Beta Testers needed for 3dWeb project

[xirtamatrix]

Hello folks,

I'm glad to announce that after 5 years of planning and development, the
time to launch the world wide 3dWeb is almost here!

However, before we can get there, the 3dBrowser and 3dSiteBuilder
products need to be tested and You, the Irrlicht community, are the first people to get your hands on these products and test them out.

Your active participation and feedback would be highly appreciated!


To join the Beta Testers and Evaluators Group, here are the steps you'd need to take:

1. Please visit http://www.meshmorph.com/forum and register an account,
so you could later report the results of your testing.

2. After your account is registered, you should receive an email
confirming account creation. Log in and check that everything is okay.

3. Download 3dBrowser and 3dSiteBuilder products from
http://www.meshmorph.com by clicking on the download links in the
'Downloads' box on the top right. The password is: festonia

4. Install 3dBrowser on your computer by running the downloaded file.
After installation, please read the "3dBrowser Testing Guide" and follow
all the steps outlined there.

5. Post your results and comments on the Meshmorph forum.

6. Install 3dSite Builder. There is no separate Testing Guide so after
installation, read the "3dSiteBuilder User Manual" and try to follow all
the steps to create a 3dSite.

7. Write on the Meshmorph forum about your experiences, your suggestions and/or any problems you faced while using 3dSiteBuilder.

If you have any questions or face any problems, feel free to write back
here and I will try to actively and promptly reply.

I sincerely thank You for taking part in this closed beta-testing.
with best wishes,

T. Javed (xirtamatrix)
3dWeb Architect

p.s. Please bear in mind that this is a closed and limited beta-testing only for Irrlicht community, as all the 3dWeb products use Irrlicht as their 3d Engine. Also, we have only one 3dWebServer running at the moment, under the table in my kitchen (lol), so if you face connection problems, please be patient or inform me about it.

oh, and here come couple of screen-shots, as required by the rules

[pera]

there are plans to have 3d rendering in web browser with html5 or something. so this is not it?

i suggest putting user manuals for download on the site, so i can get them without installing anything.

i suggest putting screenshots in user manuals.

3d browser can't be used to surf regular sites? why not just adding webkit to your project to have both 2d and 3d in one program for painless transition from one internet to another? Like having tabs where some tabs are displaying 'old' 2d pages and some tabs are rendering 3d content?

[xirtamatrix]

there are plans to have 3d rendering in web browser with html5 or something. so this is not it?

i suggest putting user manuals for download on the site, so i can get them without installing anything.

Thanks pera, though I'm mostly in my development 'cave', I am aware of whats going on in the market and no, this is a TOTALLY different take on the concept of 3dWeb. Forget html5 etc, it will never become mainstream.

Your suggestion is noted, however, at this time we are not the least interested in promoting or advertising the project, quite the contrary, the fewer ppl know the better so lets keep it all among us

But I'd really appreciate if you find the time to take part in beta testing

cheers!

[XXChester]

Forget html5 etc, it will never become mainstream.

Wow how can you say that, there is a huge push for people and companies to start investigating HTML5 and converting sites. I know I have personally done 2 months of HTML5 and CSS3 research for my company as that is the direction we are moving (and the company I work for is no small fish). There are also throngs of websites already running HTML5.

[xirtamatrix]

Forget html5 etc, it will never become mainstream.

Wow how can you say that, there is a huge push for people and companies to start investigating HTML5 and converting sites. I know I have personally done 2 months of HTML5 and CSS3 research for my company as that is the direction we are moving (and the company I work for is no small fish). There are also throngs of websites already running HTML5.

ok, I was talking only in context of 3d rendering. HTML5 however is not only about 3d rendering, so yes, sure there is a push and sure lots and lots of sites will convert, but when it comes to provding 3d content, HTML5 is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to patch the 2dWeb with some 3d visuals.

Dowload 3dSiteBuilder, read the manual and build a 3dSite and then you'll understand whats the difference

[xirtamatrix]

i suggest putting screenshots in user manuals.

Thanks again good suggestion, we'll surely add screenshots by the time the full 1.0 version is released.

3d browser can't be used to surf regular sites? why not just adding webkit to your project to have both 2d and 3d in one program for painless transition from one internet to another? Like having tabs where some tabs are displaying 'old' 2d pages and some tabs are rendering 3d content?

Surely this is in the roadmap, and as you have rightfully understood already, a piece of cake to do in technical terms

Just to add, during the rest of 2011, updated versions will be released almost on monthly bases, and with each version, specific functionalities will be added, targetting to pre-identified specific market-sectors. A LOT is in the pipe-line.

[Radikalizm]

Not to bash this concept or anything, but this has been attempted before and hasn't been successful at all, just like most of those 3D desktop prototypes which never got out of the research stage because of lack of user interest

I haven't downloaded your application yet, I'll try it out tonight, but to me 3D is completely unnecessary for web browsing; browsing has to be fast, clear and to the point, if I need an article on something I need to be able to get a comprehensive list by using a search engine which I can quickly navigate through, a 3D representation of such a list would be just adding a layer of unneeded complexity

[loki1985]

Forget html5 etc, it will never become mainstream.

doubtful. but what is the advantage of your solution compared to flash or unity3d?

[xirtamatrix]

Not to bash this concept or anything, but this has been attempted before and hasn't been successful at all, just like most of those 3D desktop prototypes which never got out of the research stage because of lack of user interest

I haven't downloaded your application yet, I'll try it out tonight, but to me 3D is completely unnecessary for web browsing; browsing has to be fast, clear and to the point, if I need an article on something I need to be able to get a comprehensive list by using a search engine which I can quickly navigate through, a 3D representation of such a list would be just adding a layer of unneeded complexity

Many thanks for your posting.

