The Phoenix Viewer now has a new website in place, with a blog on the front page. This new blog will be our primary and I will turn this blog into my personal.Though I may not use it very much as I hate blogging.
Thank you to all who have been following the Phoenix viewer and myself here and I look forward to seeing your comments in our new blog at http://phoenixviewer.com
Our server provider was hit with a DDOS attack over night and had effectively gone offline. The attack was not aimed specifically at Phoenix but rather at service providers across the internet. More info about the mass DDOS here: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/06/2283745/anonymous-cyber-protest-group.html
Things effected by this outage in your viewer will be client tag colors and a message stating “This viewer was not made by Phoenix…“. You can safely ignore that message. We have restarted our server now and it seems to be stable again. We apologize for the inconvenience.
In partnership with Rezzed.tv, the Phoenix Dev team begins our first bi-weekly Televised Office Hour today at 2pmSLT. This helps us reach more of you and is an opportunity for you to stay up to date with what we are doing and to ask questions directly to the Dev Team. If you can’t make it in world http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzed%20TV%20Island/69/206/24 due to the 60 agent limit, you can watch it live here: http://phoenix.rezzed.tv . You can ask your questions in the chat window provided or on twitter using the hashtags mentioned on that webpage. More info about this on going partnership here: http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/doku.php?id=office_hours . We hope to see you all there!!
I am VERY pleased to announce the release of our fastest and most stable version yet! Get it from our downloads page here http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/doku.php?id=downloads .
See the change log here: http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/doku.php?id=change_log_1.5.1.373
Plus! Today will be the first of a series of televised Phoenix Office Hours! Phoenix has partnered with Rezzed.tv in order to bring our office hours to a larger audience. It will begin today at 2pm SLT. More information here. http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/doku.php?id=office_hours
First, the good…
I’m very pleased to announce the release of our Phoenix Viewer 1.5.1.225 release. This release addresses the stability and crash issues we were having as well as media issues. It also has some major performance improvements as well as some new features like Progressive Draw Distance stepping designed to help close objects rez faster for you. I will add the change log on this version at the bottom of this post. I’m also very pleased to say that the Phoenix Viewer has soared in popularity very fast with yesterday alone showing over 334 thousand logins, with 64,152 of them unique by household. Those are amazing numbers considering how new this project is!
And now the sad news…
I’m sad to announce the departure of Dimentox Travanti and Miss Wright from our development team. Dimentox has been an absolute asset, and we wouldn’t be nearly as far as we are today without his dedication and contributions. He has been extremely generous to this project by allowing us to use his servers and, he has donated countless hours of his time in code. Miss Wright has also spent a lot of time and dedication to our project in many ways, including a custom skin for our viewer and alot of documentation. Their departure was a result of a difference in opinion on how the project and team should be run. We are sad to see them go and wish them both much success in their future projects.
The Phoenix Project and its team will continue making advances in this viewer and in the future, a Viewer 2 for the residents of Second Life.
Change log to Phoenix Viewer 1.5.1.225
ADDED
Phoenix selection beam: Prefs> Phoenix > Avatar > Selection beam particle effects > Phoenix
New default Phoenix skin: Prefs> skins> Select skin> “Firebird”
Build floater addition: Edit window > Edit axis at root and show highlight
Built in IRC: Contacts> IRC>
Re added Ctrl-Alt-E for edit linked parts.
Added Nvidia Geforce GTX 460/470/480 Support
Option to colour friends chat in a different colour: Prefs> Text chat> Chat Color> “Friends” And “Color text in chat from my friends in a different color” (check box below)
Improved performance with SSE2 and Vectorization.
Added ability to see your own tag color: Prefs> phoenix> Shields> Phoenix Tag Color> “Show your own color” (check box)
FIXED
Media fixes
Crash fixes
OpenJPEG fixes and updated too version 1.4
Memory leak fixes
PHOE-54 – Second right click of about land doesn’t display correct info
PHOE-319 – Fixed PhoenixRenderHighlightSelections: Tools > show selection outlines
Client tag issues between Emerald and Phoenix
PHOE-503 – Text on spell check tab runs off floater
Fixed crouch toggle from messing up controls in vehicles
Fixed bug in copy key button
fixed chat window transparency bug
CHANGED
Removed the ability to use gestures to change draw distance, as code improvements make it obsolete. Progressive draw distance stepping. http://www.phoenixviewer.com:3000/projects/phoenixviewer/wiki/ProgressiveDrawDistanceStepping
Dissolved friendship notification now comes through a dialog in the top right corner of your screen.
