Second Life Viewer 2.2 Beta has Arrived

Linden Lab has announced the availability of Viewer 2.2 beta. This is the first release of the company's Second Life viewer since Project Snowstorm, an initiative designed to share the design and development process and engage with open source developers, was announced at SLCC a little over a month ago. This is also the first version of the viewer since the company put its new release process into place. Residents have been able to download and use the nightly builds of the viewer in order to track The Lab's progress and provide feedback, something the company hopes will improve the viewer over time.

According to the announcement, Viewer 2.2 beta has a focus on bug fixes, but there are a few new features to mention. Linden Lab says that many of the new features came from resident contributions by way of the Snowstorm team and through past contributions to the Snowglobe project.

• Sidebar Tabs can now be undocked and turned into regular floating windows.
• The buttons on the Bottom Bar can be reordered.
• Right-click on your avatar and select “Sit Down” to sit anywhere.
• Parcel property icons (found in the Location Bar) are now on by default.
• Selection beams are working again.
• Language translations in local chat (via Google Translate API).
• Group permissions now work via the Snapshot tool.
• Turn off scripted particles and lights.
• Builders can more easily align textures across linked prims using planar mapping.
• View profile inspectors via the Mini-map.
• Pan the mini-map with shift-drag.

You can download the beta viewer here (choose your operating system):
Windows | Mac | Linux

Source: "Viewer 2.2 Beta has Arrived!" (Second Life Blogs)

What do you think about the direction of the official viewer and the new release process that Linden Lab is using? Tell us in the comments section below.

darius.arunian is the creator and manager of me2oh.com. He also serves as the site's editor. He likes to spend his spare time building and scripting things in Second Life.