The viewer has been in third party development by Big Spaceship for something like 12 months now.
https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/features/blog/2008/11/03/transforming-the-second-life-experience
You even wrote a piece on the leaked prototype in June if you remember.

After all this time the viewer should not be in alpha and this email does not strike me as relating to a prototype build. If they are still prototyping then there are serious problems with their development methodology (i.e. they don't have one). The email states the testers don't have the design document (so how they can test is beyond me).

This was supposed to be delivered at the end of this year. If this is the current state of it either they're going to deliver something to the deadline (well, within 6 months) or they're not going to have this ready before the end of 2010.

The one thing that doesn't strike me about the email is anything to do with a commitment to quality or usability.

I'll say it again. This viewer was supposedly developed by a third party who, in theory, understand good design and usability.

"Q: Why did Linden Lab choose Big Spaceship for this project?
A: Big Spaceship has demonstrated excellence in the area of online interactive experience design. "

The fact that the viewer has been released internally for use and feedback leads me to believe that what you see from the email is what we're going to get. I cannot believe that after over 2 months of inhouse use by the employees of LL that this is considered an acceptable deliverable.

What that says about LL I'll leave you to speculate but to me it gives me no confidence that a) LL employees actually know what they're doing and b) care about the new user experience or the experience of current customers.

Just remember that this is the company that was also tasked with the redesign of the blog. Ask any user of it just how successful that has been.