Optimized and updated bridge
I am very pleased to announce, that the Phoenix Viewer is now on the Linden Lab Third Party Viewer Directory. You can see this directory here. http://viewerdirectory.secondlife.com/ .
We are in a flurry rush currently to get an updated version out with media fixes, and hope to have this update out within the next day or two. Please stay tuned to our website or this blog for updates. http://phoenixviewer.com/
Thank you!
From the ashes… the Phoenix has risen.
My name is Jessica Lyon. My goal during my time with the Emerald Project, was always to give the users what they want. That goal has never and will never change. I’m very happy to announce, it continues…
A few days ago, I assembled a team of developers to work on a new viewer. Some who were originally Emerald developers, some who were not. All are respected reputable residents in the SecondLife Community. The goal was simple, to provide users with what they want and do it transparently.
I’m am very proud to announce the launch of the Phoenix Viewer. This project, has started off simple, with it’s initial release of a safe clone of the Emerald viewer. Users want Emerald features, you shall have them. We have big plans to expand to the Snowstorm project as well. We have already applied for the TPVD, to which we have no doubt we will be accepted in a timely fashion. We have already started making in world groups for support, (Phoenix Viewer Support), beta testing etc. There is much more to do… however…
This Viewer is ready for use by you, right now!
For this project, I insist on, and everyone on this team insists on 100% public transparency in EVERYTHING we do. We have already established a public IRC Dev chat, public repo and are working on much much more.
Our developers are; (in alphabetical order), Dakun Flux, Dimentox Travanti, Jessica Lyon, Kitty Barnett, LordGregGreg Back, Techwolf Lupindo, Tonya Souther, Vortex Saito, Wickman Gibbs, with more to come.
Our Lead Developers are: Dimentox Travanti, LordGregGreg Back, Techwolf Lupindo, Tonya Souther.
Ed Merryman will be leading our support team: Aleia Sapphire, bee Baroque, Damian Zhaoying, Ed Merryman, Marybeth Oceanlane, Mindy Spiritor, Nisa Maverick, PixelProphet Lane, Toy LaFollette, Vortex Saito, Whirly Fizzle, Wolfspirit Magic.
Our website is still in progress, however we have up the required links. http://phoenixviewer.com .
More information here http://www.phoenixviewer.com:3000/projects/phoenixviewer/wiki
Downloads. http://www.phoenixviewer.com:3000/projects/phoenixviewer/wiki/Betadownloads .
Public repo http://www.phoenixviewer.com:3000/projects/phoenixviewer/repository
I am very pleased and excited about this project, and I hope that you will be too.
Sincerely,
Jessica Lyon and the Phoenix Viewer Development Team.
I suppose I should defend myself against Arabella’s accusations. To which, I will quote this “- The primary issue that resulted in the demise of Emerald was the attempted and failed takeover of the project, far in advance of any requirements deadline set by Lindenlab. This hostile takeover was initiated by Jessica Lyon. ”
As you can see by my post below, outlining that in no capacity would LL allow emerald to continue with Skills, Phox (lonely bluebird), and Discrete. And with Lonely’s refusal to step down, the only option in my mind, was to find a way to forcibly remove him from the team in order for emerald to comply with LL’s requirements. Now if you want to call that a “take over”, your free to do so. I see it as doing the last possible thing I could to keep the project alive. I even offered to step down and resign myself, if phox would step down so the project could survive.
I’m quite sure that Phox is preparing a final emerald release which will circumvent LL’s ability to block it. Also keep in mind that this build will be done entirely by him with no one else verifying any code. Use it at your own risk.
That said, a bit of dev chat…
[12:55:32 PM] Jessica Trinity: phox, if you stay, they will block emerald
[12:58:24 PM] Jessica Trinity: none of us want emerald to die except you right now
[12:59:10 PM] Jessica Trinity: and as far as I can tell, none of us are willing to risk emerald except you.
