Thursday 14 July 2011

Update: Current State of Affairs

Yesterday we received word from LL that Firestorm has surpassed LL V1.23 viewer usage both in time spent as well as distinct users. This moves Firestorm Viewer into 3rd place on the Second Life grid by way of usage. In just a few short weeks since our first beta, Firestorm has become a huge success almost over night. Yet we have only just begun to scratch the surface of what we have planned for Firestorm. We are looking forward to the enormous amount of work ahead of us and the challenges they pose. Lots more interface improvements, feature ports from Phoenix and many more brand new features! Of course we will always be improving stability and stomping out bugs as we progress too. All in all, Firestorm has gone from nothing to something big in a very short period of time. Of this we are very proud and thank our users for being patient as we push through to greater things with each release.

However, while Firestorm can be made to resemble the Phoenix viewer relatively easily... Phoenix it is not, nor is it V1. Firestorm is a new viewer based on the LL v2 code base, and is still in it's infancy in relation to what we have planned. Sadly, I've been hearing a lot of complaints both from our users and our staff of instances where users are being abusive towards our support staff because they do not like one of our viewers or the directions we are going. 

Currently, we have 54 members on our team, broken down that's 16 developers and 38 support members providing you with support in 8 different languages. It may be unknown to some of you that each and every one of us on this team do what we do on a purely volunteer basis. None of us get paid a cent for the work we do, so I would ask that you, who are provided with not just one but two fully functional viewers at no cost to yourselves to please try to respect our staff. I'm happy to say though that the unhappy folks are only a small minority, however they can be very vocal, loud and discouraging.

We are happy to accept and even encourage constructive criticism about the work that we do. But there are better channels to direct your constructive criticism through than our support groups. Our support personnel do not develop the viewers you are using, they are there to help you solve your problems. If you have constructive criticism please direct it at our Developers either through private IM's or via Email. This way our support group channels are left to fulfill their intended purposes, providing support.

You can contact any one of our developers either through IM's in world or Email. Our in world names are listed on our About Us Page, and our emails are firstname.lastname@phoenixviewer.com. Or you can send email to Admin@phoenixviewer.com to be read by our Lead Developers. Or, if you have a feature request, feature improvement or a bug to report please feel free to file it on our Jira. All reports are seen by our developers and none are ignored. If you're not sure how to file a Jira, no problem! We have a wiki page for that! If we are ultimately unable to help you resolve your complaints there are always other alternative viewers available for you to use. You can find a list of the approved viewers here.

We are very excited by the way things are going with Firestorm and this excitement is what will continue to drive us into providing you with a better SL experience.

But do be patient! We've only just begun!

Sincerely,

Jessica Lyon
Project Manager
The Phoenix Viewer Project, Inc

84 comments:

  1. As a user of Phoenix and now Firestorm I would like to first and above all else say THANK YOU so much for every minute you've spent with every line of code. Its an amazing feat to gain such a foothold so quickly and I salute everyone on the development and support team.

    Please know that there are many more of us with praise for your work than there are with complaints. Complaints are different from criticism. Criticism is meant to make things better and should not be just a statement of a problem but also a statement about how that problem would go away for you. Please, everyone else remember the adage: If you can't say something nice (or helpful), don't say anything at all.

    Keep up the amazing work.

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  2. Excellent post, and let's hope those who are so vocal and complain so much move on elsewhere. We have to change not because we wanted to but because SL is changing and so we all have to keep up with those changes (or leave SL). Thanks Jessica, a point well made and let's hope it is taken notice of.

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  3. Congratulations and keep up the good work!
    I don't think I'd be able to handle SL without Phoenix and I'm downloading Firestorm now to try it out.
    So thank you to the entire team for making SL that much more enjoyable for us. :)

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  4. Yayy!! Now can it be released officially??? *smiles sweetly*

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  5. This actually makes me a little sad that I cannot currently use Firestorm since I run Linux, and a bug (or something) causes my entire system to freeze sometimes while running it.

    I loved Firestorm for the relatively short time I was using it and it was exciting to be actually running the new viewer code without the kludgey interface from LL. I just hope I'm not the only one experiencing the issue I'm having, so that it will eventually get fixed.

