[Disclaimer: This blog entry is personal opinion based on a personal understanding of current events. Should you feel any facts are materially wrong then please contact me, citing sources, and I will be happy to make corrections or retractions as appropriate]
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I try to keep my RL separate from my SL, but I guess it's not giving too much away to say that I work in the IT Industry and have direct experience with software development. So the self-destruction of Emerald has been very interesting for me.
So, where did it all go wrong? I think to answer that you need to look at how a proper Open Source Project is run.
Generally you have a version control system which is able to be read (but not written to) by anyone who cares to do so. Obviously members of the development team can write as well.
This open access ensures transparency, because anyone with the technical ability can examine and review the source code to make sure there is nothing nefarious in it. They are also able to download the entire codebase and compile their own version of the application rather than trusting that the pre-built binaries available for download were actually made from the source code.
Furthermore, the version control system has an audit trail of every check-in, showing what changes were made, by whom, and when. This makes it more difficult to introduce malicious code although there are ways round it, of course. However, even if the developer subverts the process to avoid the audit trail (if they have direct access to the actual files on the server hosting the repository), the code is still available for inspection and anyone can compare a previous snapshot of the code with the current one using an automated difference tool. So there is still transparency.
The trouble with Emerald is that the version control system was not open and there was no transparency. Yes, the source code was published periodically but in a snapshot form. You were expected to trust that this source code was the real deal and not some sanitised version. And that trust was betrayed.
Because there was no transparency, certain members of the Emerald team were able to inject undesirable code (which is well documented elsewhere so I won't bother going into it here).
Worse still, Emerald also used some Closed Source software which meant that only the developer(s) of that code knew what was in it and the members of the Emerald team were expected to trust that it was non-malicious. Again, that trust was betrayed.
It also appears to me that the team weren't really following good Software Engineering process. This isn't too surprising as, as far as I understand, they were all programming for fun and were all fairly young. So there were few controls in place to audit what was going on. I genuinely believe that the more respectable members of the team (and I'll leave it for you to decide who they are) didn't know what was being put in by the less respectable members. This is why we have processes, checks and safeguards in professional Software Development and I simply don't think they were in place for Emerald.
In many ways, this was a nuclear reactor being run without control rods or safety systems, and it went critical and suffered a meltdown.
So, where does this leave Third Party Viewer Development? Are we doomed to use Linden Labs awful Viewer 2.0? The short answer is no!
Emerald was not the only Third Party Viewer and some of the others are being run properly. Imprudence, for example, is fully transparent and Open Source. They are by no means the only one, of course, but it's the one that springs most readily to mind.
Finally, I just want to say that this blog entry may seem very negative about Emerald. However, I don't mean it to be because I do genuinely believe that Emerald was truly innovative and really moved the Second Life Viewer game onwards. The developers added some very good features (the nefarious ones notwithstanding) and they should be praised for it; they're clearly very talented. However, as I've said, I think the project was very badly run and was very open to abuse. And that abuse was made.
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A mixed day
Posted 9/3/2010 1:36:40 AM by little ZoE - [Show All My Posts] Really wanted the day did not start with me.It was a bit boring and I really wanted to play Deal, but really came to nothing.For Cyberian sauces came by and we talked about most of the time, and he began to annoy other a little.He has really only nonsense in your head.When his friend to come, then I left the two alone and went into my house, I prepare for the evening.I talked a bit with Dark, but the conversation was not so happy.My mood was a bit on the sink when I then spoke with Clark.He tried to distract me a little, but that did not work too many things I had in mind.I apologized to him, and he had then offline again because it was too late for him again.I myself would then go offline, I was a little tired, sad and not quite to the point.But then came Toddy, and I thought ok I'll stay a while.I surprised him with a visit in wildpark, he may be the nature and I thought it for the right.And he was really surprised, so for me a huge success.I was somewhat disturbed but we then by a German, there was a cafe and we went with muffins and cakes on the nerves.I wanted to will the one nor the other, I wanted to lead a normal conversation and not be disturbed by such a clown.I withdrew to the mountains to the bear family, lay down on a blanket and looked at the sky.Toddy asked where I was and I sent him a teleport.So we made ourselves comfortable on both the ceiling and talked for quite a while.
Then, he had to walk again it was a beautiful evening at the end.
I then met with Sunny in the house, which is already plenty of annoyed and I can understand it.I would go it might not otherwise if you wait forever and nothing happens.But when I think about it, it was just me already and what has it brought to me in the end? Not really much.They then went offline again, I said then still a good dark night and made the same, go to bed.
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The Other VIewer Take Two
Posted 9/2/2010 1:38:59 PM by Sakura23 - [Show All My Posts] well arint we all just "thrilled" For what happend to emerald.
I must say, The only reason why this happend is, A) Money B) Jealously.
I know they were pissed off cos alot of us used Emerald to get into Secondlife and it ran MUCH better then the V2(though anything runs better then that piece of crap. i call it the lindens vista ^^)Anyways, using Imprudence atm.(Its not emerald but it works) I hope they dont desided to take that away from us to. I bet cos of all the crap that happend with Emerald, they are going to probably make us, use the Viewer2 which i REFUSE to do and when that day comes im quiting sl completely. cos theres no way in shit im running that >_<
So much for having "Dreams& And imgation" in secondlife, when the lindens just takes everything away from us. People log in sl for a reason, mine would be: to meet new people from all over the world and just to have a great secondlife. but thats not going to happend, As the greedy ass lindens continue to play god with our sl lifes, when its sudpose to be OUR lifes and what kind of world we make of it. The Damn LL's Are about to suck the life outta ALL our dreams and wants very soon... >_>:
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The public wants what the public gets
Posted 9/2/2010 12:01:15 PM by wabbithunta - [Show All My Posts] Typical of Linden Labs as it would seem that they are about to throw the baby out with the bathwater (or even, "If you won't let me play then I'm taking my ball home!") as there are a huge amount of blogs about Emerald at present, as it is a very very popular viewer.
Talk about envy!
It's all here via this link from ModularSystems
http://blog.modularsystems.sl/2010/09/01/the-end/
They, LL, have put the squeeze on the "competition" big time. They know that if, or rather when(!), this closes down then people will have to use other viewers and as the majority of people in SL use Emerald, and as it has been said between 30-50% of SL users have Emerald as their viewer then that is a BIG chunk of users.
So from that it then can be assumed that despite LL's "words" last week, and we all know that secretly they are laughing about this too. It has so it seems destroyed what can only be seen as the main viewer that people used.
Will people stay and use other viewers?
No doubt people will for now as the options are to use lesser known viewers (no offence to the other Dev's here) but it would appear that they do not have anything to match what Emerald has, or rather what it had, as now it appears to be going, otherwise why would that many people be using Emerald?
Soon they, LL, will leave you no option to use Viewer Two or have you stick with V1.23 until they decide to "drop" that one and no doubt they will possibly place real stringent demands on ALL other Devs to toe the line. Devs of other TPV's may not be happy with this and could quite possibly say "sod it!" and not bother maybe, maybe not.
IF, as has been suggested elsewhere today in another blog, people "vote with their log-ins", ie don't log in at all for a while or maybe protest at LL's "over zealous"(?) actions then maybe there could be a backlash to make LL think again?
LL may even know what viewers people use too, so demands in-world could be interesting to say the least, but no doubt LL will ride this coming storm out, just like they did over hiking the prices up the other year, as that set off a mother of all protests, then I'm afraid to say this could well be the beginning of the end of SL. LL got their way over that though as they hiked the prices up over the year in two jumps!
People came in here because of the choices you could have, lifestyles etc etc, and this viewer gave people the ability to live it far more that LL's viewers ever could, or no doubt will. People also came in here to live a second life, to create things and ideas and see them "come to life" as it were as well. If it's in RL then it could be made in here too. The sheer scale of peoples ideas and dreams in here is truly amazing to see as well.
LL are about to crush a lot of peoples dreams very soon too.
LL have slowly but steadily been putting the squeeze on adults inworld via "ratings", cowtowing to the pc brigade and moving adult themed places etc to Zindra.
