Linden Lab Release New Viewer

'Unveiling An Improved New Resident Experience


One of the things we've been working hard on here at Linden Lab, as M pointed out in his  New Year post, is the new Resident experience in Second Life.


Today, we're proud to announce an important step forward as we continue to improve the welcome experience for new Residents; it's a more streamlined introduction to our online world, one that is simple, linear, and integrated with Viewer 2.  Our primary goal is to make Second Life more welcoming for new Residents, because more new Residents means more opportunity for merchants, landowners, creators--and for the whole ecosystem that is Second Life. However, Viewer 2 isn't just for new Residents. It also delivers a better, more intuitive user experience for all of us and gives everyone in Second Life the capability to integrate web-based media seamlessly into Second Life--a huge leap forward. And, what may not be immediately apparent--but equally  important--it provides us a robust and flexible platform to build on; we have much more goodness planned to roll out in 2010 and beyond.
Key points:
Second Life Welcome Island and Second Life Discovery Island
New Starter Avatars
Updated Terms of Service
Updated Maturity Ratings
Second Life Viewer 2 in Registration Flow'

Read the full post HERE

Reading through the entire post it seems aimed more at new residents and the Lindens actually point out that many testers experienced in SL have had difficulties adapting and basically completely relearning how to use Secondlife.
So looks like the long suffering residents will have to wait that little bit longer for all the bug fixes and better search etc that we have all been asking for for so long, of course we can expect bug fixes for the new viewer will take priority over little things like that as of course the new residents have no idea how Linden lab works and will expect the best service.
Luckily for now the update IS optional ;)
Dana

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Netroots Convention 2009 in Second Life

The Netroots Nation, a yearly convention for politically liberal/progressive bloggers, took place last weekend in Pittsburg from Thursday August 13th to Sunday the 16th. Online, the convention was held here in Second Life as well, with exhibits and events.

At the entry point of the Netroots Nation sim, one got a notecard explaining the event and the schedule. There were also directions for first-time users of Second Life, and a few free avatars. The background music for the sims was National Public Radio. There were a number of sponsorship booths around. The majority were more-or-less in tune with the political theme of the convention, such as an anti-war booth and one endorsing a candidate for the Democratic party in one election in the US. There was one about a non-political cause, getting and sending books for US soldiers in war zones. Virtually Speaking, the liberal talk show in Second Life, also had a booth there.

Humor was a part of a number of displays. Some were mocking conservatives, both leaders and supporters. Others just aimed for a chuckle, not taking serious jabs. A few of the sponsorship booths had next to nothing to do with politics or causes, such as the one for SL real estate sales, and the one for recruitment for a World of Warcraft guild.

There were also a number of events throughout the convention. Most notable was former US President Bill Clinton’s opening keynote address, which was streamed live from the RL convention in Pittsburg. Other events included speakers on subjects from “the challenges and rewards” of nonviolent activism in support of civil rights “particularly in the context of events in Iran,” to how Second Life and other “virtual environments” can help “connect rule, urban, red state, and blue state activists to the greater progressive community,” to “How Hip-Hop Builds Movements.” Many events took place both in Pittsburg and Second Life.

But not all events were debates and lectures. There were parties and dances, a word game, as well as an interfaith religious service. Some corners of the area had scenes with trees and buildings where one could forget politics for a little while.

Listening to discussions and talking to a few, the biggest issue in the convention appeared to be the debate over the government’s role in health care in the United States. There were no shortage of opinions. With the convention being for the left of center, the majority of comments this reporter overheard were in favor of more control by the Federal government, “I'd rather not die because some CEO wanted another Porsche this year.” “How about a for-profit fire department?” But not everyone had such opinions, “Power concentrated in the hands of government, isn’t that what the Magana Carta and the American Revolution were (against)?” “We shouldn't trust too high a concentration of power in any hands, whether its corps or gov.”

Away from the debating, I talked to one Canadian attendee whom wished the United States well in improving it’s health care system, though felt it would be a good idea to see what happened with other countries, “some are mistaken in thinking we came by health care easily up here,” saying Canada had a doctor’s strike after the new system was put in, as well as other problems, “You’re in the (21st Century) now, your battle will be much harder.”

At 2PM Sunday was the Closing Party, with the convention coming to a close at it’s end.

The Netroots SL convention took place on the Netroots Nation and Progressive Island sims.