    Keep rocking, folks. Even if I can't use it (yet) it's still the only viewer(s) I can bare to use lately.

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  6. That's pretty awesome. I figured it would be Firestorm that would spark the big switch to V2 based viewers. This is something that needs to happen. I've deleted Phoenix off my system at this point.

    While I suppose there are still enough bugs in Firestorm for it to still be called a beta version, it's been darn stable and has pretty much all the features I need.

    Great job to all the devs and support staff.

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  7. I've been liking Firestorm a lot too; I've hardly used Phoenix at all since the Firestorm public beta began. I agree with Karl that it seems pretty stable -- it runs at a higher framerate on my (poor excuse for a) computer than 1.23 and Phoenix did, at least. :-) Though I miss some Phoenix (and 1.23) features, I understand that's partly why it's still a beta release.

    Thanks to all the devs for their efforts!

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  8. Phoenix is (was) a terrific viewer, superior in all ways to LL's offerings. Firestorm's looking mighty good for its state of development...I've moved to it almost exclusively.

    Most of all, thank you for the fantastic support, FAR better than any other part of Second Life or any other SL product.

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  9. Some people always complain but keep in mind that lots of people love and support your work! I am aware of all the efforts you are doing to make the viewer the best one there is!

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  10. Thank you for all your hard work, I for one am extremely grateful.

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  11. A very hearty »Congrats!« is all I can say to this. As a marketing and advertising man I know that there’s nothing more satisfying than hard numbers which prove your success beyond doubt. They are showing that the Firestorm team are doing the right thing -- full stop! As to those who are foulmouthing in the support group: Most of them won’t read this blog, use the Wiki (instead of wasting other people’s time in the support group) or file JIRA’s the devs could use productively. So simply disregard those, they don’t matter. (A remark on the side: I’m overwhelmed that this project is working so well anyway. You of the Firestorm crew must be plain crazy -- in a nice way, of course -- to spend so much time on this project for free, so the more highly I think of you! Keep up the good work!)

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  12. I've tried the new Phoenis viewer, sorry but it's too much like SL's viewer2 and the very reason why I went to Phoenix in the first place.

    It need redesigning guys, you moved everything around so much I couldn't find my way around... and what's with that tiny text window we're suppose to type in... at least move it over and make it larger (or longer).

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  14. I like the Phoenix Viewer and much more the Firestorm Viewer and I recognize the great work and effort that is making the Phoenix team, I know it's not easy to create a viewer for Second Life.

    Since it appeared the Second Life Viewer 2 always I have used third-party viewers (Phoenix, Ascent, Emergence, etc), but without a doubt my favorite has been and is Phoenix and now with version Phoenix Firestorm I'm very happy.

    I like Firestorm because it is a viewer with SLV2 interface and some options of the Phoenix viewer, how for example Area Search or the possibility to edit the user profile tab of the client profile rather than having to go to the website of web profiles and other improvements.

    I have really wanted to come out the final version of Phoenix Firestorm, since I've used it since the first version Preview.

    CONGRATULATIONS ON THE GREAT WORK, PHOENIX TEAM!!!

    Best regards :)

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  15. @ Bill: Firestorm is highly customizable but you might want to watch the video tutorials and read up on the Wiki to understand how this works. If you can’t find out yourself by just playing with the options, that is. Nobody promised that it won’t take some effort combined with a healthy dose of curiosity to get the best out of Firestorm. But it _is_ worth the effort. As far as I can see the Firestorm devs are doing a much more than decent job here. Splendid!

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  16. I feel Firestorm needs to stop making decisions for their Viewer users by disabling group chat by default. You are breaking down the communications just because you may feel it may be annoying to you or a few others who complain. A good viewer has everything enabled and leaves the decision up to the user. I dont like when a viewer makes decisions for me by disabling important communication settins Stop practicing disabling items just because a developer thinks it is right for everyone
    New residents using your viewer dont evn know there is a group chat and some of them rather upset you make decisions for them and prevent them from the full experience in SL

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  17. My RL work untill recently was support. I feel your guy's pain some people is abusive and selfish but luckily use to be a minority.

    Thank you, support people for the constant will to make things better, for the infinite patience answering the same questions over and over all day long.

    Thank you developer team for the effort you're making, I'm using Firestorm all the time now, except for admin sims, but I know those features will come.

    You guys rock.

    Aaack Straaf

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  18. Thanks for your comments folks!

    @shomesumptin, we've done no such thing. Group chat is not disabled by default at all, though we provide you the option to set it if you like.

    @Bill... see http://youtube.com/user/phoenixviewersl

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  19. @zhaarteth

    I too run Firestorm on a linux system and aye.. I am hitting some kind of bug in that when type something or even when I type just once... BANG.. it freezes while it doing a dump and then it crashes to command line... I'm hoping that the Firestorm team can squash this bloody bug!!!!

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  20. the support team got nerves of steel!
    usually i've to close the group chat window immediately after logging in. too many redundant questions - as raymond martinek mentioned, many do not use the wiki or read the blog which already provides all necessary answers. firestorm is still in beta but such a success!

    darlings! thank you sooo much for your hard work!

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  21. I have been with the old viewer and thought viewer 2 a step back in useability. when we got phoienix it was great. It made sense. For example, having all the wardrobe controls in one page. not having to go to inv to select and another to see what your wearing and disrobe. I see Firestorm as going the same way. Clumsey. I have not found any real important bugs other than moving away from user friendly.

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  22. @Jessica Lyon, Jessica. I want to thank you and all of the Phoenix/Firestorm team for all that you do. I know you are just getting started with FS and hope to see new releases soon with new features and updates as you move toward a full release.

    There are things in the viewer I don't like but that is few so no biggie. The biggest thing I would beg for in the next beta release would be "Spellcheck" some of us out here just really need that LOL.

    Thank again for all you do.

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  23. The dev's have done a really good job of cobbling together LL's V2 and some of the best add-on features of Phoenix. Keep up the good work! I look forward to your viewer when it gets updated to the LL V2 2.8 base code! Do yourselves a favor, ban or mute the rude people and stay focused on the viewer.

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  24. Como faço para ter os historicos das conversas que estava no phoenix antigo?
    Grata
    Email : damaphada@gmail.com

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  25. Ola, gostaria de saber como faço para ter os historicos que tinha no phoenix antigo.
    Email: damaphada@gmail.com

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  26. before this viewer can be released, it needs to be more stable than it currently, not to mention that it hogs way too much resources on even a decent computer, much more than other juice-hoggers such as pscs5, as example.

    this new viewer has much potential, and is more than impressive to say the least. it will be close to perfect when it can use less resources and be stable on any platform.

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  27. I'm having a bunch of freezing issues as well, on Win7 64bt though, It seems to freeze when it does something it hasn't done yet or at random. They last between a few seconds and long enough to loose connection.

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  28. One more 'Thanks' from an
    appreciative user, and
    'Illigitimi non carborundum'. :)

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  29. I have also switched now to using Firestorm exclusively on my Windows PC and, barring the occasional V2-based irritation, I love it. A really great job so far guys.

    @Linux Stormer - I have yet to try it on our Linux laptops, but the reason my wife stopped trying LL V2 was because it would crash and freeze up on Linux, so it may be the LL codebase at fault. Planning on testing Firestorm on Linux soon.

    Overall, though, again, thanks for all your efforts, Jess & team :)

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  30. It's a shame some folks can't be civil when posting feedback, but oh well! Don't let 'em get you down. I mean, sure, if we had a choice, we'd all stay with Phoenix forever. It's not like the Firestorm team is the one pushing people out of their comfort zones (thank LL for that).

    Bottom line, if Firestorm didn't exist and I was obligated to use LL's cruddy Viewer 2 after the demise of 1.x viewers, I would just stop using Second Life altogether. What you guys are doing with Firestorm is a forward-thinking mercy, whether some abusive, ignorant loudmouths realize it or not.

    Thank you and please keep up the good work!

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  31. As long time user of Phoenix i was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to use,however as a live musician
    i dislike the search function.I regularly check to insure my gigs are posted in live events under music.While i found it easy to find them if i specified my name i could not find it with a normal search under live music.Apart from that im a big fan of Firestorm beta

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  32. Ok, I'm not one to be persuaded very easily into using the latest software for something. I tend to stick with the old stuff like my life depends on it.

    But kudos to you guys!!!!
    This is the first V2 viewer that has met my approval and I'm willing to let go of my stubborn habit.