Just a little advice, try to avoid commenting on things you have not explored yet

I await your input, with great interest, once you have downloaded the products, read the manuals and used them. At the moment, you dont know what you're talking about

[xirtamatrix]

Forget html5 etc, it will never become mainstream.

doubtful. but what is the advantage of your solution compared to flash or unity3d?

Please download the products, read the manuals and understand the concepts involved. You'd realize your question is invalid.

[Radikalizm]

Not to bash this concept or anything, but this has been attempted before and hasn't been successful at all, just like most of those 3D desktop prototypes which never got out of the research stage because of lack of user interest

I haven't downloaded your application yet, I'll try it out tonight, but to me 3D is completely unnecessary for web browsing; browsing has to be fast, clear and to the point, if I need an article on something I need to be able to get a comprehensive list by using a search engine which I can quickly navigate through, a 3D representation of such a list would be just adding a layer of unneeded complexity

Many thanks for your posting.

Just a little advice, try to avoid commenting on things you have not explored yet

I await your input, with great interest, once you have downloaded the products, read the manuals and used them. At the moment, you dont know what you're talking about

It'd be nice if you could post some kind of feature list, or a general overview of the application and what to expect from it (and where it stands out from the other attempts at 3d browsers) without having to register at your forums, otherwise it's going to be really to hard to interest anyone to test your product since now the only thing we know about it is that it's a 3D browser; secrecy is mostly not a good option when doing development on a small scale, since many people probably won't bother taking the trouble to go through all the needed steps to test your application, and because they won't see the point of your program compared to other available applications

[xirtamatrix]

It'd be nice if you could post some kind of feature list, or a general overview of the application and what to expect from it (and where it stands out from the other attempts at 3d browsers) without having to register at your forums, otherwise it's going to be really to hard to interest anyone to test your product since now the only thing we know about it is that it's a 3D browser; secrecy is mostly not a good option when doing development on a small scale, since many people probably won't bother taking the trouble to go through all the needed steps to test your application, and because they won't see the point of your program compared to other available applications

Quite a valid observation. At this stage though, a certain level of secrecy is more important than mass-interest. I do not expect everyone to go to the trouble of testing, but those who will, would most likely be pleasently surprised. =)

Please be patient a few weeks. We have a release schedule and marketting-plan, starting already end of June, so then all the information will be publically available.

[Radikalizm]

Quite a valid observation. At this stage though, a certain level of secrecy is more important than mass-interest. I do not expect everyone to go to the trouble of testing, but those who will, would most likely be pleasently surprised. =)

Please be patient a few weeks. We have a release schedule and marketting-plan, starting already end of June, so then all the information will be publically available.

On another note (not trying to be irritating here, I'm just curious), before I download anything, which measures did you take for general security? Browsers are a main target for external attacks (as you can see with a lot of popular browsers), and exploits will always be found by those willing to do harm to another person's machine, so I assume you took the proper measures for preventing attacks and exploits as much as possible?
Also, what is the bandwidth usage like compared to browsing a regular website? (I'm on a very limited bandwidth right now here over at my university, so that's always interesting to know)

[xirtamatrix]

On another note (not trying to be irritating here, I'm just curious), before I download anything, which measures did you take for general security? Browsers are a main target for external attacks (as you can see with a lot of popular browsers), and exploits will always be found by those willing to do harm to another person's machine, so I assume you took the proper measures for preventing attacks and exploits as much as possible?
Also, what is the bandwidth usage like compared to browsing a regular website? (I'm on a very limited bandwidth right now here over at my university, so that's always interesting to know)

You're a very curious guy
But yes, your questions are again valid, and I'm going to reply a bit in depth, so others would not need to ask the same thing again.

Ok, so today's 2d "WEB" as we know it, was invented some 40-50 years ago, for the explicit purpose of exchanging textual information. That is why we still use terms such as a "web-page", a collection of 2d text and images. Quite naturally then, the entire architecture of the "web" is 2d. From HTML itself all the way to how the Domain Name Servers operate.

Numerous attempts have been made to "patch" the 2dWeb with add-ons so some 3d content could be displayed. None provided any impressive results, obviously, due the simple fact that no matter what you do, the 2dWeb would always be limited by its own fundamental architecture, which is inherently 2d.

The security issues the 2dWeb is plagued with, is another aspect of how the architecture of the 2dWeb did not anticipate future directions, and its probably right to say, they could not have.

The 3dWeb has the advantage of learning from a great deal of history, and mistakes. It does not utilize ANY of the infrastructure of the 2dWeb, and thus none of the security concerns of the current 2dWeb apply to 3dWeb.

It is important to understand, that the 3dWeb is not meant to replace the current 2dWeb, but to compliment it. 2dWeb is the ideal platform for dissemination of 2d information. 3Web is for representing 3dcontent.

I've tried to make a sumamry of a long article, and hopefully answered your question in the process. =)

Just to be clear, since the 3dWeb does not share 2dWeb's components, such as Name servers etc. the 3dBrowser is not plagued with the same issues as all the 2dBrowsers are.

This is not to say that 3dBrowser or the 3dWeb is 100% hack-proof and safe. One would be naive to say that. But the basic architecture of 3dWeb provides much better safety.

In time, new threaths specific to 3dWeb would probably come to light, and as they do, they will be dealt with

Downloading and installing the 3dBrowser and 3dSiteBuilder, at present absolutely does not open up your machine to any known attack that can be made on all the 2dBrowsers.

EDIT: The bandwidth usage is, quite naturally, somewhat higher, but so far from our internal testing, the speeds have been not hair-pullingly slow I'd be very interested to hear about your experience and results.

cheers!

[Virror]

Looks interesting, will try it out later when i get home : )