Bixyl Shuftan

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Brand Names From Real Life to be Banned on Xstreet

On August 11, Pink Linden posted some “Updates to XStreet SL Listing Guidelines.” Among them were some “Branding Guidelines” which dealt with Real Life brands reproduced within Second Life.

Branding Guidelines

Branded items may be listed or sold only by the brand or intellectual property owner or its authorized agents. A "branded item" is an item that:

* contains or uses a brand name or logo;

* replicates or closely imitates the appearance of a real-world physical product of a brand owner (for example, items that replicate the appearance of brands of cars, jewelry, or shoes that are available in the real world);

* replicates or closely imitates the appearance of a celebrity, famous person, or fictional character from a copyrighted work (for example, avatars that replicate the appearance of movie stars or characters from a book, film, television program, or game); or

* replicates or uses an artistic or creative work that is the subject of copyright (for example, virtual artwork that replicates artwork available in the real world or a sound clip that includes part of a song recording).

"Brand names" include product names; service names; company names; organization names; trade names; designer names; trademarks; service marks; celebrity names; famous persons' names; the unique names of well-known books, films, television programs, games, and other works that are the subject of copyright; and the unique names of well-known fictional characters from copyrighted works.

Be careful not to make comparisons to a brand name or say that your item is "like," "inspired by," or "based on" a brand name because this can be misleading and can lead to intellectual property infringement.

When including pictures in your listings, use a picture that accurately represents your item so that buyers are not confused about what you're selling. Never copy or use someone else's pictures or logos without their permission.

If you are a brand or intellectual property owner or the authorized agent of one, consider making others aware of this information by including it in your listing.

If we receive a complaint from a brand or intellectual property owner, or if we believe in good faith that your listing violates these Branding Guidelines or intellectual property law, we reserve the right to remove your listing and content (including content in Second Life associated with the listing) and in severe or repeat cases revoke your Xstreet SL and Second Life privileges.

You are responsible for ensuring that your listings and content comply with applicable intellectual property laws. Please be aware that your compliance with these Branding Guidelines does not guarantee your compliance with all intellectual property laws. For general information about intellectual property and our intellectual property complaint procedures, please go here. If you need advice on intellectual property law, we suggest you contact an attorney.

Examples

This Is Acceptable:

* An item that uses a brand name (like Gucci®, Nike®, or Rolex®) can be listed only if the item is officially offered or authorized by the brand owner (for example, Gucci America, Inc., Nike, Inc., or Rolex Watch U.S.A., Inc.).

* An item that uses a celebrity or famous name (like Angelina Jolie or Barack Obama) can be listed only if the item is officially offered or authorized by the celebrity or famous person (for example, Angelina Jolie or Barack Obama).

* A virtual car that looks like a particular brand of cars (like Mercedes-Benz®) and uses the logo of the brand can be listed only if the virtual car is officially offered or authorized by the brand owner (for example, Daimler AG).

* An avatar that has the appearance of a fictional character from a copyrighted work (like Darth Vader or Wonder Woman) and uses the character name can be listed only if the avatar is officially offered or authorized by the intellectual property owner of the character (for example, Lucasfilm Entertainment Co. Ltd. or DC Comics).

* Virtual artwork that replicates copyrighted artwork that is available in the real world (like the artwork of Andy Warhol or M.C. Escher) can be listed only if the virtual artwork is officially offered or authorized by the intellectual property owner of the artwork (for example, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. or The M.C. Escher Company B.V.).

This Is NOT Acceptable:

* A virtual sneaker named after a sneaker brand available in the real world (like Adidas® or Converse®) cannot be listed if the listing party is not the brand owner (for example, Adidas America, Inc. or Converse Inc.) or officially authorized by the brand owner.

* A virtual t-shirt with the logo of a real-world brand (like a Mickey Mouse® logo or an NFL® logo) cannot be listed if the listing party is not the brand owner (for example, Disney Enterprises, Inc. or the National Football League) or officially authorized by the brand owner.

* Virtual furniture with the distinctive appearance of a brand of furniture available in the real world (like the Eames® lounge chair and ottoman) cannot be listed if the listing party is not the brand owner (for example, Herman Miller, Inc.) or officially authorized by the brand owner.

* An avatar that has the appearance of a celebrity (for example, Elvis Presley or Marilyn Monroe) cannot be listed if the listing party is not the owner of the celebrity's right of publicity (or the right to use the celebrity's appearance, for example, Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. or Marilyn Monroe LLC) or officially authorized by the celebrity rights owner.

* Lists of unrelated brand names cannot be included in a listing or hidden by using white-on-white text, tiny fonts, special HTML code, or other means intended to circumvent the rules. (See also Keyword Spam below.)

* Misspelling brand names or adding, removing, or swapping some characters to try to circumvent the rules, for example, using the number "1" instead of the letter "I" or a dollar sign "$" instead of the letter "S," is not allowed.

*****

Near the bottom of the “Updates” page, Pink Linden stated those with “listings or content that do not comply” had until September 14 to change or remove them in order to get a refund for the remaining time. After that, “Linden Lab may remove listings and content that do not comply” with no refunds.

Please leave your comments below.

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Spammers are disseminating a new illegal SL client under Gwyneth Llewelyn's name

Hi! If this is the first time you’re visiting my blog, you’re probably looking me up because you received a spam notecard announcing a new SL client, “Neil Life”, which allegedly has a lot of illegal features — among these:

reenabled control alt shit t like cool viewer to get texture uuids plus mine also grabs sculpt ids. But Please respect permissions.

Modified the copybot patch but still please respect permissions.

You should be thrice warned. First, the spammers are using notecards (apparently translated in several languages; I got one in Portuguese) that bear my name as owner. They very likely got one notecard from me with full perms (there are so many around…), changed all the text, and send them to others from objects called “Gwyneth Llewelyn”. That’s as far as I’ve been able to track down; from there on, stopping the “chain letter” effect of people circulating those notecards is very hard. So far, I haven’t been able to find someone proficient enough with Second Life that managed to figure out the location of the spamming object, so that it can be reported to Linden Lab, deleted, and the owner of it permabanned for violating the Linden Lab Terms of Service for Second Life (impersonating another user; spamming/chain letter; distributing a tool that violates the Terms of Services regarding illegally modifying other users’ content without their permission).

Secondly, this notecard will point you to a link on 2shared.com, where you can download a RAR file which contains a Windows-compiled version on this so-called “Neil Life” SL client (mentioned on 2share.com as “Client with copy and permission change functions.”), with the full source code. 2shared.com got an abuse report from me, but, at the time of writing this post, they haven’t deleted the RAR file yet (they seem to host these files completely anonymously and probably ignore all abuse reports). So people are still downloading it (8 downloads since my last visit there). Do not download this file (specially if you have a Windows computer). Even if it shows free of virus, anyone who creates an illegal SL client really doesn’t stop at that. It might, just like the infamous vLife, simply steal your password — you’ll never notice it until one day you log in with another client and see your L$ have disappeared (and if you’re a content creator, it’s highly likely they will steal your content too, if they caught your password). I have not audited their code, since I don’t have enough experience to do that.

And thirdly, more important for me, I have absolutely nothing to do with either “Neil Life” or anyone currently spamming other users with notecards bearing my name. Most of these notecards are quite old, possibly even from 2004 or 2005, from a time where nobody thought of spamming other users with fake identities. I’m just a victim too.

Continue reading at the link below:
Spammers are disseminating a new illegal SL client under my name

Posted using ShareThis

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Content creation under the microscope at last?

Our Content Management Roadmap

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. I'll let you know up front that it is lengthy, because we feel that you deserve the opportunity to hear in depth what we are thinking, and doing, regarding content management in Second Life. Resident-created content is the heart and soul of Second Life, and we want to help you continue to benefit from the amazing creativity you have displayed inworld. When you are successful, Second Life is a better world for all of us – more inspiring, more spontaneous, and more fun!
We are committed to empowering content creators to better manage and control their content. Taking a holistic approach to content management, we are hard at work on new and improved content tools, programs, and policies. Because we know that content management is of paramount importance to our community, we're going to lay out our current plans, and then invite you to help us shape them to best meet the community's needs.
Right now, we are pursuing a multi-pronged approach:

• Improvements to our intellectual property complaint process, enabling intellectual property owners to submit online requests that we search for and remove all copies of an identified item created by a particular Resident;
• Promotion of standard industry practices for tools copying content from Second Life to help protect against intellectual property infringement;
• A content seller program to help the community trade content safely and trust one another;
• Clarifications to and updating of our policies to promote awareness of intellectual property and protect against infringement; and
• Development of “sticky licenses,” or additional licensing metadata, for content to help facilitate a content marketplace outside our hosted Second Life virtual world.

