Showing posts with label Phoenix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phoenix. Show all posts

22 September, 2011

and in a dimly lit room where you've got nothing to hide, say your goodbyes

There's a rather ruthless level of arrogance in the latest Phoenix viewer post. Let me distill down the main points:
  • V1 viewers cannot support mesh.
  • Henri Beauchamp made it work for CoolVL, damn him.
  • People are switching from Phoenix to CoolVL. We purely can't have that.
  • I never wanted Phoenix to have mesh. We're DONE with Phoenix. It's OVER, people.
  • But one of our coders whined, and built up a database of patches anyway...so, fine, I caved--AGAINST my better judgement, mind you--and now Phoenix will have mesh.
  • It will be buggy, it will crash, it will do other weird things, because I don't care what Henri says, mesh just doesn't WORK with v1.
  • Even though we said we'll never update Phoenix again, now we're going to, though as I said, I'm profoundly against it.
  • Also, you idiots should upgrade your machines. I mean, my god, some of you can't even run SSE2-enabled viewers. What are you, five? Grow up and upgrade, damn it!
  • We've also installed RLV coding into Phoenix, even though I was also against that, because really, you people need to get better hobbies than deviant sex.
  • But get this through your thick heads, people--we won't update Phoenix again. This is it. This is all you get, and you should be goddamn thankful that anyone bothered with a stupid v1 viewer structure in the first place.
That sums up the major points pretty well, I think. I'm sure Miss Lyon could have been more dismissive if she tried, but she's not far from utter contempt now. It's darkly amusing coming from the former champion of V1 over everything else, this "get v2 or get out" attitude. Wonder what happened in the background to force her hand like this?

You know, other than Henri getting mesh to work in a V2 structure that has a V1 interface. Which she of course said couldn't be done.

[Insert from the Editrix: Henri's responded to the allegations in a calm, unruffled, and rational manner, pretty much striking down Lyon's raving point by point. It's a refreshing breath of logical air. Also, tip of the hat to friend Alex, for finding me the link.]

In a move that will surprise no one following the Google debacle, Google has now "streamlined" their appeals process--to make it even more likely to catch innocents and "guilty" (note, Google's definitions of guilt, there) alike:
"Apparently there's no limitation on the number of times Google might decide to take a disliking to your name, even if Google previously approved it, and you showed it government ID with that name on it."
Miss Tateru Nino said that, and she's absolutely right--Google has moved from evil with a side of baffling into supervillain status with this. And there's been no further resolution on how these "inappropriate" names are found; the amount of like or dislike generated in any particular Google employee seems fairly random. That hasn't really altered since July; they've just gotten a lot more harsh on things.

Another quote (from the second linked article):
We don't support pseudonymous use in Google+: we support the use of whatever name you use in your life.
On paper, at least, Google is maintaining a contradictory stance to begin with, because take cases like me. I use my real name with my bank and with government offices. Everyone else--and I mean that, just about everyone else, including family, close friends, the theatre we mainly go to, occasional acquaintances, catalogs, online purchases through Amazon and other entities, my insurance company, the clinics and hospitals I've attended, and most of my blogs--gets Emilly Orr.

In point of fact, not a few people closest to me, call me by that name and no other. Or they switch fluidly back and forth between Emilly and my "real" name. So "whatever name I use in my life"? That's Emilly, for the most part.

Yet that's the name Google doesn't want. I'm more than past glad I severed my Google+ profile when I did; my only fear now is that somehow, at some point, Google's going to make use of it mandatory for everyone.

And then...there's the ongoing JLU scandal. Now, I did say I was going to stop going through the SLUniverse threads and pulling out quotable bits, and I'm holding to that. But more has surfaced in the meantime, and Axi Kurmin is hot on the trail of the new revelations. She's even got the second part of the series up, and one of the first things she does is challenges everyone involved in the debate--on any side--to be clear on the terminology they're using. I quote:
"Defining your terms is important. It allows everyone to speak about a thing and actually be communicating the same ideas. When you don't define them, you wind up arguing over what they mean.

