Today marks one year on since Linden Lab launched the new Viewer 2 Public Beta to the SL community to try out. Viewer 2 public beta page was released to the public on 23rd, February 2010, around 9:45am PST, which is 5:45pm UK time. T Linden hosted his keynotes speech at SL Pro 2010 and then Viewer 2 was shortly released soon after that. I published my review of Viewer 2 on launch day which can be found here which includes screenshots of Viewer 2. Screenshot below of version 2.5.
Since the launch of Viewer 2 there has been tons of mixed opinions about display names, web-based profiles, inworld search, the user-interface, privacy controls etc in the past year. Viewer 2 does come with improvements that Viewer 1 didn’t have like Mesh, HTML on a prim, easier SLURL navigation, landmarks bar, favourite places on Login screen, performance increases and lot’s more.
There are inworld weekly meetings with the Snowstorm Team every Tuesday and Wednesday about the developments, design and coding of Viewer 2 which are useful if you like following the latest updates. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens between now and the 2nd anniversary of Viewer 2 if it reaches that milestone and look back on the developments of V2. I would imagine that sometime during 2011 Linden Lab will turn off Viewer 1.23 completely.
Today on Viewer 2.5 there are still residents that use Viewer 2 but many have chosen to switch to Third Party Viewers in the past year and they will remain on TPVs until something different comes along in the near future.
What are your opinions one year later on Viewer 2 ?
Daniel Voyager 
Search still sucks big time. When you search for ‘Linden’ in the People search, the fifth mention is the first actual Linden (I believe Puppy Linden or some similar name). The rest are Linden dollar scams / lotteries and the like – not even people. That just about sums up the splendour of Search.
Having made the change after a two year period of absence, meaning that I had to get used to everything again anyway, I really don’t hate much else. Some functions are infuriatingly hidden though, like making a ‘new shirt’. I find myself editing old ones to make something new.
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I’m not a very demanding user when it comes to the viewer but I like the Viewer 2 a lot. Mind you.. I dont build of design anything, just DJ some which happens outside the viewer anyways.
I always hated the 1.x bases viewer because of their complete non-windows interface. The Viewer 2 didnt improve much on that part but at least it had a more modern look and feel. The first versions sucked, screen cluttered with lots of unneeded stuff – but all in all I like it a lot these days…
just my 2 cts
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Wow, a year already? I started with the public beta, and at first I only used it to play around with it and try out, but for ‘serious’ stuff I went back to my old version..Within 2 weeks I was tired of switching back and forth and stayed in Viewer 2 ever since. Well, not really…as I have used Kirstens S20 and S21 for some time as well. The last 4 months I only use the official V2 and have no issues whatsoever. I like the webprofiles, I am completely used to all features and layout/UI and experience it as a ‘fast’ viewer (when katanafighting).
(I tried the old viewer a couple of weeks ago and was shocked I could not find anything back!!).
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(Ponders a witty, caustic rejoinder using “Phoenix” and “Cold, dead hands.”)
-ls/cm
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I actually enjoy Viewer 2 bunches. Though the early versions really were painful to swallow. During the beta version and first couple release versions I kept popping back an forth between Viewer 2 and Imprudence.
But now, I think Viewer 2 has matured very nicely. Certainly it’s not perfect by a long way, but it is stable and with many very easy and fun features (outfits tab, anyone?) that I use it 100% of the time now.
but also, as a side note, I am wary of third party viewers ever since the “Emeraldgate” scenario, especially Phoenix because it is more or less the same development team. I am NOT saying it’s a bad viewer. In fact, I am thinking it is an excellent viewer!
It’s just a mental block for ~me~ that I recognize affects only ~me~. 🙂
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Thanks for the comments. 🙂
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I have nothing *against* Viewer 2, and I try it every now and then, but there is nothing compelling about it (for me). There isn’t a single new feature that interests me. In fact, there are some features — like outfits — that I wish I could turn off.
Also, Viewer 2 seems to assume that residents are using voice. Again, I have nothing against voice… but I don’t use it and don’t know anyone who does. Text chat is easier in other viewers.
The last time I tried it, I felt that if I *had* to adjust (i.e., if it was the only viewer available) I could. But I don’t think I’d ever like it. It feels like too much is missing… everyday functionality is hidden and difficult to find. There’s a learning curve, but it’s a curve without a payoff.
I still don’t see that I’d gain anything by switching to Viewer 2. But I will keep trying it, every so often. And if I ever feel that it *would* be worth switching, I’ll switch.
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We’re a building company. We will not use it.
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Cant stand it!
Tried it on the beggining tried it when emerald drams happened.
Phoenix All the way!
As it seems more then 75pct of users, lol!
Sl should put that dead horse aside as snowstorm, and embrace Phoenix team and Firestorm.
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UI-wise, Viewer 2 has been pretty nice, a modern face-lift… but it takes more clicks to get to where you want, can’t open multiple windows, search is slow and clunky vs. old viewer, and now with 2.5 it’s completely laggy and unstable. Why is it that I can have graphics on max. (especially draw distance) with e.g. Hippo viewer but not in viewer 2?
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Been using V.2 from the beginning of it. It surely was a dramatic change from 1.23 and many people turned on it for that reason in general. For me, I like HTML on a prim a whole lot! And I use the landmarks bar capabilities all the time and the SLURL navigation improvements. And the linking of objects in the inventory such as clothing items in outfits. After a year, the die-hards still singing the praises of 1.23 are becoming boring, really.
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A user of Viewer 2 since day one and loving it more each release. Fast, Easy and Fun, yea, that’s Viewer 2. I could sing all its praises but most have heard it all before. 😉
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Comparing Viewer 2 as it was in the beginning, to how it is now, it has improved enormously.This is undoubtedly because the good folks at LL are listening to the residents, and are happily making use of the TPV developers’ skills too.
I test the different viewers on a regular basis, but am currently still finding Phoenix is my personal preference.
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