    And when I(!!) am willing to do that, YOU(!!) have done an amazing job.

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  33. @ Auzzie, the search function has nothing to do with Firestorm or the Firestorm team - that is a function directly from LL - so blame them lol.

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  35. I am really loving Firestorm. The learning curve has not been bad. For me personally I am getting the highest frame rate, fastest rezzing and least amount of lag in my four plus years in SL with Firestorm. While I would love to see the GUI be an exact replica of Phoenix, I understand that there are limits imposed by the code base. But to the credit of the Firestorm team they have addressed many of the major interface complaints that Linden Lab pretended couldn't be fixed.

    @Canora......I am surprised at your post. You are usually more reasoned and sensible. I have no 'hate' at the lab. Just astonishment that volunteers could do what the company we are paying for services wouldn't do, in some cases claiming it couldn't be done. If there is any hate toward LL, they have brought it on themselves.

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  38. I cannot help but think some of the complaints about people complaining have been more accusatory than true. I still favor Phoenix to some extent, both as a matter of simple aesthetics/familiarity and for how it performs, and I have stated this in debates that have popped up. How this would constitute complaining I have no idea, but I've been accused nonetheless.

    I do think it's right foul what Linden Lab is doing to the older viewers (which work on older hardware, and I think breaking V1 viewers will alienate those users), but I don't blame the Phoenix or Firestorm dev team.

    I also think Linden Lab's plans are the main source of heat in these debates that get started. Someone mentions it, and it just goes downhill from there. It's almost like some of the users on support chat are goading people who prefer 1.x viewers into an argument using the suggestion of its eventual breakage, along with such derogatory implications as to suggest Phoenix users are holding onto the past, or have their heads in the sand, etc, etc.. it's ridiculous. Leave people to cope with the change in their own time, particularly in the case of those who may not even be able to log in using a V2-based viewer. They have the most at stake, so they are more than likely the most bitter.

    But I digress....

    The devs of Firestorm have gone a long, long way in making a V2-based viewer that is actually useable, and I appreciate that. There are still a lot of problems with how V2 works, though.. and hopefully as a community we'll be able to get past the initial shock of the viewer shift and start helping to improve it.

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  39. Well, I loved the way Firestorm feels towards Sl v2.
    But please, I beg, in name of all that have eye sights problems.
    Make the text font when any is typing, bigger and clear!
    Not the 1 after hiting the enter key, but the one when you are typing.
    PLs try yo make it more bold and visible!

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  40. Is it possible to get the instructions to V1ify Firestorm in a form that's not a video? A list of steps is much more useful for me, if only so that I can refer back and forth during the process.

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  41. The Latest Beta runs much more worse that the previous one. Maxes CPU to 100% lock up randomyl and freezes my whole computer. Beta 1 ran smothlyy and I started to like it, but Beta 2 makes me rage every day. Please fix the Nvidia bug.

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  42. Thank you SO MUCH for making these Alternative Viewers! I love you guys!

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  43. The only Reason it became a hit over night was the fact there is an exploit out the crashes all the other viewers so every ones been forced to go there whether they like it or not.

    I am finding it quite buggy and as a Builder frustrating to say the least.
    *I cannot give people my edit rights or let people map me.
    *There is no Option for me to be able to build my prims in Full Mod
    *There is no Option to change the default texture on prims
    *There is no spell check
    The edit mode can be very temperamental and sometimes I cannot even right click and edit prims
    I know it’s all in the making and you guys are doing an excellent job, it would be good to see these things fixed

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  44. I forgot to say it all so locks up my computer and crashes it blue screen /restart

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  45. yay!!! im officially using firestorm beta.. and guess what i like it a lot ..not logy easy to handle with and i can do lots of things !!!so far this is the beta that download fast when i get on and start to play !!! winks*

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  46. Yes, totally agreed, Jessica. You folks are doing a fabulous, consistent and thorough job. Ignore the flamers - spoiled kids complaining... let them do it better if they can, which is not very likely.

    Eveline Nixdorf

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  47. I am completely impressed by Firestorm, both the viewer and the care that went into the interface design. It is also the first "alternate" viewer I have introduced people to without any hesitation and with great results for the new users.

