Okay, so I’ve seen a steady stream of interesting client software come out of Linden Labs lately.  The Windlight software and the new release canidate (RC) line of software.  Both have some pretty nice features and I kinda like how they work.  However, they both have some - well - fatal problems.  One of them is essentially fatal.  It’s memory leaks.  They are serious memory leaks.  I have seen the both beta clients leak 1GB of RAM in a few minutes of use - just before crashing.

What is annoying here is that this problem is probably fixed already.  Yup, probably already fixed.  We’re just not going to get it - at least not right away.

Nicholaz Beresford has been working on a modifying (ie fixing) the Second Life client for some time now, and I am impressed.  His fixed up version is FAR more stable than what is coming out of Linden Labs these days.  This is one guy who is actually bothering to fix problems.  Don’t believe me.  The JIRA database lists 159 issues as fixed internally.  That means the Lindens have fixed the bug, but it’s not actually in the viewers we have.  159.  That is just the start.

Windlight is great, but it is total CRAP if it crashes 5 minutes after launch.  I just don’t get it.  Linden Labs talks about how they are now going to focus on stability, openness, and getting it right.

In the military when they screw up something with safety or similarly stupid, they have a stand down.   Everyone gets their arses chewed and re-explained what needs to get done and how to GET IT DONE RIGHT.  What the programmers and managers need to now is stop playing with chrome, fiddly bits, and other stupid shiny things and fix the damn bugs.

In the mean time, I recommend you all give Nicholaz’s viewer a work out.  It seems to be a lot more stable.

-Veyorn