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The future of the Cool SL Viewer 
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Joined: 2009-03-17 18:42:51
Posts: 5523
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For the ones among you who didn't already read it in the blog, here is what I posted about the new third parties viewers policy:

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While I will make the Cool SL Viewer fully policy-compliant (not much work on the operational code changes: just one line of code to change, but more work on the "brandification" of the viewer to comply with stuff like not displaying the SL page when connecting to grids without a login page, etc...), I will NOT register it into the directory.

Why ?

Because Linden Lab requires personnal data that is not needed by them (should I violate their policy after registering into the directory and should they want to sue me, a judge in France can easily request my personal data from my ISP based on my IP, so Linden Lab does NOT need my snail mail address, and in fact not even my real life name !), and even WORST, they do say in the registration form that my Real Life name may be displayed in their directory.

Well, sorry Linden Lab, but this in violation of the French Law "Informatique et Liberté" and would be an unacceptable breach of my privacy.

I suggest that you revise your policy to comply with international laws.

There is also a flame war raging on the sldev mailing list about the TPV policy and its compatibility with the GPL...

Anyway, since I don't wish to fight futilely for something which, for me, is only a part time hobby, I will either comply to whatever reasonable terms LL ends up with, or will stop publishing my own viewer. Thankfully, it looks like Linden Lab is listening to the complaints of the open source developers on the mailing list, so we might end up with an acceptable compromise.

Looking forward such a compromise, and although no one at Linden Lab ever asked for a name change of the Cool SL Viewer, I am making myself ready to rename it.

So far, i came up with two possible names.
The first one (which I thought about as soon as they published their trademark policy) is the "Cool VL Viewer", with "VL" standing for "virtual life". The advantage of such a name is that it is close enough to the old one for people to follow up without "loosing track" of the viewer.
The second one is "Burning Ice". It comes from the motto I use for my products in SL ("Cool Products... They are hot !") and from a logo a SL friend made for me (the burning ice cube you can see here). after all, the Cool SL Viewer is both "cool" and pretty "hot" as well, no ?... :)

So, as users of this viewer, what kind of name would you prefer ?


2010-02-24 23:52:50
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Joined: 2009-03-18 09:32:02
Posts: 246
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Well, my "Cool Viewer Ported To SnowGlobe" is named "FrozenGlobe" since its "cool + snow"...

"Burning Ice"... thats the title of a novel of one of my fave authors. seconded.


2010-02-25 08:16:06
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Joined: 2010-02-25 09:04:09
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Personally, I like the name 'Burning Ice'. :)


2010-02-25 09:06:14
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Joined: 2009-09-08 01:27:46
Posts: 172
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I always refer to Cool SL Viewer as just Cool Viewer, and it's the name I use when telling friends about it.


2010-02-25 19:30:46
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Joined: 2009-03-17 18:42:51
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Zauber Exonar wrote:
I always refer to Cool SL Viewer as just Cool Viewer, and it's the name I use when telling friends about it.
Please, don't do that... the "Cool Viewer" name was an attempt by Boy Lane to rename *my* viewer without *my* permission and then to make it believe it's hers.

The name of my viewer is the "Cool SL Viewer". Period.


2010-02-25 20:17:10
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Joined: 2009-09-08 01:27:46
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Sorry, I had not been aware of that.

PS: I like the name Burning Ice too.


2010-02-25 22:19:39
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Joined: 2009-09-08 01:27:46
Posts: 172
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Well, seems like LL is reworking the TPV policy. Not only because it apparently violates the GPL, but it is completely impossible to develop a 3rd party viewer and be in compliance with the TPV policy. Looks like another glaring oversight from Linden Lab.

http://www.massively.com/2010/02/26/sec ... -received/


2010-02-26 18:55:34
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Joined: 2010-03-27 15:10:12
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Hopefully LL can get things together and make 3rd party developers want to still be a part of viewer development. They get the work done for free so they would be foolish not to continue taking advantage of intelligent developers/programmers. I selfishly want the viewers to continue since Cool SL viewer is by far the quickest and most stable for me of all choices.

PS: I also think Burning Ice is a great name


2010-03-27 15:35:22
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Joined: 2009-09-08 01:27:46
Posts: 172
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LL has republished the new version of the TPV, and the serious issues that it had are still present.

Imprudence's developers closely looked through the TPV, and found numerous glaring flaws. They have decided to remove Second Life from their grid selector, and will be focusing entirely on OpenSim. Those wanting to use Second Life will need to manually add it to the grid selector: http://imprudenceviewer.org/2010/03/26/ ... er-policy/


2010-03-28 21:43:14
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Joined: 2009-03-17 18:42:51
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I think there is a lot of exaggeration from some developers about the interpretation of the TPV.

I personally do not see any definitive incompatibility, since the TPV does not replace the GPL, but only deals with what a third parties viewer should do or not do to be allowed to connect to the SL grid.

There may be some fuzzy phrases open to misinterpretation, but this would easily fall under the "abusive clauses" category if used to sue someone.

I therefore do not fear the TPV and I am ready to at least try to go with it. I will simply add my own disclaimers as a warning window, the first time the newly branded viewer is used, clarifying any point I find to be fuzzy, which should be more than enough to cover my ass...

I will however NOT register my viewer in the TPV directory, since Linden Lab still requires personal data I am not ready to give away and won't trust them to keep this data safe.

As for the name of the viewer, although "Burning Ice" indeed sounds great, I decided it will be "Cool VL Viewer", because I want to keep a clear relationship with the former "Cool SL Viewer" name. "Burning Ice" will however be used as a nickname, and will appear in the login screen logo when no login screen is available for the grid you are connecting to.

I am currently in the process of "brandifying" the two branches of the Cool VL Viewer, so you can expect new releases soon (and before the 30th April deadline).


2010-04-01 18:22:12
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