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  48. I've been using Firestorm for a few weeks now,and yes, it's very different from Phoenix, but we all expected that. I think I spent most of one day tracking down where everything was now. People who have complained in groups I'm in, I keep reminding them that Firestorm is STILL in Beta and that not everything has been turned on yet. Having said that tho, I'm really hoping having the windlight setting you choose sticks after logging comes soon. It is... not a problem.. but irksome, to have to set it every time I log on. I am loving Firestorm tho, I have less lag than I had before, and even when I'm in laggy sims, while things are rezzing I can usually at least move around slowly, whereas before I couldn't move at all.

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  49. @Chris who posted on the 18th.. IM Corvi Ashdene in world when you see this. I have a notecard that has been distributed to help people switch things over to looking like Phoenix. I would like a notecard listing where everything is in Firestorm when they're in different places than Phoenix, but I may have to bite the bullet and create one myself to hand out to people as that seems to be the biggest amount of confusion for people.

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  50. Hi,

    as someone who hates the v1 viewer and has grown accustomed to the phoenix viewer, i must admit firestorm is a pleasant surprise. it does take some getting used to, and there are things i dislike, but for the most part, it is an enjoyable experience, and with all the youtube videos out there to help ease the transition in using this new viewer, it does not get any better than this.

    how ever, with this said, there are still too many instability issues where i crash often under various conditions, and even some very strange occurrences where the viewer flickers and start affecting my video card performance on my pc directly (i have had to emergency reboot my pc several times as a precaution thinking i was being hacked).

    i run 64bit win7 with more than 4g ram and allotted system resources and my isp is set at 5kmb min and a 256k vid card, and even there, my fps sucks bad on even the best days.

    when looking at my performance monitors on my system and viewers, the resources being used are ridiculously high, especially for a simple viewer.

    but other than this i am very happy and look forward to the official release of this viewer

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  51. I absolutly love Firestorm.
    I am so impressed with Jessica
    and the rest of the developers and supporters. It took me a few
    days to get my hand-eye coordination used to the new arrangements. And, I am very dislexic.
    Keep up the wonderful, creative
    work, Firestorm Team !!!!!

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  52. You guys rock! Thank you SO much for all your work on Phoenix and Firestorm!

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  53. THANKS for ALL the work,, been using FF[b] a few weeks now..

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  54. I've been a Phoenix user for several months now and appreciate what the development team has been doing but I do hope you take any and all complaints about Firestorm seriously. Criticism is a complaint with a possible workaround, a complaint is just that...an issue with no real solution but an obvious problem that needs to be looked into. Having said that, I tried Firestorm and I honestly tried to like it but at this point I can't wait to get the whole thing wiped from my computer and back to the old style viewer only Phoenix can seem to offer ASAP. The layout of Firestorm is not bad at all, if people would just take the time to learn how to use it. Yes, some things about the layout can be tweaked, like I can't figure out why there are two pop-ups everytime someone on my f-list logs in and out...one on each side of my screen. And it's annoying and redundant to click out of a group notice and still have an envelope icon in the corner that needs to be clicked out. I'd love to see that streamlined. Performance wise, Firestorm is great on my system especially at longer draw distances. However it comes at a cost regardless short or long distance...it seems like the framerate has to catch up and locks up for me while my system plays catch-up. And I can't TP anywhere without crashing. It's just terrible. I hope a workaround can be found otherwise if Phoenix does become obsolete, another 3rd party viewer I will find.

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  55. One suggestion that has helped me alot, while the Firestorm the team is working on all of this.
    Sometimes, my clothes are fuzzy
    and don't rez completly. I reduce
    my Graphics Settings to Low. Do a few Rebakes (cntr-alt-R)
    Then I return my Graphics Settings to High. My clothes are then very claer
    All graphic cards and computer sytems are different, and this might not help others. But,it really helps me. Peace, All

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  56. Before anyone starts abusing the hardworking staff at Phoenix/Firestorm back up and remember how well Windows worked the first time it always rolls out...it takes time, I would say most the staff here have RL jobs and lives too and they are doing a terrific job. Lets give them our support and NOT abuse. Constructive criticsm and identifying bugs is welcome but lets save our abuse for LL...grinning wickedly

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  57. Thanks, WhiteWizard
    Very Helpful :))

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  58. Will any other viewer be compatible with Mesh?? I cant use firestorm I crash....alot!