For more detailed information, please continue reading below, and then join the discussions in the forums. Thank you for taking the time to read this post and for your feedback.

Continued HERE

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Changes

We have simplified the paper a little after listening to feedback, you will now find we have only 5 sections these are:
Main news - This section will contain almost everything with the exception of -
Extra Extra - This will contain all the press releases that we think may interest you plus will continue to host the fictional columns it has always been known for.
Classifieds - This will stay as always
Red Light - For all adult themed articles, pictures and advertising
RFL in SL - this will remain only during the season and you can find any RFLinSL events listed here as well as any articles written about RFL events.
The older sections will not disappear we never delete older articles instead these sections will be available through our Archives which you can find through the left menu in main news or from the top navigation.
As always we are listening to feedback both from readers and reporters feel free to leave your comments and let us know if this makes things easier for you our readers.
Dana and James

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The long awaited blog update:

A Day in the Lab with M
Greetings everyone!

A hearty welcome to our new blog network. There is so much going at Linden Lab and in the Second Life community, we wanted to be able to encourage people to post and share but do it in a way that is easily navigated by our readers. Hence, the new blog structure with different channels for different topics. Hope you like it.

I've introduced myself and posted before on the Secondlife.com blog so you know me already. But our comms team thought it might be fun to share "...a day in the life of..." starting with a day in the life of M Linden.

There is no typical M Linden day but they generally go something like this:

• Get up before the sun, grab a coffee and scan email, read SL news and blogs, the NY Times and the WSJ. I call this "Mark time." Like Blue, I am not a morning person
• Go to the gym for a workout then walk to the office (this is when I get my mind ready for the day)
• Catch up with my two pod mates -- Catherine (PR) and Philip (Chairman) who sit on either side of me, share a laugh, move their stuff back onto their desks which is always overflowing on to mine (I am the neatest of the three in our pod) then get to work
• Peruse our very extensive metrics dashboard to see how the company is doing (with literally hundreds of measures for everything you can imagine from Resident satisfaction to registrations in last hour to frame-rate-per-second) for 10-15 minutes
• Have 1:1 meetings with leaders of the big projects underway in the Lab (most recent was Judy on localization of the Second Life experience for international markets)
• If its a Monday or Wednesday, I usually lead our executive meeting where we talk about the opportunities and challenges of the day. If it's a Friday, I give a "state of the company" talk at our Friday Lunch here in the Battery Lab
• Review some work done by one of the teams -- maybe a new design for the Land store, or a UI improvement we are planning
• Hit the snack store at 3PM with everyone else
• Have a press interview (most recent was the BBC) on exciting things happening in Second Life
• Attend inworld meetings with service providers, partners, press, research firms but before I do I usually have to respond to inworld messages and forward comment cards on to folks in the Lab who can help

That's it in a nutshell. Enjoy the blog!

M(ark) Linden

By the looks of things they may actually have got it right, there is a lot to read and different areas for different interests, many Lindens introducing themselves with 'the day in the life' posts.
So far it looks great! Well done Team Linden go see for yourself HERE

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A Few Thoughts…… from Gemma Cleanslate

As some of you who follow my stories know I LOVE Freebies !! Almost every day I read five or six blogs that offer information of how to get really attractive clothing , accessories, fun stuff, and items for the home. I have often thought these people who do the blogs really work hard!!!
I know some business owners will notify the freebie bloggers if there is something new they are giving away.
These freebies not only benefit those who go get them but they benefit the businesses too. If I go to a new store to look for a freebie I always look around and save the landmark. I sometimes recommend the shop to a friend who is looking for new hair or an outfit for something special and pass along the landmark.
And where do you think I will go if I want something special? I think we owe these bloggers a great deal of gratitude!
There is a lot of work finding and looking at the items before recommending them. A while back I saw some really negative comments on one of the blogs complaining that the item was no longer there or the slurl was incorrect.
I thought to myself that is really dumb!! I would not stand for that if I were the blogger!! Well again today, one of my most favorite bloggers, Feodora Umarov, made a decision to stop blogging!!!
The reason is that she is getting hate mail!!!!!
Can you imagine!
Feodora not only writes a wonderful blog, complete with pictures of the items she has seen but also maintains a group, “The Freebie Telegraph”. The group im is always actively notifying of new finds.
I enjoy her blog best of the ones I read.
I hope during this season of good cheer we will all take notice of the way we treat those who are so helpful and remind ourselves how lucky we are that such people exist here in sl.
I know her group will be very supportive of her and I hope she will reconsider her decision.
Gemma cleanslate

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Eye on the Blog - new FLASH website

Redesigned Second Life Homepage for new visitors going Live:

As you may have read on the blog last week, we’ve been testing a redesigned home page for new visitors, those who have never logged in to Second Life. The goal of the new homepage is to show off the breadth and richness of the Second Life experience. Test results show the new page performed well, so we’re going live this week. For Second Life Residents, the current homepage will remain the same for now.

Over the past week we’ve been comparing the core metrics (traffic, registrations, logins, economic and inworld activity) of the new page with our existing new user home page. The data is encouraging: the new design performed better in almost all aspects, so we are moving full steam ahead with launching the redesigned page.

Redesigned Homepage for Non-Registered, New Visitors

We’ve been paying attention to the conversations on this topic in the forums, and we’d like to address some of the great questions Residents have posed:

Ongoing improvements and considerations include:

• Flash – a very small number of people who come through the new user home page either have flash disabled or not installed, so we have provided an alternate, non-Flash experience for them.

• Accessibility – the header and footer are CSS/HTML, so the global navigation will quickly get folks with screen readers to the content they need.

• Business friendliness – this iteration of the new user home page has two pods dedicated to education and virtual meetings, but our next task will be to make sure that people who are focused on the business uses of Second Life can find the information they need rapidly.

In the next two weeks, we will keep a close eye on the metrics to make sure that the page is performing as we expect. As we noted in the last post, this is just the first of several changes that we will be rolling out to improve the new user experience and to increase registrations.

Thank you to all the Residents who have contributed great feedback and ideas. When the page is live, let us know your thoughts in the forums.

Please stay tuned for future developments!

Source: blog.secondlife.com

Opinion: Apart from taking longer to load (and of course having flash enabled) initial thoughts are it looks good and is easy on the eyes, but I will definately have to look further. Certain images do not match up with the text, in my opinion, for instance the DESIGN box my first opinion when I saw the image was it was something to do with weapons, so I will look forward to the tweaks and as I said look into it a bit further before giving a full write up, for now log out of your SL account on the website and have a look for yourselves. Feel free to leave your comments here.

Dana

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Stories from Second Life

Just for a breath of fresh air something positive from Linden Lab:
I know everyone is down on Lindens right now with the openspace debacle still very much in everyones minds so LL trying to sidetrack the residents with spin is not unknown but on this showcase I do actually agree simply because I believe this is the kind of thing LL should be high lighting for all residents:

Stories from Second Life: How Languagelab gave language learning a new lease on life

This is the second installment of “Stories from Second Life,” an occasional series of profiles of the people behind Second Life innovations, and the tangible benefits that these individuals and their businesses have brought to both the virtual and the real worlds.

In 2005 David laid out the idea for teaching English as a second language to the global audience within Second Life, and at the end of the year he incorporated Languagelab. At that point he decided to put all his focus on his new venture and by the fall of 2007 Languagelab was completing its beta. This year they enrolled their first paying students.

Today Languagelab operates exclusively in Second Life and has invested a significant amount in terms of R&D and testing to provide an unparalleled virtual learning space where students can be paired with highly qualified, innovative language teachers from around the world.

It’s long been known that immersion in an environment with native speakers is the best way to practice and learn a second language. And as David realized early on, the virtual world environment naturally lends itself to language learning, due to its immersive nature and ability to make learning contextually relevant to both situations and locations.

Using the creation tools in Second Life, Languagelab built “English City” where students learn to have contextual conversations with native speakers, for example, by sitting in a café and ordering food together. This methodology of supervised user driven instruction is called in Languagelab parlance; IAL (Instructor Assisted Learning.)

You can read the full showcase on the official blog or follow the forum for suggestions and comments HERE

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Eye on the Blog

Update on Linden Lab Blog Revamp
I’m happy to report that we have some great things ahead for the Linden Lab Blog. We are on track with a multi-stage process of upgrading our Web presence, including both the Blog and the Forums. Our goal? To improve the information you get about Second Life and enhance our dialogue with you.
We’ve put a lot of thought into how best to expand the usefulness of the blog and forums without slowing down the efforts of those working on grid stability and reliability. And, we’re making great progress with the project. One foundational change we are making is adding in authentication so it’s there for the blog as well as forums. This is valuable because it adds better security and uses Second Life names in a consistent way.
One major goal is to implement single-sign-on (SSO.) This means Second Life Residents who log in with their avatar (account) names, for instance to comment on blog posts, would also be logged into the Second Life Forums. This seemingly small but fundamental change will, over time, allow us to greatly expand the convenience and utility of the blog (and in the next phase, the forums).
Continue reading on the SecondLife Blog (which has been surprisingly active this week!)

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Eye on the Blog - Changes to Give Residents More Choices

From the BLOG:

Some Residents have told me they worry the Linden Lab Blog is quieter than usual, and that this may reflect a decreased commitment by us to communication. In fact, the opposite is true. We’re making changes to enhance dialogue with you through adding better tools and organization along with fewer constraints.

Limitations of the Current Blog and Forums

The current blog has become unwieldy and messy because there is no way to categorize posts. Tag clouds, categories and search are inadequate tools for finding what you’re looking for. And we often hear that it can be frustrating to try and have meaningful exchanges about the original post because of the 150 message cut-off and the difficulty highlighting key comments among all the messages.Similarly the current forum software is outdated, barely functioning and lacks important features that would enhance conversation between posters.

There follows after this a list of upcoming changes and plans to both the Blog and the Forum tying both more closely together.

Many voices have been raised for a long time about the lack of communication from the Lindens and the forum has, until recently, mostly been ignored by them, not even updating the software needed to keep them running smoothly.

A lot of concern is raised therefore in whether the Lindens will actually bother to maintain a new version - or maybe they are hoping that software can make up for human intervention especially as the moderation with be outsourced (causing more concern about less Linden communication and involvement).

I guess we shall have to wait and see as always with anything proposed by Linden Lab - the proof is in the eating.

Dana

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Land Store moves out of Beta

The new Land Store is now officially out of Beta, and therefore open for business to all eligible residents. The previous restrictions on who could order through the new Store have been removed.
Known bugs have been squished and the user interface polished; it has been operating smoothly for long enough that we believe it to be ready for prime time.
Source: The Secondlife Blog

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Eye on the blog

Well good news and bad news - typical of LL as we have seen!

To start with the good news (to an extent):

Second Life Grid Status Reports

Are you following the Second Life Grid Status Reports? If your business, your event, or your time with friends may be impacted by the Grid Status, we want you to have all the information we can get you, as quickly and easily as possible.
We’ve been posting Status Updates mixed in with a variety of posts on other topics. We realize that many of you don’t want to have to hunt through the blog for needed Status information, so in an effort make it easier for you, we’re following the tech industry standard and moving that information to a Status page.
Starting today, we’ll be collecting all the Second Life Grid Status Reports onto that one page. Now, you can check for an update without having to scan through all the other blog posts.
You can also subscribe to updates on your mobile phone using Twitter, or with an RSS reader.
Yep, get your Second Life Grid Status Reports, wherever you go.


Now this sounds like a great idea, but lets look a little deeper;

For a start it means a cleaner blog for the Lindens to show off to corporate business no more long posts with angry Residents comments filling up the page.

Then, of course, it takes away the ability to comment on the issue posted:

Yesterday I DID get an inworld message saying there was a problem with some accounts associated with one of the inventory databases; great, actual warning inworld! problem was an hour later, after a bad crash, I could not log back in so off I toddled to the blog to see what was happening - nope not there - ok, off to the grid status page : [05.51 AM RESOLVED] Logins should be restored for all affected accounts. It may take some time for things to return to normal as the system catches up and everyone starts logging back in, but they are back online. -Chiyo

Resolved??? um no..........

This was then at 06.25 hmmmmmmm...............

So what can I do? Answer NOTHING, there is no way to communicate that no the issue is not resolved and to be perfectly honest I couldn't be bothered to go through support and get a load of pre-printed pages telling me my firewall was blocking SL (this is what happened last time) so I just gave up for the day!

