Kirstens' Viewer Development Could Continue - If Kirstens' 8500 Users Donated $6 Each!

Development on Kirsten's Viewer has currently been suspended, as I reported last week, but I recently learned that the developer of the popular and innovative third party SL viewer is more than willing to continue working on it. Coder Lee Quick (Kirstenlee Cinquetti in SL) had to suspend development only because his partner Dawny Daviau has health issues, and Lee needs to find full-time work to support her. However, Ms. Daviau told me after I asked, Lee could return to viewer development, if they received enough donations to cover their income shortfall:

"Lee only stops with developing to search for work and income," she tells me, "so if suddenly money comes along in donations etc. for 1 year... he would continue working on the viewer." She estimates USD $50,000 a year is sufficient. Though for the amount of high end code work he does for so many people, I personally think he can and should get twice that.

Because here's the thing: Kirstens' Viewer is used by about 8500 people. (That's the number of downloads the latest build got, Dawny tells me.) If each of those Kirstens Viewer users donated an average of $6, that would be more than enough to put Kirstens' Viewer back in business.

Let me stress that I'm the one suggesting this, not Dawny or Lee. "We don't want to beg," she tells me. "And to be honest, I would have no clue where to start and have no insight on how to proceed."

So what's the next step? I suggested to Dawny that they consider submitting Kirstens' Viewer as a Kickstarter entry, something they're looking into. But if you're one of the thousands who've come to admire and rely on the viewer for your SL activity and content creation, keep in mind there's a way to keep it going. For now, maybe go to the Kirsten site here, and register your moral support now, then hopefully follow with real dollar support.

Comments

[moo Money]

Kirstenlee told me himself when I asked about it that he'd need $2500 USD per month to continue development. That's about $20,000 USD less per year than what Dawny says they'd need...

[Metacam Oh]

Why doesn't Linden Lab ever hire guys like this? He did this for the passion of it until he couldn't anymore, and his improvements, changes to the UI alone for ease of use he should be hired for. If I am Rod Humble I am on the phone seeing if he can come work for me.

[Indigo Mertel]

I am glad you took the initiative, Hamlet. Losing Kirstens' Viewer would be a huge loss for lots SL users. I am not a regular user of the viewer but I'd be glad to contribute.

The Kirkstarter idea is a good one.

[Maggie Darwin (@MaggieL)]

There's a PayPal donation box on the KL blog.

[Hamlet Au]

BTW, Dawny said she wasn't sure about how to use Kickstarter. Would be great if a Kirsten fan offered to help set it up!

[Hitomi Tiponi]

@Metacam - you have to be willing to work in the States to work for LL now, since M Linden closed down all their overseas offices.

[Hitomi Tiponi]

@Metacam - you have to be willing to work in the States to work for LL now, since M Linden closed down all their overseas offices.

[Geo Meek]

I enjoy Kirstens' Viewer and hope the money is raised, Not so much for me but the people that have not seen this wonderful viewer.

[Sasy Scarborough]

I think that instead of asking for money from every user, why not sell the front log in screen as advertising. At maybe 10.00 usd a month for a banner or whatever, thats about the minimum people pay for small boxes on blogs and way less than many pay for magazine ads.

So if they could sell all that in advance in month by month and people knew that they would be seen that way with a clickable slurl to the location in world...voila.

I have said in the past I don't know why the tpv's don't do it anyway, and hell the amount of time it takes me to log in each day, I am a captive audience for 2.5 minutes.

Sasy

[anotherdeadavatar]

Oh yeah sure..throw money at them. I recall this happened with Imprudence as well..and everyone there has all but walked away from the project-after getting new machines with the money.

Sorry for your problems, but no way am I paying for a viewer.

[H2O]

I sorry but if Lee needs money will should looking a job as everybody, and don't ask people that donate $6 to keep a project that is a copy of the official Second Life Viewer.