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  59. I have to say i love Firestorm i have been using firestorm since it came out in Preview form and it was good then now we are in beta 2 and i have to say great viewer keep up the good work although lately i keep getting multiple DNS Errors and i have to keep pressing Log In serveral time for it to actually connect and log me in i tried to log in on other viewers V1 and V2 source code V2 Phoenix, Firestorm, and Singularity all got the same DNS Error so it might be an issue on LL's side. but none the less great viewer already

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  60. You do a great job, for all resident in SL. Don't be annoyed by rude pple and continue in your work (oh I imagine very well how muck work firestorm gives and will give to your team). In any case, I support you and will now with cash (I will find how to donate). THANK YOU SO MUCH for all you give to the community.

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  61. Sorry to hear that anyone's been rude to your support staff - I guess it's to be expected in a good sized online project - but nobody deserves it less than you.

    The selfless way you have tried to make Firestorm a viewer that doesn't tell anyone how to experience the world, but allows each person to choose their own UI / UX experience is the best of the UGC universe.

    I am humbled and quite literally moved to tears by the beauty of your generosity and the excellence of your work.

    Thank you.
    Thank YOU!
    THANK YOU!!!

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  62. As an ex Phoenix user, my congratulations for Firestorm beta 2, excellent work. I am also a linux user I ve tried this new marvellous viewer in Fedora and Ubuntu 11.04 ..Firestorm works in both out of the run..very fast and with excellent extra tools for building and checking SL status-...really is a going good and showing a new efficient style for SL users.
    Thanks to all development and support team and and Jessica for making an easy and pickey surfing style in SL

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  63. I must sat this is the best viewer I been useing so far. I had some problems with 2.5.1, but I think the new downloaded version 2.5.2 will fix that. Currently I am useing the preview which I really like.
    Please keep up the great work.

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  65. since wednesday 27th july 4pm SLT ,firestorm viewer logged me off..and until now when i try to log in..i get the logout screen..quit or view IM chat ..and I have to quit. I log into sl through its V2 viewer. what happened? plse fix this asp, because i find firestorm more convenient and effecient for club hosting and management...thanx alot..vivoo Penucca

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  66. Just wanted to say I love firestorm! And the work you guys do with Phoenix! And there will always be naysayers no matter what but I think you guys are all wonderful people to create something like this for us.The only viewers I use for SL anymore are those two viewers.

    Oh and you guys should check out inworldz! I would love it if you released a pre V2 coding version of your viewer that would work on that program as well. ^^

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  67. There will be a non-SSE2 version of Firestorm eventually, I hope?

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  68. Actually disregard that, I see the official V2 viewer is pretty much going to require SSE2 at some point (unless it already does?) so I'll have to assume it's going to pretty much just happen. Shame for us with the relics, but eh.

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  69. fantastic that firestorm can be made to look like V1 clients, (great 'how to' video btw). Quick bit of feedback; can we have a 'fly' button down on the menu bar? It is very weird not having that there and clicking movement icon brings up a load of buttons nobody ever uses as well as the fly button, and creates screen clutter.

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  70. I am a 1.21 luddite and a voiciferously ranting complainer! And I have to tell you, the improvements Firestorm has made to the 2.0 LL viewer are IMMENSE! Sure, it's not my beloved 1.21 interface, but it IS customizable, it DOES kill the top most annoying things about v2, and it is my viewer of choice when the inevitable migration comes, and they pry my cool viewer out of my cold, dead hands.

    hey, if *I* can't complain, nobody else has any cause to! AND the phoenix/firestorm guys patiently read all my suggestion jiras. and hopefully at least get a few laughs. ;P

    anyway, it's always the squeaky wheel, ainnit? if we don't stop by and drop an "I LOVE IT" note, that's just cuz everything is going so well. it's a fantastic job; i can't tell you how impressed i am. (and relieved not to be stuck with v2!)

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  71. something is wrong with phoenix over a month now i have not been able give anyone my mod rights or mapping right and they can not give me theres either

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  72. actually all viewers none of them are allowing me give friends my mod rights and mapping rights and they cant give me theres either

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  73. This new update ruined my lighting settings, every time I TP my lighting settings get reset. IT is very annoying. SO I removed the update and now it is still stuck on default. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ANy suggestions?

