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I downloaded the beta of Second Life’s viewer with a little bit of uncertainy. After all, at least half of the viewer upgrades I do result in something that pisses me off. I figured a massive jump from 1.whatever to 2 was bound to leave me frustrated with something.

Now there’s already a ton of posts out there about the shared media malarky and all that jazz. This one isn’t about that.Instead it’s more a summary of the stuff I like, and the stuff I don’t. I’m not expecting you all to care what I like and there is a good chance that after more usage, I might change my mind about the stuff I don’t like. But anyway…

I like…

• The fact the the CTRL P shortcut still brings the preferences box up because I sure as Hell wouldn’t have a chance of finding it otherwise.
• It didn’t break my graphics. When I first upgraded from 1.22 to 1.23, anything with particles turned into a blob reminiscent of something out of a bad horror movie. This is the point at which I started using Emerald.
• The in world dashboard access… fantastic!! This is so, so long overdue.
• The ability to just access exactly what you’re wearing now in it’s own panel rather than having to type “worn” into your inventory window whatsit. It’s just… convenient.
• The colour scheme. Yes, it’s plain. And it probably won’t change the world or bring about world peace. But I like it.
• The fact that avatar profile pics show up as thumbnails at the side of the person’s name in your buddy list. Again, it won’t change the world, but I like it.
• Teleport history for the current session is readily available.

I don’t like…

• The way that people’s profiles display. It’s just…. annoying.
• The chat bar being so much smaller. I don’t  know why, but it irritates me.
• The fact that I can’t find where to change my bloody voice on shortcut thingie. The previous viewer allowed me to access voice setting via preferences and from there I was able to set it so that mic was open whenever I held ctrl down (when not on hands free anyway). I cannot figure out for the life of me how to do this in viewer 2. I am going to do Linden Lab the justice of offering benefit of the doubt and assuming that this is just because I am having a retard moment. If anyone does know how to do this, your assistance would be appreciated.

What I am trying to do is to comment less on “how different it is,” because at this stage, as I am still getting used to it, that’s something I could probably complain all day about. But I do agree with what LL are saying – it is going to be far more ‘familiar’ feeling to newer residents. And I think that newer residents will also begin to feel as though it’s more familiar after a while too. It’s certainly a positive change.

I just have to get used to it…..

Can anyone solve my voice riddle?!