So in conclusion having up to date easy to find grid status - great idea, one place to find out whats happening, unfortunately most people find out more from Resident comments on grid status than from the actual posts saying [RESOLVED] they usually aren't.
The comments have been removed also effectively striking the Residents dumb, there is no recourse and no feedback here so what APPEARS to be better communication and easier to find info is actually the opposite.
Dana

UPDATE:
"As for the harsh things some of you are expressing, I’m sorry you’re frustrated. We are indeed trying to get comments enabled on the Status page."
A single click of a button turns on comments Katt - I am disappointed

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Eye on the Blog

Return of the Old Land Store
cynlinden:
"Best laid plans of mice and men often go awry… the new Land Store is just not ready to ship.
Rather than inflict you guys with a tool that isn’t ready yet, we have decided to bring the old store back up with the new prices. All the old challenges remain (doesn’t work in IE, wait time for delivery) but you will be able to place orders as you have in the past.
You will still be unable to order Openspaces via the old store, and the delays there will continue to be long as we deal with backorders. New island orders will go up as quickly as possible, and we will keep you updated on the progress of not only those orders but of the new store as well.
Thanks much."

"Rather than inflict you guys with a tool that isn’t ready yet" are they talking about the entire grid?
Well I think at least they are giving people an option, although there is no hint of a timeframe on either regular sims or the new popular void sims.
A lot of concern over time estimates given and then not met - its a bad mistake to say you will deliver on a certain date and then not do so, most would probably accept it if you say it may take a month, then when they get it sooner its a bonus.

One resident hit the whole sorry story on the head with this comment:
Ryanna Enfield Says:
"The best thing you can do is withdraw any investment you have in SL. Money talks. Buy an Island when LL has proven they can provide a stable environment for you to enjoy that Island. The problem is that there is a whole new generation of SL users to take your place and fund SL. Unfortunately there really isn’t any decent competition at the moment to show LL that it might be wise to try to retain long-term customers (investment) as well as generate new customers. Afterall, SL’s old-school residents will someday be a competitors new residents. The unstable environment we will never grow accustomed to, will simply give us a valid excuse to try other alternatives. I’ve tried more games in the past four or five months than I have in my entire life. All running perfectly smooth on my computer. Unfortunately, I think a massive revenue loss is the only kind of message LL will ever understand, and by then it will be too late."

It is easy to say but I don't expect many will follow until there is a usable alternative then you will see an SL migration in their millions!

source: http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/04/24/return-of-the-old-land-store/

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Greetings from Katt Linden

Yesterday saw the introduction of a new Linden, Katt Linden:

Thwack…thwack…is this thing on? Oh, hi. This is Katt, one of the newest Lindens.
I’m the new Communications Manager, and kudos to those of you who noticed the position had been filled.
So what am I here to do?
A big part of my job is to listen. I will also be aggregating your comments here and monitoring the blogosphere, to follow developing trends and opinion. I’ll be working to update our communications tools. And, I’ll be doing my best to help all of us at Linden Lab be more consistent and effective as bloggers and communicators.
Linden Lab knows how important it is that we have clear and consistent communications with Residents. We know that we have work to do, and that’s why I’m here.
I’ll start by managing a facelift on the forums, and then on the blog.
As for me, I’ve been paying attention to Second Life, and reading your blogs, for a couple of years now, and like you, I care deeply about Second Life. And I’m more proud than I can say to be part of Linden Lab, “working to connect us all to an online world that advances the human condition.”
My role here is, however, a work in progress, and so I’m going to start out by saying that I’ll need to ask for your patience.
This is surely going to be evolving, and I welcome your feedback.

We would like to welcome Katt and wish her the best of luck.

Judging by the mixture of comments and flak jackets handed out, her job is not one to be envied, after all you can only please some of the people some of the time and frustration is running high.

Some explaination is needed to clarify what Katt will actually be doing, 'A big part of my job is to listen' this doesn't say she will actually do anything with what she hears. Most are hoping this is not just another PR stunt to keep the tiers coming in a little bit longer while they TRY to fix the platform.

In reply to one very frustrated Resident Katt said;

'I do hear how frustrated you are. I wish I could promise to wave a magic (Starax!) wand and make it all better right now — but I can assure you that we are, really, working hard on the issues. That’s one reason you see tech posts from the Lindens working on some issues, like Sidewinder’s posts about Havoc, which has had a huge impact on *reducing crashes*. Can we get better at communicating things? Sure, and that’s why I’m here, to try to help.'

Well, we have asked for better communication for a long time let us all give Katt a chance to settle in and hope that this bodes well for future communication, a simple Inworld warning would suffice to satisfy a lot of that frustration and save a lot of people money.

We can but hope..................

Dana

source:http://secondlife.com/

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