Actually, I thought that Linden Lab was going to pass on banning the Emerald Second Life viewer. After Lonely Bluebird killed the Emerald viewer project, it seemed like no further action was necessary.

Well, it looks like the other shoe has actually dropped and the Lab is going to go ahead with it anyway.

As of 10am PT Wednesday, September 8 (tomorrow, basically), the Emerald Viewer will be blocked from logging in to Second Life as a result of violations of our Policy on Third Party Viewers. Residents who have been using any version of the Emerald Viewer will need to use a different Viewer to access Second Life.

It’s an interesting move since the Phoenix Viewer (built from Emerald’s ashes) which was hastily created over the last few days was fast-tracked into the Lab’s viewer-directory this-morning.

Possibly related posts

The decline and fall of the Emerald viewer, Jessica Lyons: “the Emerald Viewer Project is dead”, Linden Lab backflips on Emerald transparency urgings, Has Linden Lab given Emerald a deadline?, Philip Rosedale encourages Emerald users to try another viewer

14 Responses to “The other shoe (with the Emerald in it) drops”


  1. Ari Blackthorne says:

    This is the spin cycle, then everything gets pushed into the dryer until it is another forgotten memory like all the other controversial you-name-it involving the Lab.

    :)

  2. chris pestell says:

    Wow the Lab moving at warp(ed) speed lol So now the Big Bogie is tabu and we get PhoImpruGence to play with – yippee. So if I go on holiday for a sweet net free week and come back and attempt to fire up 2600 will my alt get kicked? I know, I know it (probably) wont but would be hilarious.

  3. Ari Blackthorne says:

    They are sending email to all accounts also.

  4. I’m astonished at how quickly Phoenix got listed on the Viewer Directory. It’s unprecedented.

  5. And Emergence is listed too, which is surprising, since LGG said he wouldnt apply (I think, I haven’t double checked), since the viewer wouldn’t be updated. Is LL willing to give Emerald users a fast alternative?

  6. Ronin Squall says:

    Oh no. This step was absolutely necessary. Phox’s defiant stand on the bridge of his sinking ship was based on the belief that the Lab didn’t have the balls to actually cut Emerald off.

    Not only did the Lab call his bluff, but they’ve also sounded a warning to anyone who might try to take advantage of 2600′s alleged new features by saying “Please be aware that attempting to circumvent our blocking [...] may result in the loss of one’s account.”

    Regarding Phoenix, I don’t think it was “fast-tracked” any more so than Ascent, (a project totally unrelated to Emerald) was. Remember, Phoenix is what Emerald would have been, had Emerald complied with the Lab’s demands. In fact, it’s almost better this way, because the name change allows the team a measure of public relations goodwill that it wouldn’t be able maintain with the Emerald brand name.

  7. Ronin Squall says:

    Oh, looky what I just saw someone post into one of my groups…

    “For those of you who wish to continue using the Emerald viewer when it becomes blocked (latest version on http://www.emeraldviewer.net ) you should go into advanced -> debug settings and set “EmeraldChannel” to your name.”

    Confirms what we’ve all been suspecting…

  8. chris pestell says:

    @ronin well i am willing to sacrifice an alt to try that out lol

  9. Bunjie says:

    @Ronin Squall

    Please report the Resident to Linden Labs.

  10. I’m glad LL is keeping at least a few promises.

  11. Ronin Squall says:

    @Bunjie – Yeah, I just did. Although in hindsight, I could just as easily be reported for repeating the message here. The resident in question was the group owner, probably passing on info that someone else gathered.

  12. Blog posts and email notices notwithstanding, my impression is that most Emerald users don’t know that their viewer is going to be blocked tomorrow. I’ll be watching the concurrency graphs tomorrow with some considerable interest.

  13. Will says:

    Emerald …. “So Long and Thanks For All The Fish”

  14. TigroSpottystripes Katsu says:

    I don’t doubt there are/were many users of Emerald that hardly understand any english, much less follows english speaking blogs

    And with all the false warnings from people that didn’t like Emerald or the team members in the past, many people will be caught by surprise with the ban



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