I can't speak to why people are leaving. Or, not liking the new player experience. What I can tell you. As some one who want's this type of product. Yet won't sign up with SL. Is that the introduction material is even worse than most of the (bad) Press they have been getting. I can find very little information on the viewer. Descriptions of grid options, who gets what, how things are organized, it's all a mess. And yes, I am aware of the third party materials and tutorials. Which brings up another warning flag. The ratio of official information versus third party should not be huge (in favor of third party). Linden just comes across as not caring, and happy to have third party material as a crutch.

What you get as a result, are new people that fit a very narrow, and sparsely populated demographic. Those that actually know what SL offers, and see it as some thing they need to be involved in. In my case, the one thing that bites Linden in the back side, is I don't "need" their product.

Obviously the preceding only contains facts in regards to how I interpret them. Making this almost pure opinion. But that is the (biggest) market force that Linden needs to fight, if they are going to change their numbers for the better.