The developers of the Phoenix/Firestorm viewers never asked money to anyone to keep their projects and for my personally seems much better the Firestorm Viewer that this copy of the official Second Life Viewer called Kirstens Viewer.

If Lee hasn't money to support the project, the best thing to do he is leave the project.

Greetings

[JoJa Dhara]

For all that adore the Viewer. I think it is an exellent idea Hamlet he is thinking of.

And honest for the ones that are negative there is an awarness that even they feel akward about it. This was never their attention but stupid bureaucracy got in the way and then you are in a riduclious circle.

But I set an example for how it can look like. To help them out and make the development possible again.
I am contacting you about it Hamlet ;)

And yeh wouldn't it be great to show the magic of virtual worlds again?? ;-)

I am all for in it!

regards
JoJa

[Arcadia Codesmith]

For people with reading comprehension difficulties:

"Let me stress that I'm the one suggesting this, not Dawny or Lee." -- Hamlet

And $6 is an average, so if somebody had hypothetically given $60 anonymously, that would cover ten of you deadbeats.

[John Lopez]

"For people with reading comprehension difficulties" made me laugh, because I was about to type the same thing about the barely English diatribe:

1) at the expense of people who *are not asking* for this;
2) with a bit of premature dancing on graves;
3) containing enough self entitlement to fuel a rap stars ego.

Keep it classy Second Life "Community"... you deserve the gradual decline into oblivion if you let the bottomfeeders be your voice.

[Nalates Urriah]

Interesting comments. We see the grateful and the entitlement crowd that want everything for free and screw Lee, no gratitude.

That Dawny and Lee are taking it on their selves to handle things some people ignore that in their comments. Says something about them.

It is hard to say what a viewer is worth. Most TPV Dev's give their work away for free. That certainly drives the price down in a competitive market. However, I will point out that lots of near open source software sells for US$25 to $50. Some specialized viewers for SL business operation are expensive, thousands for one.

Bloggers can also help out by passing the information along.

Thanks Hamlet.

[Cisop Sixpence]

I'm all for it. I think the viewer is well worth over $6, and I'm willing to contribute much more than that. I've certainly received much more than that in the enjoyment I've received from it so far. I'm thankful that Lee and Dawny have sacrificed their time to create a wonderful viewer with out any financial gain for themselves. I personally feel I owe them that much.

[Candy Cerveau]

"Kirstenlee told me himself when I asked about it that he'd need $2500 USD per month to continue development. That's about $20,000 USD less per year than what Dawny says they'd need..."

I have no doubt that depending on the type of health issues involved, medical expenses could easily make up half that $20,000. Then of course, if Dawny can no longer work then that extra amount is a reasonable annual salary to replace. I think the not-so-subtle implication from you that they are suddenly trying to "make bank" off this situation is out of line.

Re: the donation, I only use the viewer every so often but I would gladly donate $60 to help along development.

[Orca Flotta]

Not saying raising funds is a bad idea per se; why shouldn't they ask for contributions? It's legit and their full right to do so. What I don't get however is the reason stated. In NL they have public health insurance so an illness, any illness, shouldn't put any financial strain on you. You get sick - you're covered.

[Medhue]

Who can't love Kirsten's viewer? It's bleeding edge, lol. Hell, I loved it, and donated a couple of times. With 1 viewer, I got the latest SL fixes and features with a KL twist. Not download 6 different SL viewers.

I, for 1, am not for every1 and everything to be free, hence why i donated. I have a real problem with the give it to me for free culture. It is 1 thing to offer something for free and take donations, but if your banking on something that is free to continue, chances are you are going to get burned in some way. There is no incentive when you do something for free. Every1 has to eat.

Personally, I would much rather pay some1 to do something professionally fulltime, than get something for free from people who do things at their leisure. The fulltime guy has a stake in the game and an incentive to make it better.

As for charging for a viewer, I'd rather it was just a donation, but I do like the idea of KL selling ad space on the log in screen, or even adds his own classifieds in the viewer for users to pay for. I'd go for it. This could also be on the website.