Now along with the recent developtment of the cutting of the Teen-Grid and allowing them, teens that is, access to the Main Grid, this could, no doubt, quite possibly make a lot of people leave too, so it now only remains to see how they'll police this one too.
They bought out Xstreet and radically changed that too, much to a lot of peoples annoyance, from the customer right through to vendors/merchants. Altered it to link in to SL (nothing wrong with that from some peoples point of view but it really does go against what people wanted in Xstreet too and they are charging people for placing free items in it too which is to my mind a big no no.
They now have a blog on here too.. spreading their word.. nothing wrong with that in itself but I see it as the thin end of the wedge, they possibly even have had the thought of taking this (SLP) over too I bet. Sanitise what is out there so that quite possibly the SL side of things is all there is for people to have.
They are slowly but steadily choking the life out of options and choice for ALL SL residents.
SL is based on OPEN SOURCE code.. the very name says it all. LL even tinker with it!
Basically what is happening now is summed up by a line from a the "Modfather" Paul Weller in a Jam Song from 1980 (fekk!! That makes me feel old...! ) called "Going Underground"
and it is this:
"The public wants what the public gets"
As I stated at the start there are a lot of blogs about Emerald at present, as it is a very very popular viewer to say the least!
Again, here's the link to the latest ModularSystems blog
http://blog.modularsystems.sl/2010/09/01/the-end/
Very apt words from a Doors song too.
This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend, the end
It hurts to set you free
But you’ll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of night we tried to die
This is the end
Good luck to all at ModularSystems too. Here's hoping that we get a viewer we can all use and be happy with and not some cockeyed hackneyed effort that constantly give us all tons of trouble either.
Who said that jealousy gets you no where?
Hmmm... it would appear to seem it gets you everywhere!
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
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Introducing Kim Salzer, Our New VP Marketing
Posted 9/2/2010 10:40:05 AM by LL Blog - [Show All My Posts] --- Posted by communities@secondlife.com on Linden Lab Blog ---  Linden Lab recently welcomed a new addition to its executive ranks: Kim Salzer, who became our Vice President of Marketing, at the beginning of August. Kim (known as Kim Linden inworld) joins us from Activision Blizzard, where she was Vice President of Global Brand Management for properties like Guitar Hero and Call of Duty 2, among others. Kim brings a deep background in gaming (including experience at Electronic Arts working on massively multiplayer online games and hit sports franchises), and in online learning, and we’re excited to have her as part of the team. As an introduction to Residents, I asked Kim to tell us a bit about herself in her own words:
Q: What’s the one thing you bring from the gaming world that will be most useful to you in your position at Linden Lab? A: Working in gaming taught me a lot about just how creative and passionate that audience can be, and I think the same is true for the Residents of Second Life. And SL provides so many great tools to enhance and bring out that creativity, I’m really looking forward to helping foster that as we move into the next phase of the platform’s growth. I want to see if we can make the range of what’s possible in Second Life even broader. Q: What are your goals for your new position as VP Marketing at Linden Lab? A: What I really want to do here is help the Lab figure out what the “X Factor” is going to be for Second Life. When I was working on games, I always tried to choose a single idea to focus on and bring out, an X Factor that helped people get into the game and helped them discover all the rest of the possibilities there. If I can help bring that kind of focus to Second Life, I’ll be happy about how I’m doing my job. Q: What excites you most about working on a product like Second Life? A: I’m excited about the prospect of helping to build a product that really empowers people to express what they’re about, and that can make a real difference in their lives. I think we’ve only just started to see what can be done here, and I can’t wait to see where we and our Residents can take things from here.
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Goodbye Emerald, I guess
Posted 9/2/2010 10:31:26 AM by VickieMaidstone - [Show All My Posts] Well, I had thought about commenting my views about the Emerald viewer to which I may yet, but it looks like it's headed towards the sunset. So, why waste time other to say there must have been some shady dealings going on behind the scenes,
Love and Hugs to all,
Vickie
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YAY! Reinstalled and it Works!
