[Opensim-dev] OpenSim's direction after Linden cutting support, and the possibility of an official OpenSim viewer

[M.E. Verhagen]

+1 for seperate viewers for opensim.


2012/12/11 GarminKawaguichi <garmin.kawaguichi at magalaxie.com>

>  I much prefer using Firestorm for OpenSim since developers have clearly
> separated Opensim version from the SL one. Firestorm 431 31155 version is
> very powerful and there are of course some lacks.
> But Firestorm developers are very responsive and they opened a section
> OpenSim in their Jira (successfully tested).
>
>  On the other hand, we can always think that people who have made a server would
> be best placed to make a viewer. Except that this would lead to a
> paradoxical situation where OpenSim developers ask Linden Lab permission
> to use sources V2/3/4, keeping in mind that the issue of licenses would
> remain the same that with the SL viewer and the viewer FireStorm.
>
> As for building a viewer from scratch, as did our realXtend friends ....
> it's difficult to gather enough people and get results in a significant
> delay.
>
> GCI
>
> Le 11/12/2012 00:08, Mircea Kitsune a écrit :
>
>  Hey everyone. I've been away from OpenSim for a while but got back. Since
> last time I've been around, I read about Linden's decision to cut OpenSim
> support from their viewer due to some crazy licenses with their physics
> engine. The rights and wrongs have been discussed and are not the point of
> this email. But this decision means that in some senses, OpenSim will
> become completely separate from Linden's SL, and some fundamental things
> might change. I wanted both to ask what exactly is going to happen, but
> also post my own suggestion. Obviously I'm not someone who can say what's
> good and bad, but personally this is what I strongly believe OpenSim should
> do and go for.
>
> The way I see things, OpenSim has primarily been a server-side for Second
> Life during its existence. Even if its purpose is a general virtual worlds
> platform, SL was the only usable viewer in practice. Now that LL cut its
> support, it's in the situation of having no exact client to be used with.
> There are many third-party viewers that will continue supporting OpenSim,
> but IMHO they can't be considered a reliable source in the long term. I
> assume most of them have their own developers which take decisions
> independently from the OpenSim team. If one of those viewers dies for
> instance, it's up to the user to go looking for another one that's still
> under development. Apart from the fact that people have to hunt for a
> viewer, this situation also kept OpenSim from being able to make changes
> that would require viewer modifications as well.
>
> My opinion is that OpenSim won't get far if it relies on random viewer
> forks to be used with at this point. We are not a clear standard
> technology, unlike web browsers for instance where you can use Apache to
> host and FireFox to browse, both unrelated and a variety of choices
> available for each. This is not to say OpenSim should be unusable with
> viewers unrelated to SL, since that would go against its purpose. But the
> SL viewer is a very large and complex thing, and there will surely never be
> anyone making a client from scratch which will implement all of its
> features, look as good, be as fast, as bug free, etc. The building and prim
> editing tools, the terrain editor, the avatar and mesh system, the
> rendering features, the GUI... it's unlikely anyone will properly re-write
> all that from zero when the SL viewer exists and works fine.
>
> This is why I believe we need our own official viewer, developed by and
> with the OpenSim server, and based on one of the Second Life viewers. Apart
> from the fact that people will know they don't depend on someone else to
> make them a viewer, it would allow client + server changes to be done for
> the first time, rather than having to stay within the SL viewer's limits.
> If that doesn't happen, I don't believe we'll ever become a better virtual
> worlds platform outside of SL's shadow. I remember the days of RealXtend (I
> heard it's dead now) which took the SL viewer in one hand, OpenSim in
> another, and created its very own project which was completely amazing for
> those days (SL now has mesh support and better graphics so it makes
> RealXtend less special at this day). My personal opinion is that it's time
> OpenSim does something similar.
>
> If it was me, I'd say grab the latest SL viewer without the restrictive
> Havoc library and make OpenSim viewer from that. If Linden adds a nice
> feature to theirs which we can copy over, sure thing, but otherwise it can
> go its own separate way. On the other hand, it would be a good aim to allow
> previous SL viewers to still connect to OpenSim, though they wouldn't
> recognize some of its specific features then. I know OS and SL and under
> two different licenses, but that doesn't make it wrong to distribute both
> on the same website and as part of the same project.
>
> What does the core team of OpenSim think about this? Are there any plans
> or will to go in this direction? Or does anyone believe that instead we
> should continue providing support for SL's features and have OpenSim users
> find their own clients like until now? I believe this is an important
> question, and would like to know what to expect in the future. Personally I
> really hope something in this direction will be decided, but I'm not one to
> know best.
>
>
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