March 19, 2013
A couple of days ago, on March 17, I asked a question on both Twitter and G+.
Is anyone working on a HyperGrid module for AuroraSim?
I asked this question because, despite my recent reassessment and decision to move to OpenSim, I truly do not want to give up AuroraSim. If someone is working on a HG module, I would reverse my decision, exercise patience and would carry on with the plans that I had.
So far, nobody has replied. And while two days isn’t much time, there are a lot of people on Twitter and G+ who keep themselves continuously up to date, so one can expect to receive some sort of response over that time.
While I can hope that there is someone working on this and is not a social media user, I can understand why there might be nobody working on such a module. Why would anyone do so if the developers themselves do not support the inclusion of HG capability in the first place? Especially in light of the fact that it already exists with OpenSim.
This shows us a large error in the development of AuroraSim. It is not an error in the coding of the software, it is an error in judgement. The developers of AuroraSim do not put enough importance on public engagement. They are proceeding with the development of AuroraSim based on their own desires with little regard to what the public wants. They show little concern for their future end users.
As I said, their refusal to include HG capability shows an error in judgement. That error is the lack of public engagement. There are other indicators that point to this error. Their main website, http://aurora-sim.org/, shows that the only thing that has been updated is the copyright date in the bottom left corner of the homepage. The site still lists a version of AuroraSim that is over a year old, 0.5.0.1, yet the most recent coding is at version 0.5.4. In other words, it has been over a year since the AuroraSim developers have released a public binary.
There has been no news releases in that time, either. Their forums have at least one support question that has gone unanswered for over a month. Under General Topics, threads go months without replies. Their Wiki has been showing a 404 error for over six months. There is no mailing lists for users or developers. Despite having a Twitter account, the only things that get tweeted about are the various merges, pulls and other changes to the coding. Nothing about features or improvements.
You cannot help but compare AuroraSim to OpenSim. The OpenSim developers make regular releases of binaries for people to use and test. They have active mailing lists that are responded to very quickly. Every release candidate is announced via social media as well as on their site. OpenSim updates their Wiki promptly and the forums are very active.
I have always stated very clearly that AuroraSim is better software. I have written the results of my own informal testings to show this. To bring that up to date, Excelsior Station is the equivalent of 128 OpenSim regions, with a prim allowance of 3,000,000. It is currently has nearly 80,000 prims rezzed and is running well over 7,000 scripts, including particle engines, listeners, vehicles and texture modifiers. All on a Windows 7 single core machine with just 4Gb of RAM. With OpenSim, I can get up to 30 empty regions on the same machine before lag renders it unusable.
But the quality of the software matters little if people find it difficult to use. Yes, its relatively easy to compile the source code that you can download from their GitHub site (https://github.com/aurora-sim), but just saying that it has to be compiled will scare people off. Many people want to download and run a compiled binary. People want to be able to find the latest news about recent changes. They want to find information about feature improvements. They want to be able to get answers to questions and solutions to problems. And they want those things with reasonable ease.
That is where OpenSim is superior to AuroraSim. OpenSim engages the public. It is that simple. They listen to what people want and they do their best to include those wants. If they cannot meet those wants, the OpenSim developers tell us why.
Is anyone working on a HyperGrid module for AuroraSim?
The silence is speaking very loudly indeed.
Savino is working on such a module on her Aurora Sim gird. She is trying to go the path of Aurorascape and create a new grid for the Aurora project to be based, but no one has heard anything from her in a few days now, so it i likely she is going through some real life issue at the moment.
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