Posted 9/2/2010 10:28:21 AM by Ellie Treeflame - [Show All My Posts] So I deleted SL, downloaded it again, re-installed it, and it works again! see you in-world!
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Top Friend Whore
Posted 9/2/2010 9:10:54 AM by jaylonserenity - [Show All My Posts] So it is official. I am a friend whore. I broke into the Top Friends list - I feel like Kelly Pickler making it onto the charts.
This honor may be short lived, so look quick before my friends start dropping off in disgust.
And thank you to all those that have accepted my friend requests. Especially those that say in their profiles they don't accept random request, but still do. And hi to everyone I have met in SL through this site!
And to those that have refused my friend request, thats OK. Not everybody likes a whore.
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Positivity is the key :)
Posted 9/2/2010 7:28:02 AM by ~Korri~ - [Show All My Posts]
Im in a good place for now, everything good is happening for me, and again im excited, found out i have another interview eeps - ie i have one this tuesday coming, but once i got home this afternoon from training there was mail for me with an invite to another interview on Wednesday next *bounces across the room hehe*
Its slightly showing me that all the applications im putting in is doing the thing im supposed to be getting and that is results....
Im happy and stuff :) -
Started college last night and this lasts for 6 months, again since this is going to be viable for me to learn i really need this course as ive realised ive never used this updated Word Program, so i will be taking my time through the book, then will choose another course - ive £200 to spend for the yr and only spent 100 so im happy on that score.
Gahhhh why does everyone send out scare tactics regarding viewers all the time lol....i thought for some reason no one would be able to get inworld with Emerald, so i went and downloaded last night both the new SL Viewer 2 which had been giving me jip in the 1st place yonks ago, and just to be safe i found myself downloading Snowglobe also...which i havent tried out yet...but ive kept emerald because i was just on it around 5 mins ago and its fine, but came off and when went back on to find that there is a new update to download for Emerald...this i have done and still managed to get on,
I might add can someone explain to me what the heck is happening? Can you or can you not use Emerald? With the SL Viewer im finding it utterly confusing because ahhhh nothing is where i want it to be i check my profile and there is no picks button so how the heck do i sort that bit? just nothing was in the right place.
Honestly the best Viewer was ON REZ i used this all the time when i had issues for a long time with the main viewer, bring it back i say.
Anyhoo all im saying life hasnt ended lol but its like conflicting blogs going about Emerald...hence all the confusion with me and that doesnt become a hard thing to do :D
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Friends Poem
Posted 9/2/2010 6:28:19 AM by 2Sweet Sterling - [Show All My Posts] You're a true friend,
that I want you to know,
Our love for each other
has helped us to grow.
We've been through some tough times,
but we've made it through,
The only one I ever trusted was you.
You helped me through anger,
you've chased away fears.
You held me through sadness,
and kissed away tears.
You stayed by my side
when the world turned away.
You helped me see joy
when the skies were all gray.
You were the rainbow
at the end of the storm.
You help me be different
when I shouldn't conform.
You held my hand
when you knew we would fall.
Every heartache,
you saw me through it all.
I'm not sure
I'm always the best friend to you,
I know I'm not perfect,
but this much is true.
When life gets you down,
And there's nowhere to turn,
I'll help you through and
I'll share your concern.
I'll try my best to return every favor,
When you're sure that you'll drown,
then I'll be your lifesaver;
Even if we both go down.
Whether we sink or swim
doesn't matter at all,
Just know that I'll be there
whenever you call.
I'll pull you out
when life pulls you under.
I'll be the sun
when there's lightning and thunder.
And when it's all over,
And we've fought every war,
There's one thing I promise,
Of this I am sure,
When the time comes
that we're put to our rest.
Be sure that you know that,
My friend, you're the best.
And if there is Heaven,
then I know you'll be there,
That if you die first
then you'll hear every prayer.
And soon I'll join you,
but just know until then.
That I'll miss you each day
'til I see you again.
At the end of the tunnel,
you'll be my guiding light,
You'll lead me to heaven,
away from the night.
We'll be there together,
and we'll never grow old.
And we'll walk hand in hand
On the streets paved of gold.
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