30 September, 2011

my mixed up mind's a blur

Because I think this is vaguely important, covering a bit of breaking Microsoft news today:
Microsoft now claims that about 3000 users were impacted when their Security Essentials antivirus package went berserk and incorrectly flagged as a virus -- and in many cases deleted -- Google's Chrome Web browser from users' systems today.

Jokes aside about Microsoft deploying a new weapon to boost its own Internet Explorer in the "browser wars," this event could have been much worse, should never have been this bad, and is a clear warning not just to Microsoft, but to the entire computing industry.
Now, while I do run Security Essentials, and do also run Chrome, I was not one of the three thousand. Still, this is frightening.
Where were the sanity checks? Why weren't Microsoft personnel alerted to a nonsensical virus hit before Security Essentials was permitted to run wild deleting Chrome from trusting Microsoft customers?
More than that, there are those who already suffer from trust issues where Microsoft is concerned; if their browser of choice is Chrome (because IE is, well, IE, and sometimes the alternatives to either are worse), and it's auto-deleted because it showed up as a potential virus, how quick are they going to return to trusting Microsoft? Even more daunting, what other Google products are going to show up on the viral list, and why?
[16:05] Axxxxxxx Wxxxxxx: Mesh would be of very limited use to me. I've always designed my stuff on the assumption that I want the customer to see it, even if they don't have an up-to-date computer.
This tends to be my official position, as well, frankly. At least for the next few months, I'm not really interested in making, owning, or viewing mesh--if it's not the standard, I purely cannot be bothered at present.

All right. The big story for me--beyond getting initial pictures of the virtual Burn, at least--for the past few days has been the disappearance (from Second Life) of Stroker Serpentine. I've been trying to figure out ways to find out more about the story, but things are disappearing at a rapid rate.

His blog has been wiped, the official SexGen site is for sale, and the only thing on his land (which is wiped down to the base texture) is his SexGen Ultra v5.

Full perms.

Including the engine. And even that may not be there for long.

So...what happened? That, I still don't know. But there are disturbing mentions on Twitter (you can see them here, here and here; I would have screencapped them, but I'm honestly not sure if they're going to disappear, too, and...as I honestly can't believe anything Jumpman Lane says, I'm just linking for now), and not much more in the way of solid information.

And two days ago, he sent out this as part of a final notice to his in-world group:
"It's true I am leaving Second Life. I have made many friends here and I hope that we'll all be together in the Third Life. I am placing the SexGen base full perm to any who would like to use it in their builds. I'll be closing the groups and returning my sim soon, so come and get it quick. Feel free to share it. It's been a grand adventure and I wish you all the naughty fun you can have with it. Until then, be good to each other."
So...I'm whelmed by this, for all that I only met him twice (honestly, I dealt with Corsi Mousehold more often, and even that was back in 2009). It's not like I've kept up with the SexGen advances; hells, at this point my escorting days are a distant memory to me and even my cuddle furniture is gathering dust and cobwebs in deep storage. So why is it so affecting?

I think part of it is the assumption--as with the Avarian sims, and the Gardens of Apollo--that SexGen would just always be there. Whether or not Stroker was making sales; whether or not there were dark allegations; whether or not he was embroiled in legal battles with the Lindens. I think that was the mental state I had...up until I found out he was leaving.

More than that, even though Amsterdam itself disappeared long ago, I and many others remember that garishly pink-on-pink club at the heart of the Amsterdam sim as being one of the first places we ever went--to socialize, to meet new people, to dance-camp for a bit to rake in some newbish cash. It's one of those memory touchstones.

Even so, would I feel the same thing if, say, Ameshin Yossarian were to up and leave the grid, and abandon the Curious Kitties sims? No, I don't think so; as delightful as Miss Yossarian is, and as much as that's another memory touchstone for me (I bought my very first flexi hair from Curious Kitties, back when Helyanwe Vindaloo still designed hair for sale there), I think that would be a brief sigh-and-get-back-to-work moment, over that pang of loss.

I can't claim, and won't, that Stroker was a friend. But something in me is going to miss SexGen being on the grid, and Serpentine too. It will be a poorer grid without him.

2 comments:

Jumpman Lane said...

he had it coming hehehehehe

Emilly Orr said...

And of course, you're sure of that, and not just a trolling griefer making trouble for no good reason.

hide away, they say, 'cos we don't want your broken parts

Yeah, so...remember that thing I was recovering from? You know, last year ? Yeah. I did it again. So this is Em Faw Down Go Boom part ...