So it turns out that my last post about Linden Lab viewers has become outdated thanks to updates the Lab. Snowstorm is in, Snowglobe is out.

And now that I have a bit of time on my hands (and some work to blow off), I figured I'd work on an update.

Viewers from Linden Lab

Official Viewer Types

Before getting to the viewers, there is a wiki page devoted purely to types of viewers from Linden Lab. Here's my quick summary, in order of relative stability (from least to most):

Alpha/Nightly

builds straight from whatever is latest in the code repository. may (in fact, probably) will not work well.

Development

builds from Project Snowstorm, ideally consisting of working features but many new features will be in an alpha state.

Project

builds focusing on a very specific set of features, generally meant to preview a new feature before it hits the main grid. often connect to the beta grid.

Beta

builds contain code that is on track for the next release. may contain bugs, bug fixes, and new features but not yet ready for primetime. for usage with the main grid.

Release Candidate (RC)

beta builds that are almost ready for primetime. the final release candidate is rarely very different from the release that follows.

Release

an official release

Official Viewer

Still available at get.secondlife.com.

Viewer 1.23.5 is still on the supported viewers list. I still think it's the worst option out there, not counting malicious viewers. But it is there.

For the more adventurous types, there's always the beta viewer lower down on the downloads page. Currently, the beta builds are one subversion ahead of stable (2.4.x vs 2.3.x).

Of course, one can also use the latest project viewers, but those are mostly meant for the beta grid.

Snowglobe

Is dead. Cue Chopin's Funeral March.

Snowstorm

Is not dead.

Project Snowstorm provides two sets of downloadable viewers. The first is what most people refer to as the Snowstorm viewer - the latest Snowstorm development build. These are compiled from the latest code in Linden Lab's Viewer Development repository and are currently tagged as two sub-versions ahead of stable (2.5.x vs 2.3.x), putting them one sub-version past the beta viewer.

Development builds are for those you who want the bleeding edge.

The Snowstorm wiki also contains links to "developer builds", which are feature-specific builds. They're very similar in concept to project builds, but before the feature is considered ready for any sort of public consumption.

Pick Your Poison

I still use the current release of Viewer 2 most of the time, and sometimes use the beta viewer. If and when I cannot do something in Viewer 2 (temp uploads, etc.), I generally use Imprudence/Kokua.

As always, make sure you are getting your viewer from an official source. In the case of Linden Lab, that'd be from secondlife.com. For a given third party viewer, that'd be their official download site. A little safety can go a long way.