"I have also found that people like to change what things mean to suit themselves, particularly when they feel like calling someone nasty names. Whilst watching this story unfold, many people (self included) have noticed that the JLU (and their supporters) apparently aren't quite sure what the word 'griefer' means, because they keep stretching its boundaries farther and farther, even to include anyone who doesn't support them and says so in a public forum, and nothing more. Let us review:

"A griefer is a player in a multiplayer video game that deliberately irritates and harasses other players."
I took all of that, because I think all of that is important. Throughout everything on SLUniverse, and through both entries so far--and in the comments--on Search Engine Watch, she's remained clear, concise, and level-headed. She's not sinking to anyone's level; she's holding her own, and asking--nay, on occasion demanding--that we do the same. Civil discourse demands no less.

The problem is, as I've stated before, neither side seems interested in that. The few members who've come forward to support the JLU have either dissolved into hysterics, insisted that they're trustworthy simply because they are (recursive logic at its best), or flounced off under the "I just can't talk with you people" banner.

And the folks who stand against the JLU, most often, are descending into rabid over-emotionalism itself, because it's pretty difficult to remain calm and steadfast in the face of "we don't have to show you that" and "you can't HANDLE the truth!" proclamations.

At any rate, it will be an interesting series to watch.

In other news, this is just gorgeous, read all about decision fatigue, and afterwards, read about six fashion trends that actually killed people--including the crinoline skirt, and the corset. Fun!

And to wrap this up for you, I have four words: blood orange chocolate bat. That is all.

17 February, 2011

fun, fun, fun, in the sun, sun, sun

This from one of my groups:
LL is goign to be [switching] the blogs, forums, KB, and resident answers to the same system Best Buy got in trouble for using to track customers social media ussage. Additionally they are putting mandatory widgets on every post/coment you make. To try and get LL to make these opt in only please comment and watch https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/WEB-3667.
Okay, let me break all this down. Best Buy has a reputation for being a big box store with poorly-trained clerks and owners that have no clue what they're doing. Part of this, of course, is due to their buy-out of Geek Squad (owned by a group of geeks who genuinely cared about computer repair) and subsequent replacement of all staff with clerks who, in some cases, didn't even own computers in the first place. But that was just strike one.

Strike two happened back in 2009 when they used the same (or at least a very similar) system to try to pervert purely social media streams into 24/7 advertising for themselves that would raise sales.

Short version: they failed. Slightly less short version: they failed because people didn't like ads where they didn't want them (aka, chatting with their friends on Facebook or Twitter), and resented Best Buy's assertion that they "understood social media" while at the same time responding to precisely none of the pleas for help they received from customers who used social media and were complaining about Best Buy's abysmal service. As a subsequent result, those customers moved away from Best Buy to other (online as well as offline) retailers. Best Buy sales suffered tremendously as a result (though they've picked up by 61% in the last quarter of 2010. Of course, at least part of those profits were a result of corporate share buybacks...).

Same system, different company, and there is more than a little sharp taste of irony here, because when comparing Best Buy's languid, disparate customer service with Linden Labs' customer service, Best Buy actually looks like a customer that really, really listens...so having the same system pop up that failed with Best Buy as the Lindens' Next Big Thing?

Well, one, it should surprise none of us, and two, I think it ties very much into the previous JIRA I've been mentioning (now closed), with admittedly, about as much success in getting the Lindens to actually change their minds.

[02:20 AM] Turley Hallenbook is thinking, my Doctor is always asking me, if I am hearing any voices, now I'll have something different to tell him :)
[02:20 AM] Alexx McLaglen: lol
[02:22 AM] Turley Hallenbook: wonders if there is anyone brave enough to assist in if they can hear them too?
[02:22 AM] Turley Hallenbook: Or perhaps it is just me, myself and I
[02:22 AM] Alexx McLaglen: try to tp me, if you want, Ms H
[02:27 AM] Precipitate Flood: A tp? http://slurl.com/secondlife/Pacific%20Dreamz%20Lagoons/36/174/23 - it may get you away from the voices, if nothing else.
[02:28 AM] Garnet Psaltery: Good morning. What is the SLURL for, please?
[02:29 AM] Turley Hallenbook: oh, no, I believe it ate, Miss Alexx!!!
[02:29 AM] Turley Hallenbook: no here she comes :)
[02:29 AM] Precipitate Flood: Turley was complaining about hearing voices - a change of scene may help, or so I thought
[02:30 AM] Garnet Psaltery: Ah, how considerate of you :o)
[02:41 AM] Turley Hallenbook: oh my
[02:41 AM] Turley Hallenbook: it is so very loud now
[02:41 AM] Turley Hallenbook: and I have a witness ;)
[02:42 AM] Turley Hallenbook: But I don't know what happened to Miss Alexx


There is a haunt on the loose in one of the Caledon sims.

[02:47 AM] Turley Hallenbook: There is someone here with me, thank goodness
[02:48 AM] Turley Hallenbook: but can't find the location exactly the voice is, have narrowed it down to Miss Ouna's house
[02:49 AM] Turley Hallenbook: they hear it also
[02:49 AM] Emilly Orr: It might be that her parcel is set to play sounds beyond her parcel.
[02:50 AM] Turley Hallenbook: no matter, this sounds like a Ghost or Demon or maybe the Devil
[02:50 AM] Emilly Orr: Still could be sounds playing beyond her parcel.
[02:50 AM] Emilly Orr: Unless her parcel's haunted...
[02:51 AM] Turley Hallenbook: I believe it is, Miss Emilly
[02:51 AM] Turley Hallenbook: Has to be
[02:51 AM] Emilly Orr: That's not good.
[02:52 AM] Turley Hallenbook: someone should tell her and help her
[02:52 AM] Turley Hallenbook: I hope she hasn't been living with this, in fear of telling anyone


One does ponder the effectiveness of pixelated demons, or at least, when that one is me. This, plus reports of the ghost ship last summer...could be Caledon needs its own version of the Ghostbusters.

But we move on.

Share in the dinosaur love. Even if you don't like the Nostalgia Critic, or worse, don't know who he is, it is a hysterical joy to watch him dissect The Lost World: Jurassic Park. There's even a brief segment on how to properly do a Jeff Goldblum impersonation!

Lastly...with much trepidation, and not a little sick dread, I have downloaded the Phoenix viewer (build 1.5.2.908, to be precise). Two women I trust have either told me it's reliable, or demonstrated proof that it's reliable, and I am having an insane amount of difficulty dealing with Imprudence at this time.

Case in point: every single time over the past eight weeks I have logged in to SL, this is what happens:

1. Log in.
2. Notice "Loading", sigh, clear cache, and log out.
3. Log in and clear cache and log out again.
4. Log in, take a teleport, and crash.
5. Curse Imprudence, log in, clear cache, log out.
6. Log in again and wait half an hour for my inventory to load.

This was bad enough when I was just a sales clerk, but now that I'm an estate manager it's an incredible time sink, and it's beyond frustrating that it happens every. single. damned. time.

It is far from a secret that I feel as if the people behind Phoenix, and Emerald behind them, did the grid a great disservice and injustice. I do not trust them. I do not trust their viewers, I do not trust the people coding their viewers, I do not trust that the Lindens worked with some of them earlier and then turned on them for what may have been entirely separate issues. I do not trust anyone involved with either project.

And it doesn't help that I feel as if I'm jumping into the shark tank after having slashed open veins in my thighs with broken glass, but...I also feel I have zero alternatives. I won't use viewer 2 unless it's that or leave SL...and at that point, I will likely leave SL...but also, Imprudence has completely lost all effectiveness (in my opinion).

So...bring on the sharks. We'll see how it goes.

there's nothing but chains around me

Allll right then. Let's talk about (hopefully) this year's haunt, Neon Ascendance. (Which needs a better name.) So the first hic...