f13.net

Linden Lab hearts Open Source

No, really. They're announcing today the release of open source clients for Windows, OSX and Linux, along with the source. Anyone who wants to will be able to connect to the Second Life service with a custom-compiled client - so long as they obey the network protocol, at least.

Source: CNN/Money.

They must have been modded down on slashdot for not having a open source client.

I fail to see anything that gets me too excited about this. I suppose someone might modify the client so everyone appears as Jessica Alba instead of someone wearing a catsuit or walking around with a giant peen. So I suppose this is a good thing.

Hey Bot you left out all the interesting links:

Blog post (http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/01/08/embracing-the-inevitable/)
Press release (http://lindenlab.com/press/releases/01_08_07)
Open Source overview and FAQ (http://secondlife.com/developers/opensource/)

Copied from here:

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=9042

Meh. I just saw news this morning, wasn't really interested enough to really go all Internet Detective on it.

Heh, all those links are on the front page of www.secondlife.com. I was trying to get to sleep otherwise I would've posted a front page article myself.

I'm bothered by this sort of thing in general.  As a lazy ass, I'm just cutting and pasting myself from my spew over on Zen of Design (http://www.zenofdesign.com/?p=807#comments).

While opening the interface has many good points, it is one of my pet peeves that MMOs typically require me to use third party products to have an optimal experience. I don’t want to download from third parties. I have several systems on any of my computers to stop people from downloading third party software onto my computer, so anything that requires my to do so intentionally drives my paranoid little brain bonkers.

When I buy a software product, I do so with the expectation that, in the worst case, I can go down to somebody’s corporate address and rant at the receptionist until security drags me away. It has never happened, but I feel better knowing the company is willing to make some hapless low-paid employee take that risk for them.

The user interface is, in many respects, the game. It is the fundamental lens through which users experience a software product. It should not suck so badly that most people will be eager to use something somebody not affiliated with your team built instead.

The is a fine line between a user customizable interface, and not finishing the game. This is one of too many examples that cross that line.

Edit:
Quasi-related link - Here is a fine Jeff Freeman post on a UI problem. (http://mythicalblog.com/blog/2007/01/04/bad-user-interface-my-thermostat/) 

Fixed it for myself.  :oops: