The newest version of the standard Linden Lab Viewer 2 is, and it may just be my computer, but, well, it's excellent!
I have been using Kirsten's Viewer for a very long time (currently S20/40), but what with my "getting on a bit" graphics card, an 8800GT, the frames per second (fps) is just not as high as it used to be. I would say I now average about 12-14 fps, which isn't too bad, I suppose, but it's not fantastic either; much as I love the shadows and lighting in Kirsten's.
So I tried the Phoenix Viewer (the latest v1.5.1.373) and it did improve things a little, at around 16-18fps, but SL just looked a bit washed out compared with Kirsten's. Also, I have an unusual problem with Phoenix, which again may just be my graphics card and computer combination, but it was a problem way back when I tried Emerald for a while and it remains: it's difficult to describe, but it makes trees shimmer in a never quite rezzed properly way.
This afternoon I downloaded the latest LL Viewer 2 (2.2.0.212097) and I am impressed. Not only am I managing around 23-25 fps, but the shadows work in a usable enough way, for me to take great pictures. In Kirsten's I dropped to around 1.5 fps, once I enabled shadows, which made UI use very awkward. With the LL V2, I can still manage about 7-8 fps.
Although I don't put forward my experience as an argument for everyone to immediately drop V1.*, or its third-party developers, I must say, I got very accustomed to the V2 format, through many months of using Kirsten's, and I now rather like it.
Lab folks, give yourself a round of applause!
