly announced today, I am now legally permitted to write about my experience.

I’ve been intensely interested in this topic; readers may recall my recent post detailing the complexity of the existing viewer. In the post I discovered the old viewer included a staggering 1,708 controls (or 3,792 if you enable the advanced menu). This is far more than any normal human can comprehend, and I believe a simplified viewer is a key element of any strategy to restore resident growth in Second Life.

You’re probably wondering what I think about our new viewer. To cut to the chase, I like it. I like it a lot. It’s similar to the old viewer, but new at the same time. Many things are organized differently and in my opinion, mostly in better ways. There are some terrific new features, but mostly it’s all about reorganizing the presentment of function.

Menus

Menus killed me in the old viewer, and I am very happy to report they are vastly simplified in the new viewer. Many items have been relocated to logical places, and it’s visibly far less complex. The first menu item, plainly labelled “Me” epitomizes the process of making a user-centric viewer. Under “Me”, you’ll find quick access to all aspects of your avatar.

The “Communicate” menu is similar and includes all appropriate items. One item that you’ll be certain to look for are the parcel audio controls, which are no longer on the bottom control bar - look for them instead under “Nearby Media”. It took me a while to realize that’s where they were, while suffering to undesirable loud Abba music. Initially I was annoyed at the time required for me to figure the location of this control, but once found it seems to make a lot of sense.

The Side Tray

The Side Tray will be where you spend the most time. It’s a series of tabby icons pasted on the right hand side of your screen. When you touch an icon, the relevant controls slide out from the right into your view. You can access a great many things from the tray, including inventory, friends, groups, profiles, etc. It’s all very consistently prepared, and once you “get” the icons, you’ll quickly zoom to and fro in the tray. One issue: when the tray opens, the entire screen view shifts to the left - including any HUDs that actually slide off the right hand side of your screen.

Preferences

Preferences seem to be somewhat simplified and it is less of a struggle to get things set up. I’ve kept most of the default settings so far, but if I wanted to change things, the preference options have been consolidated, making it simpler to locate settings.

Inventory

Surprisingly, the Inventory window itself is mostly unchanged. Yes, it’s found within the tray, but once you pull it out, it appears very familiar. This is one of my big disappointments with Viewer 2.0 - managing and using inventory is still a horrific task and it should be addressed in the future. On the other hand, residents will find their inventory management methods almost the same as before.

Messaging And Notifications

Instant messages, group notices, payments and inventory offers now use a different scheme. Gone is the familiar baby-blue box that appeared in the upper right corner of your screen. instead you see contemporary style notification boxes appearing at the bottom right of your screen with friendly “X”s to send them away. Clicking expands them to the right detail. I feel the new messaging scheme is mostly good, but because the system is not as prominent as the old blue box, important events don’t poke you in the eye as they once did. I find this change to be the most difficult to adjust to, as you’ll quickly see messages stacking up and icons flashing on the bottom bar. It’s taken me a couple of weeks, but I think I’m fine with it now.

Look And Feel

The color scheme is very dark, and it seems to match the new styling of the Second Life web homepage. While it is a consistent style, it sometimes makes things hard to read. I found certain types of local chat hard to read due to color contrast issues. I expect many will demand different skins.

Advanced Menu

The old viewer has a special “debug” mode that enables a secret menu from which you can access a large number of unusual features. I always enabled this menu in the old viewer, because there were things I really wanted to use that were found only on that menu. However, in my Viewer 2.0 experience so far I have not had to access any hidden features; a good sign for the design. For example, many people use the advanced menu to turn off that horribly annoying typing animation (set PlayTypingAdmin to OFF). The new viewer has replaced this as a simple ticky box in your preferences. The new viewer seems to have identified the popular hidden features and revealed them in more appropriate places. That said, the Advanced menu still exists, albeit somewhat simplified, if you really must have it.

Pictures

Taking snapshots was tricky in the old viewer as there were different ways to do it. The new viewer includes a very handy button at the bottom of the page that instantly captures images. Even better, the controls will easily layout the image in a variety of commonly requested formats and sizes.

Voice

For readers who use voice (and I do constantly), you’ll find Viewer 2.0 provides a superior voice experience. You will find yourself worrying less often about the “Talk” button, as the new Viewer correctly turns it off and on automatically most of the time, unlike the previous viewer. There’s a “Speak” button on the bottom bar that’s easy to use. Even better, according to Joe Linden, the new voice will soon include an automatic gain adjustment (e.g. quiet voices will be boosted and loudmouths will be moderated) and *hallelujah* automated echo reduction. This means those evil ones who play voice through their computer speakers will no longer destroy everyone’s audio experience. Thank You!

