This is the first major announcement coming from Linden Labs after the exit of its CEO Philip Rosedale.  Linden Labs is announcing three major upgrades in the Second Life Grid, its platform for creating virtual worlds.  It includes implementation of Second Life Simulator, Windlight and Dazzle.  The goal of this upgrade is to improve reliability, 3-D graphics rendering and usability.

Though I have not tested it but this is what each of these elements is expected to do:

Second Life Simulator: The Simulator which is an update to the Second Life’s physics engine will improve the speed of 3-D movement rendering.  This is expected to reduce load on Second Life servers thereby reducing the crashes which are a pain-area for Second Life.

Dazzle: Dazzle is the look-and-feel and usability update for the Second Life user interface.  It will enable easier navigation and better search through modern graphics.

WindLight: WindLight offers new and improved lighting and graphics rendering which are based on real world physics calculations.  This will improve the visual quality of the Second Life viewer.

Second Life really needs to do some turnaround in both their technical offerings as well business strategy.  It has been in troubles ranging from frequent crashes to Ginko Financial’s shutdown.  Let’s see how this new update actually improves the virtual world experience for users.

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