[1:00:14 PM] Phox: I believe emerald has a great chance of dying without me.
[1:00:26 PM] Jessica Trinity: emerald has a better chance of continuing without you than with you
[1:00:33 PM] Phox: I feel differently.
[1:00:44 PM] Jessica Trinity: We have a good list of very experienced dev’s wanting on the team
[1:01:09 PM] Phox: I’m sure you do o.o
[1:01:16 PM] Jessica Trinity: Essentially, staying means your willing to kill emerald
[1:01:23 PM] Jessica Trinity: this makes me sad
[1:01:23 PM] Phox: If that’s how you see it, sure.
[1:01:35 PM] Jessica Trinity: how can you be that selfish?
[1:01:41 PM] Phox: I don’t know.
[1:02:01 PM] Jessica Trinity: users aside, everyone here is here because we want to see emerald succeed
[1:02:09 PM] Jessica Trinity: and we’re still here because we believe it can
[1:02:34 PM] Jessica Trinity: leaving for the sake of the project would be the only honorable thing to do hon
[1:02:55 PM] Phox: I guess I’m not honorable then.
[1:03:04 PM] Jessica Trinity: so your willing to be the reason emerald dies?
[1:03:25 PM] Phox: No, Linden Lab will be the reason Emerald dies, regardless of what I do.
[1:03:35 PM] Phox: If my staying results in that outcome, well you can say I told you so.
[1:03:40 PM] Jessica Trinity: phox, I know we can keep emerald alive
[1:04:46 PM] Jessica Trinity: I can’t believe you’re willing to kill this project just because of.. well, I don’t know why?
[1:04:58 PM] Phox: Well when you figure it out, let me know
[1:05:01 PM] Jessica Trinity: Why are you willing to kill this project by staying?
[1:05:37 PM] Jessica Trinity: do you not care about the project?
[1:05:51 PM] Phox: Obviously, I don’t care at all
[1:05:54 PM] Phox: I’m here for the money, you know that
[1:05:57 PM] Jessica Trinity: after all the time and work you put into it, your willing to just let LL kill it?
[1:06:09 PM] Jessica Trinity: there will be no money in it when it’s dead
[1:06:16 PM] Phox: …
[1:06:20 PM] Jessica Trinity: believe me, LL is 100% prepared and willing to kill this project.
[1:06:23 PM] Phox: There is no money in it now, that’s the point.
[1:06:30 PM] Jessica Trinity: Then why stay?
[1:06:35 PM] Jessica Trinity: why kill it
[1:06:38 PM] Phox: Like I said, you figure it out.
[1:06:46 PM] Phox: I’m not going to sit here and argue with you about this
[1:06:47 PM] Jessica Trinity: I can’t figure it out phox, because it makes no sense.
[1:07:14 PM] Jessica Trinity: If i was told to leave, and i had to leave to keep this project going i wouldn’t think twice about it. I would be sad, but i would also be proud that i made the sacrifice to keep it alive
[1:07:48 PM] Phox: Well when I’m told to do something I don’t immediately bend over and let linden lab fuck me.
[1:08:00 PM] Jessica Trinity: phox, they are going to kill the project
[1:08:04 PM] Jessica Trinity: are you living in denial?
[1:08:05 PM] Phox: Let them
Emerald Project Team:
We have removed the Emerald viewer from our Third-Party Viewer Directory because of its multiple violations of our Policy on Third-Party Viewers.
Our Policy prohibits the intentional targeting of third-party sites as was done recently by the Emerald viewer’s login page. Specifically, the Policy prohibits the distribution of harmful functionality like denial of service attacks or griefing attacks. (TPVP section 2.d.iii)
Our Policy also requires a published privacy policy that specifically describes what user data the third-party viewer collects, stores, or uses, and how it uses, displays, or shares that data. (TPVP section 4.b.i).
The published privacy policy for the Emerald viewer does not disclose what user information the viewer collects. When it came to our attention that the Emerald viewer was collecting the installation path without stripping any user account names present in the path, and storing it in textures produced by the viewer’s graphics library wrapper, we asked that this code be altered to omit full directory paths. After assurances from Emerald developers (Lonely Bluebird) that the code would be altered, we were disappointed to learn that instead of stopping the practice of adding data to textures, the Emerald viewer code encrypted the data in order to obfuscate the data collection practices.