Amazing New Features

The new viewer includes a few new features, and my apologies, I have not spent much time using them:

• Shared Media is perhaps the biggest new feature, intended to replace the hokey mechanisms used today to view web pages, video and listen to audio on your parcel. You assign any URL to the face of a prim, and assuming the correct web plugins exist, it simply works. For example, in the top image, I’ve placed my URL on a box and I can use it just like a browser. Scrolling, clicks, etc. all work just fine. I’ve even watched YouTube movies! There is little doubt gadgets based on this tech will often replace the now-archaic parcel media. 
• No pie menu exists; instead you get a simple, hierarchical popup menu that I believe is faster and more flexible to use than the pie.
• Tattoo layers now exist for the head, upper torso and lower torso. This should make tats a little bit easier to use when wearing a complex set of clothes or attachments.
• In addition to Friends and Groups, you now have a Nearby tab as well. Very handy!
• Outfits are special folders that “point” at items to be worn all at once. This is very similar to existing protocols with one major difference: you don’t need extra copies of items, since you need only point at them. In other words, you can have no-copy items in more than one outfit!
• Navigation is quite different; the new viewer has a web-browser style of interface, where you can paste in SLURLs directly - and even use the Back button to return from where you came. This should be very familiar to new residents who know how to use a browser.

And there's much more I haven't mentioned.

My Expectations

I like this viewer. It may not have the dozens of minor added features cluttering some third party viewers and it is certainly not bug-free at this early stage (especially the slow texture load bug), but I strongly believe it’s heading in the right direction.

Nevertheless, I believe there will be a truly massive outcry against this viewer by almost everyone, because most people don’t like change. That said, I further believe that after a few weeks, most people will adjust to the new viewer and begin to like it. Because it IS much simpler to use. The only way to make things better is to change, and I think this is a good change.

How will the new viewer affect the Lab? I’ll save that for a future post.

Discussing the iPad

Last Sunday I had the opportunity to be a guest on Mitch Wagner's excellent Copper Robot podcast for a second time. On this occasion, I, along with Joe Linden (a.k.a. Joe Miller in Real Life), discussed the implications of Apple's latest announcement: the magical iPad.

Unlike most of the blogosphere, both Joe and I felt the device was going to be quite successful, if not a monstrous hit. Sure, it doesn't have this or that technical feature, but that's not what it's about. We believe the device is targeted at those who don't really use computers today, or as a secondary machine for folks with more powerful devices. The potential for interesting applications is truly huge, as it really hits an area that's not served very well today.

We puzzled over the lack of features, such as a camera, or the aspect ratio and tried to rationalize them. But in the end it's just the first version of probably a long line of more advanced devices. I spoke of the sensual feel of the device. Well, at least I suspect it has one, since I have a MacBook Air that seems similar.

There was a tiny bit of Second Life content in the podcast. Host Mitch asked Joe whether SL will show up on the iPad. Of course, Joe could not reveal any of Linden Lab's secret plans, but did indicate there are at least two existing iPhone apps which will no doubt work seamlessly on the new device.

Another very interesting tidbit from Joe spoke of new audio features in Viewer 2.0 voice: automatic echo  cancellation and automatic gain adjustment. What do those mean, you ask? Echo cancellation is the elimination of echos that come from someone who's microphone picks up sounds out of their own speakers and sends them back to everyone else. Very annoying indeed, except for the perp, who doesn't hear the echoes! Automatic gain adjustment will place the audio levels at the right amount - in other words the loud folks will be brought down and the quiet folks will be brought up a bit. These two changes should change voice in a significant and positive way.

The podcast has not yet been published, but you can watch for it at Copper Robot.

It turned out that I was the only non-metallic guest, and was sandwiched between the two robots as you can see in the image above. Who's the pretty girl? That's Callie Cline, who insisted upon getting her photograph taken with some ultra geeks.

Viewer Complexity Revealed

One of Linden Lab’s greatest challenges is to increase the retention rate of new resident signups. I’ve heard various statistics on the survival rate of those who sign up and actually become active residents: approximately one percent. In other words, almost everyone who registers gives up immediately.