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  74. I love Phoenix very much but have a concern/issue with 2 items on the last update. My windlights keep resetting each time I TP anywhere...can this be resolved. I like them set at a specific light setting always. Second...the friends list, if someone is unchecked and you recheck them, it won't stay...HELP..thanks

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  75. I had been using FS sisnce the new beta came out with the build tools, that was the only thing keeping me from it. Sure, I missed many of the "toys" in Phoenix, but enjoted some of the new oines in FS. However, with the release of 1185 I had t move back to Phoenix. 64 sqm prims is just too nice of a building tool. When FS gets that I'll be back.

    Also, those complaining about friends permissions, not a FS or Phoenix issue, and there's a workaround posted on the main phoenix page.

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  76. Hello, I regret to say that but Phoenix and Firestorm are unusable for linux final users. SLplugin is a permanent problem by taking 100% of the CPU, which is very dangerous for the computer. Of course it is possible to kill SLplugin by hand but there is then no way anymore to use the SL search engine: we must relog !! With Phoenix, same problem. But I could rebuild the source code using Henri Bauchamp's patch: something which was never integrated to Phoenix, which shows how Phoenix's developers do not care about this problem. I can't do that with Firestorm, which makes this software unusable. The solution exists since Imprudence's developers could modified the source code so that SLplugin never takes more than 4% of the CPU. So I regret to say that but: the work done with Phoenix and Firestorm is bad. Before adding complicated things or modifying the UI, or before trying to impress an audience, it would have been better to solve this problem. Actually, even under Microsoft Windows (Vista for me), Firestorm is extremely heavy compared with other viewers. Too bad that Imprudence does not offer the latest possibilities offered for customizing avatars. Maybe i will use the Cool VL viewer in the future which will support Mesh. Dahlia.

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  77. Jessica and crew,

    Thanks for Firestorm. I use it almost exclusively now. It is the only V2-compatible viewer I can stand to use - I think LL took a huge step in the wrong direction in terms of user interface, and Firestorm has corrected some of the more egregious missteps.

    To all those who want to complain about something in Firestorm that doesn't sit well with you: it's free. If you like it, use it; if you don't like it, don't use it. But since you're not paying for it, you have no room to complain. You're using the fruits of someone else's labor - show some appreciation. If you can design and code a better viewer, feel free. Until then, STFU.

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  78. I am absolutely floored by the knowledge that your support team is catching grief. I believe that anyone who can take that v2 viewer and make it an enjoyable, user friendly piece of software deserves a medal. The bottom line is Firestorm is great, and all of you did an incredible job creating it. I'm looking forward to the changes and improvements to come. Thank you.

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  79. First of all i would like to thank the Phoenix/Firestorm team for the time and effort thrown in the development and maintainance of both viewers. Without them, the SL experience would have been (and be) much less enjoyable for me and many other users.
    I have been using both the Phoenix and Firestorm viewer over the last months, and, unfortunately, i must say i don't find Firestorm so good as Phoenix. I understand it's still a beta, so a lot has to be done still to get to the quality and features Phoenix provides. For instance (and it is just an example), i find it tiresome to try and read the available selections of the various menus, due to the poor choiche of colors and font size.
    I'm sure this and other tiresome aspects will be fixed in the future releases so ... keep up the good job guys!
    Thank You

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  80. Thank you very much
    me and my other friends , are using only phoenix !!!!and now we will start using the firestorm .
    cant do without it!

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  81. I have a question for everyone. I am a huge supporter of phoenix and now firestorm but I'm crashing so much more since I started using firestorm. I don't think it's my pc, I seem to do fine on other viewers.
    Please help!

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  82. Am the only one with issues where firestorm just logs me out or closes down? Im trying to get used to it since its got mesh and phoenix doesnt. But, its very hard to even rez myself when I just continually crash. Is there anyway this can be fixed?

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  83. I forgot to mention my screen randomly flickers to black and then back to normal(Only when on FS). No other issues and not complaining. Just mentioning my issues in hopes of there being a future solution or something that I can do to lessen either or both now.

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