Recent Comments:

Peering Inside: Disconnected advantages

Massively

Jul 22nd 2008 2:51AM Very insightful article, and a great read.

Personally, the three main things that keep me tied to SL are my hobbyist content creation, my friends, and my work. And surprisingly, none of those things are necessarily dependent on LL's grid, except for the lack of an alternative.

A grid with no upload fees where I can collaborate and share with other artists would serve my first need as well or better than LL's grid. Plurk and Gtalk/Gmail already serve my second need better than SL. My company's corporate clients would find the idea of hosting or resting a sim at a lower cost to be quite attractive and sufficient for their needs, so my third need would also be served.

The main things I would miss would be the variety of clothing, hair, and other content available, and the expansive collection of useful bits and bobbles I've accumulated in my inventory over the years.

Then again, most of my inventory is junk, and anything I really needed I could either re-upload or rebuild on the new grid. It would be particularly nice if I could export my builds to my hard drive (libSL can do this) and then reimport them on the other grid (libSL can also do this).

And honestly, I could live without the clothes and the fancy hair. Plus, the commercial content creators might eventually expand to other grids, and offer sales in USD via something similar to SLExchange. (*fingers crossed*)

So, while an alternate grid wouldn't be such a good option for everyone, it's a rather exciting prospect for me and quite a few others.

LL's estimate of 99% staying only on the Linden grid is rather optimistic of them. I think they'll be find their role as a company shifting to "one of many sim hosting providers", and they'd have to compete to stay relevant with other companies adding new features to their OpenSim grids. The biggest advantages they'd keep would be the "extra" grid services -- search, events, LindeX, central asset service, and so on.

Those, and the fact that LL would be the "trusted solution" would be enough to keep the dough coming in, but it would definitely be a major transition for LL.

Linden Lab skips orientation

Massively

Jul 19th 2008 1:41AM Maybe they're trying to scientifically prove that orientation really *is* important, so they can justify putting more resources into it?

(... eternally hopeful cat is eternally hopeful...)

SLS-1.23 still troublesome, to be downgraded

Massively

Jul 11th 2008 9:53PM Ouch, that's rough. Fingers crossed for the dev guys and gals working on getting things smoothed out!

Ghetto grid: Katharine Berry slams Lab's negligence

Massively

Jul 4th 2008 6:44PM Katharine once mentioned that the Teen Grid was the fifth estate (group of sims with a common owner and rules) that Linden Lab created on the grid.

If we extend the medieval concept of the Three Estates of the Realm, that would put the teens two rungs below the general populace -- which seems to match how they're treated by LL.

Peering Inside: The rights of creators

Massively

Jun 30th 2008 1:00PM Excellent article; definitely food for thought. Most of the debate I've seen has been focused on servers with lax or no restrictions on copying others' content. It's interesting to see that there are a number of additional issues which have received little attention.

One thing that's clear is that this is a complex issue -- both technically and politically. Another thing that's clear is that the current infrastructure and policy are inadequate to address a multiple-operators scenario.

I'm interested to see what will come out of the office hours with Xan tomorrow. (Although to be honest, I expect only a lot of useless shouting and oversimplifications, and no progress or resolutions.)

Intergrid permissions, with Xan Linden

Massively

Jun 28th 2008 5:35PM @8 The Honorable Mr. Neva: "Perhaps you could cite an example of your claim, Jacek, but your views on this subject are well known, and you take the side of the AWG evidently."

I'd be happy to! Just let me grab my fallacy-popping pin... okay, ready!

1. "Tateru, you've cut and pasted Saijani Kuhn's press release" -- Bzzt! No, she didn't. Maybe if you had actually read Tateru's post, you'd realize it's quite different from Saijaini's announcement.

2. "(he's the head of AWG)" -- Bzzt! No, he isn't. He is _an active participant_ in AWG, but he's not the head. Would you like me to explain the difference?

3. "There are several misrepresentations here" -- Bzzt! None of the points you "refute" were brought by Tateru's post, you're just arguing against the wall. Although, to be fair, I think you simply forgot what you were numbering things for, since after point #1 you just started to ramble about your views on the topic, instead of listing the alleged "misrepresentations". That's undestandable: you have so much to say, and so little time to check facts or even attempt to maintain a coherent thought.

4. "1. "They've been debating this since 2005". " -- Bzzt! That's not what she said. She said it has been a "hot topic" since 2005, i.e. it has inspired heated debate when brought up. Cleverly deceptive misquotation, though!

Oh dear, I've only gotten 3 sentences into your adorable rambling, and I've already come across 4 examples where you misquoted, distorted, or flat out lied about something. Need I go on?

Alright, if you insist. Here's one more, from your latest comment:

5. "your views on this subject are well known, and you take the side of the AWG evidently." -- Bzzt! Wrong again, old chum. My views on this subject are _not_ well known, for the simple reason that I have not expressed them publicly. And, for what it's worth, I take neither "side". Once sentence, two falsities! A noble attempt, but not quite up to your usual standards. I would have given you bonus points for the attempted ad hominem attack -- if only you hadn't missed so badly.

Here's a tarnished gold star for your efforts, though. Keep up the good work, tiger! We're all counting on you to erode our intellectual debates with your fallacious, venomous sludge. :-)

XOXO,
Jacek

P.S. Thanks for the spar, even if it was a bit one-sided. See you around, hot shot! Mwah! ;-*

Intergrid permissions, with Xan Linden

Massively

Jun 28th 2008 3:12PM It's so cute the way you put words into other peoples' mouths, and then try to refute them as if they had actually said any of it. It reminds me of a little boy at the beach, making a little tower of sand and then pummelling it back into the ground to show how strong he is. Absolutely adorable! ^_^

Intergrid permissions, with Xan Linden

Massively

Jun 28th 2008 2:21AM "These calls for "SL Grid Only" permissions are madness."

You put it so diplomatically! If only we could shout _even louder_ about how insane all the content creators are, I'm sure we could sway them to the One True Path and redeem their souls.

Oops, I left my sarcasm hat on.

Seriously. Both sides have legitimate concerns. Neither position is madness, or stupid, or evil. So let's stop polarizing the issue and fanning the flames, alright?

1.20(RC11): Extended RC cycle, skinning moved up

Massively

Jun 26th 2008 1:53AM I'm really glad to hear about the skinning project priority being moved up. And it only took 6+ months of criticism, pestering, and pleading at office hours to convince them that Dazzle should be optional!

P.S. I don't see the render offset glitch this RC, actually. Bonus fix?

Will Kapor bore? Rumors say sale!

Massively

Jun 25th 2008 4:37PM Whee, speculation is fun! But I don't think the pieces fit together into one coherent announcement.

1. Major, semi-secret changes to the viewer.
2. Server upgrade 1.23 around the time of the announcement.
3. Mitch Kapor delivering the closing keynote for SL5.
4. Mitch's involvement with 3D camera tech.
5. Mitch has denied that an IPO was on the table.

(I'm discarding this week's rolling restart as irrelevant. The announcement says "a few security patches and bug fixes", and the timing is totally wrong.)

Given that Kapor is (we assume) presenting the announcement, it's either corporate or tech related. (It's not going to be "free ponies for all Residents"; Philip would be the one to announce that.)

If it's corporate, and it's not an IPO, and Blizzard's not making World of Furcraft... then I'd bet on an LL & IBM partnership to offer private mini-grids to corporate clients, like IBM has for themselves. EXCEPT -- that wouldn't require any client-side changes, or a server upgrade, and Mitch wouldn't be the one to deliver it (he's no longer chairman of the board; although, he _is_ a big name).

If it's tech, and it's not Mono, which we've known about and which Prospero says won't be coming until 2 weeks after the keynote... then the 3D camera thingy would be a good bet. It would fit the major client changes and the Mitch Factor. But, it wouldn't need a server upgrade, unless there's more to it than what we saw in the video (moving your avatar around).

Most likely scenario that I can think of: It's the 3D camera, purely as a publicity stunt to get LL/SL back into the "innovative tech company" spotlight, instead of the "Furry BDSM pedophile platform" spotlight. The server upgrade is unrelated to the announcement, and is simply preparation before Mono is rolled out, as Prospero says.

Second most likely scenario: More public self-stimulation of LL's ego while the press watches. Mitch's big announcement? "These guys rock my socks!" ;-)