Maybe the percentage is a bit higher (or worse, even lower), but it’s totally pathetic. If this number were even slightly increased, we’d see tens of thousands of new residents streaming into Second Life every week, many of whom would stay and unleash their new creativity into the world. It would be a more vibrant place, with more creations and for business owners, more potential customers. It would be a Very Good Thing.

What’s happening to fix this problem? We’ve all seen the Lab’s experiments such as alternative approaches to orient new arrivals, better default avatars and more recently the Linden Homes program. All of these and others I haven’t mentioned are directed at the problem of 99% resident failure. I believe it is the most critical issue facing the Lab, since if it continues as is, the resident population won’t grow and the Lab may eventually face the prospect of closing SL.

Another key strategy pursued by the Lab for retaining new residents is an improvement to the viewer, and I suspect the introduction of Viewer 2.0 will generate very significant controversy into the SL blogosphere. Many people will be confused by different interfaces and truly unhappy they must learn something new.

But it must be done.

I believe one of the biggest impediments to retaining new residents is the staggering complexity of the viewer. As a student of clean design, I am astonished at the unbelievable amount of buttons and controls that face every user each time they fire up a viewer. The numerous controls are hidden within layers of menus, dialog boxes and bars, seemingly designed to be never found by humans.

There are so many controls it must be totally overwhelming to almost everyone. Maybe even 99% of population. Hmm.

But how complex is it? I wondered about this and finally decided to find out myself. I launched a recent version of Snowglobe and laboriously counted up all the controls within this viewer. My counts are probably off a bit, as my eyes were fading due to the humongous counts and deep layers one must go to see them, but the counts are representative of virtually every SL viewer. Not including “close boxes”, inventory items and any personally-generated controls (e.g. gestures, etc.) I found the following:

• Menu Items: 504
• Ticky Boxes: 200
• Text/Image Entry Areas: 201
• Adjustment Sliders: 282
• Tabs: 66
• Radio Buttons: 41
• Regular Buttons: 414

Grand Total: 1,708

Let’s step back and think about this for a moment: One thousand, seven hundred and eight control items. ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED EIGHT! That’s This Many:

XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

There are more than 500 menu items alone. Do you know what they all are? Do you know what they do? Do you know where to find each of them? How long would it take to explain them to someone? Can you even know 100 of them? 

Let’s compare this to other relatively complex things you must operate: your car, for example, probably has less than 100 knobs you can turn (without going under the hood). My browser appears to have less than 200 items. I suspect the flight control panel of a Boeing 747 has less than 1,708 buttons - and there’s serious training courses required to operate one of those.

And it gets much worse. If you enable the Advanced Menu in the SL browser, my totals went to this:

• Menu Items: 2523
• Ticky Boxes: 213
• Text/Image Entry Areas: 213
• Adjustment Sliders: 282
• Tabs: 72
• Radio Buttons: 44
• Regular Buttons: 445

Grand Total: 3,792

Many people enable the advanced menu in order to find a few evidently critical features, but must suffer through an extra two thousand controls. Not good.

And it’s even more complex on the third party open source viewers, which unfortunately tend to add features, not delete them. I can imagine the totals on the Emerald Viewer would be quite a bit higher than the above.

Many of these items are used for various personal customizations, and the remainder is quite a bit smaller. I wonder what this implies about avatar needs? 

These astonishing totals no doubt cause many new residents to freak out. Wouldn’t you, if suddenly faced with a 1,708 item control panel? That’s like having a four-foot square sheet covered with knobs every square inch (or a 6 foot square panel if using the advanced menus) pushed in your face. I suspect that very few people have the perseverance, technical skill and motivation to make their way through the 1,708 controls in order to determine where the 36 key functions they’d actually use are located. Maybe, say, one percent?

That’s why Viewer 2.0 is so critical. That’s why Linden Lab has been silent on viewer progress lately - they are putting lots of effort into creating this new viewer.

I’m hoping Viewer 2.0 will dramatically simplify the interface - but allow experienced users to “turn on” more complex features when they need to. I’m hoping Viewer 2.0 organizes the controls in a contextual manner, whereby the appropriate controls are visible depending on the situation. I’m hoping Viewer 2.0 enables many more new residents to successfully join our virtual world.

Some may wish for more new features in Viewer 2.0, but I don’t think that’s what it’s about. Instead it should be about Fewer Features and better presentation of them. Viewer 2.0 is not about you. It’s about all the people that aren’t here.

Yet.