In addition to violating our Policy on Third-Party Viewers, these actions are significant breaches of the trust of the Second Life community. Please remedy these breaches immediately by taking the steps outlined below. Taking these steps is critical to providing transparency around Emerald’s viewer functionality and collection of user data, and to ensuring that the viewer complies with Linden Lab policies and the law. The steps alone do not, however, guarantee that the Emerald viewer will be readmitted to the Third-Party Viewer Directory.
Please respond to this notice no later than this Friday, August 27 and confirm the date by which you will have completed the above steps. Failure to comply with the steps may result in further action by Linden Lab, beyond removal from the Third-Party Viewer Directory. We look forward to your prompt response.
Sincerely,
Oz Linden
And our second response from LL was.
Your responses are acceptable, with the following exceptions and clarifications:
Each of the above issues must be addressed no later than Friday September 3rd or Linden Lab will begin taking steps that will culminate in blocking all access by the Emerald Viewer.
With respect to the identification of contributors: the use of age or payment verification will not be sufficient. We will provide more details on the new requirements as part of updates to the Third Party Viewer Directory policies; these will apply to all new applications, not just yours. Specifics are still being worked on, and I’ll share them publicly as soon as possible, but the essence of the change is that each person with commit access to the viewer code or any project web assets served through the viewer will need to individually execute a certification of compliance with the Third Party Viewer Policy, including real identification and addressing information. Those identities will be confidential.
With respect to the public code repository – the googlecode repository is acceptable, but a link to it should be added to the set of links in your project web site footer, not only on the FAQ page.
It’s pretty clear, there was no choice but to have those three people off the team in order for emerald to continue.
Dated: Sept 1st, 2010 1:15 EST.
It is with great sadness and disappointment that I write this entry.
As of some time this morning, all access to the servers have been severed to all but Arabella Steadham and Lonely Bluebird. Neither me, nor any of the other Emerald Developers have the ability to put out releases at this time. Beyond the recent beta 2587, we also cannot certify the safety or validity of any future releases.
Now, I made a promise to everyone to disclose the remaining requirements from LL. Those final two requirements that were given to us by LL, was to have a release out by Friday September the 3rd that would not support emkdu or llkdu even if one of the files was present, and that Lonely Bluebird, Skills Hak and Discrete Dreamscape be removed from the project. The alternative was that LL would block the viewer from access to the SecondLife Grid. While Discrete and Skills gracefully stepped down, Lonely refused. A long argument ensued in dev chat and, I created a new dev chat, where most of us discussed how we could remove Lonely from the project, however it failed. Ultimately Lonely has removed access to the servers and has also stated that he is applying for trademark on the Emerald Viewer name. Preventing us from continuing on the project without him. < Correction, I’m informed it wasn’t Lonely but rather Fractured who applied for the trademark. >
Unless circumstances change, in my opinion, the Emerald Viewer Project is dead. We simply cannot achieve a release by the deadline given to us under the current circumstances.
Without access to the server and website, I am forced to make a very difficult decision as I will not allow myself to be held accountable to anything that happens from this day on in regards to Emerald.
With that said, I here by officially resign from the Emerald Viewer Project.
I no longer have access to post on the modular systems blog, so I have created a temporary personal blog here https://jessicalyons.wordpress.com . It will be on this blog where I will post future developments with myself and possibly the remaining Emerald Developers. We are considering, (only considering) the possibility of creating a new viewer, to be on the TPVD, picking up where Emerald left off. IF we do, you will have the same features as Emerald Viewer. The motivation for this would be purely to give the existing loyal Emerald users a TPVP compliant alternative with a fresh future.
I would like to thank, all of our dedicated and loyal users for your support through these difficult and confusing times. I would also like to thank our support team, for all of their hard work and relentless dedication to the emerald viewer project and to helping our users. Also to thank our beta testers who helped Emerald viewer be a quality product.
Sincerely,
Jessica Lyon.
Jessica Lyon's Blog 