Second Life viewer for Linux goes beta
by Tateru Nino 
Mar 5th 2008 at 11:00PM
Filed under: Betas, News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds
Yes, we know that technically it's already been beta since 6 February 2006. However, Cory Ondrejka called that a an alpha test, so we're willing to more or less go with that. The Linux Second Life viewer entered closed alpha, and open alpha a mere four days later.
Now, just over two years later, the Linux viewer is finally considered to have entered the beta phase. With the introduction of gstreamer support for media, and 3D voice support, the viewer has finally achieved comparable functionality with the viewers for Mac and for Windows -- only it runs faster and smoother. On average about 15% faster on the same hardware than the Windows version based on our tests.
Four days from closed alpha to open alpha, then 25 months to open beta. How long until production, we wonder.
