Another GTF move from Viewer 2?

GTF= Gun to Foot

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By Selby Evans (Thinkerer Melville)

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"Did they take the notes section out of profiles?  Viewer 2.6 "  My friend, Nolligan Nino, was about to make notes about a newcomer that we were helping at Hyles Info hub.  

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hyles/128/77/22

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Me: "Don't know.  Will check."  I use the viewer 2.x series all the time and write help items about it on my blog.  So I   usually know the current features and try to keep up with them.  The reason I didn't know the answer was that I never use the private notes section.  

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Sometimes what seems to  be missing is just relocated to a place that is hard to find.  But in this case, the feature seems to have been dropped.  

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Fortunately, Nolligan had a solution ready at hand. He shifted to Firestorm.   He was using the viewer 2.x series because he helps new people at Hyles and needs to be familiar with the viewer they are using.  But he also needs to be able to make notes on the profiles of people he helps. That way, he can review the relevant information when he sees that person again. So I guess he will shift to using Firestorm.  

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Problem Solved?  Well, Nolligan's problem, yes.  And the V2.x team never had a problem, right?   Nobody is complaining abut the dropped section.  But from the business management standpoint, there is a problem.  The reason nobody is complaining about the loss of this feature is that nobody cares.  Anybody who cares is using Firestorm.

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Maybe the V2.x dev team cares.  After all, if they lose too many users, upper management may decide to drop the main viewer and concentrate on the Basic viewer.  Leave the main viewer development to Phoenix and Imprudence.  

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But, again, from a business management viewpoint, I wonder how they came to drop this feature?  I can  speculate:

• Accidental: Nobody was responsible for keeping in it the code, so nobody noticed that it was left out.
• Too hard:  You need secure access to the notes by the person who entered them, so it is a separate coding task.  Can't afford the coder time.
• Too much search:  You cut this out and you cut the load on the network and servers.
• Not needed:  Leave it to Phoenix.  Concentrate on improving the Basic viewer.

If the issue is too much search, of course, future notes won't be stored. That means Phoenix won't have them either.  Unless it works up a new way, like storing your notes on your computer and fetching them when you call up the person's profile.  Of course, if  my computer has a list of my contacts in Second Life, along with notes about them, I can connect them to the names I have for my friends in Skype, Facebook, InWorldz, etc.  That way I can can meet them in Skype, Facebook, Inworldz, etc. 

Hmm--maybe I like the idea of Viewer 2.x cutting services after all.   Sweet are the uses of adversity and all that.  Especially when the gun is not to my foot.

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