Recent Comments:

Should we, the residents, motivate the Second Life developers? How?

Massively

Nov 30th 2007 4:56AM Qarl... I take your point that currently it hasnt been done elsewhere and that the algorithm that SL has copied is flawed.

So LL need to invent a new algorithm. All the data needed texture data and postion data is there to support the algorithm so it is possible but HARD to invent the alogrithm.

SL prides itself on being inovative. That involves doing what is not done elsewhere. Surely your not telling me that until a competitors programmers solve the hard issue of the algorithm and SL programmers can copy it, that it cant be done. Cant never achieved anything worthwhile. Thank god Tim Berners Lee wasnt of that mind or we wouldnt be blogging this, as its impossible.

This problem aside are you telling me that every long term, much wanted by the users fix/enhancement is impossible. I hoped you would address the "how do we motivate?" question rather than discuss the specifice example. May I have your opinion on that question please.

Should we, the residents, motivate the Second Life developers? How?

Massively

Nov 29th 2007 3:25PM Nacon

Actually I had heard of AWG but nevertheless I followed the link you kindly supplied to see if I could see anything I had missed about how to motivate people to grasp the hard issues left by development after the fun bit is over but I do not see anything there on that subject.

What I did see is an example of what all to often happens in software development. Version 1 of a product is developed enthusiastically and the fun/easy stuff is completed leaving only hard to solve problems to fix. No one fancies the hard issues, so they avoid them.

Then someone says lets develop a version 2 which will be so good all the hard problems will disappear. Unfortunately when version 2 is finally in some hard old problems have disappeared but other hard new ones will have taken thier place. They always do.

Unfortunatly no one has addressed the real issue of how do we make any version right? By fixing the hard residue of issues a development leaves us with. At some stage we must face this problem. Management that expects people to do the hard yards to get thier bonus is an obvious way to do this but is not the LL way.

I have read the AWG proposals and it looks to be like a great idea.
If nothing else it will mean a rewrite of lots of bad old code I am sure making the system easier to maintain and enhance. But will it solve every issue.. of course not... only motivation and hard work will do that.

So back to my original question how do we motivate peole to do the hard/important stuff rather than the easy/fun stuff they like?

On a light hearted noote: I once saw on a project managers wall "the floggins will continue until moral improves". Not the solution but ironically funny. I used to do contact Project Management where I found the morale of IT departments were low because users always got on to them about how bad IT were. I used to explain to the IT staff, solve a problem the users deem important and they will stop moaning and start praising you. "Stop the floggings and Morale will improve"... LOL


Welcome EU residents, by the way, we're charging VAT!

Second Life Insider

Sep 29th 2007 4:52AM @18

Your question of whether the Sky Box Vendor should charge VAT is a good one.

It all depends on VAT registration. If you are VAT registered you must charge VAT on goods and services and if you are not VAT registered you must not charge VAT. If your turnover is over a certain limit (In the UK it is currently set at £64,000) then you must register for VAT. Under that amount it optional to register if you want to charge VAT on sales and recalim it on expenses.

Which brings us to another point. If the Sky Box vendor was VAT registered he would charge VAT and reclaim the VAT on textures he bought to make it if that was sold to him by another VAT registered trader. Of course we must know which country each vendor is in and thier VAT number to acoount correctly and to report intrastat movements acroos Europe. Starting to get complicated isnt it?

On a lighter note: Of course these transactions are all in Lindens so the VAT needs to be calculated in Lindens. I wonder if we can settle our tax liabilities in Lindens? Maybe LL can set up an Avatar called Inland Revenue and we can pay him our linden taxes inworld. Hows about it LL. Yes.. I know it silly... but you started it. LOL

Welcome EU residents, by the way, we're charging VAT!

Second Life Insider

Sep 28th 2007 8:41AM @15 Juliet

Maybe they can partly take it back.

Actually the service is free (Basic membership inludes use if all services). The VAT is bieng charged on the "premium" bit of the service (i.e. support calls , stipend and right to nuy land. So no premium service fee no VAT. Of course support and stipend would have to go but who cares about that. As for tier that is a maintainence charge so VAT charegable I guess except that the maintenance is carried out in the US not in Europe. If I owned a condo in Florida and the roof was fixed they couldnt charge me VAT in the UK could they.

I dont see they are making legitimate cahregeable European supplies for which they legally can charge VAT against. It is as illegal to charge VAT when none is due as it is to not charge it when it is due.

As soon as I get a VAT invoice I for one will query it with my local VAT office as a suspected illegal charge being levied. Lets all do that shall we?


Thoughts please?

Welcome EU residents, by the way, we're charging VAT!

Second Life Insider

Sep 28th 2007 5:33AM @12 Thanks for you reply

If you think that is interesting look a little further.

In order for LL to be able to legally charge VAT at all they must be registered for VAT in one or more countries in Europe. All customers can (and I say must) insist on receiving a proper VAT invoice quoting the VAT number the VAT is chaged under and full details. Refusal to supply this is illegal if it is requested (in the UK at least).

They must first decided where supply is coming from and register there. So lets look at the 2 possible scenarios of one registartion or one for each country.

If they pick one country as the source of the service(say Germany in your example) they will have to Invoice German customers under that german VAT code charging whatever rate applies in Germany (BTW: rates are not harmonised accross Europe)and German businesses will be able to reclaim it private individuals will not. If they then Invoice a UK customer under that German VAT number they will have to establish whether the customer is a VAT registered business or not. If so they will need to Invoice with the Customers VAT number quoted and not charge VAT as it is an inter country transfer and not charegable. If Private then VAT will apply of course. They will have to provide Intrastat reports to the VAT authority as well to cover this exporting within the EU.

Now lets examine multiple registration (more registrations means more cost and admin of course). Here we decide that each customer is supplied form inside his own countries borders and VAT applies to all. Different rate will of course apply in different countries. So the point you make about unfair competition applies even more (inclusive VAT or exclusive VAT just decides which way the advantage falls).

Now lets say as a customer I register a company in Germany and use people to make SL stuff form all across Europe. I pay for thier SL usage so I am the customer in Germany but the supply is made to many countries. This is know in VAT terms as trangulation. You want interesting well now its really getting there and we havent even scratched the surface.

Like I said LL better to avoid the minefield if at all possible. With so many people who will be upset you can be sure the EU VAT offices will get lots of complaints and they (in UK at least) are legally obliged to investigate them all.

Welcome EU residents, by the way, we're charging VAT!

Second Life Insider

Sep 28th 2007 4:48AM LL has 2 options here if they want to charge VAT, either add VAT to the current price in Europe or make that current price inclusive of VAT.

I like most Europeans feel they should do the latter otherwisewe will be discriminated against by LL in that we will have to pay more to use SL than americans. If they make it inclusive LL can pay any taxes they like out of it. Otherwise we should and will scrutinise what they are doing very closely and insist they comply completely with VAT law which they will find onerous in the extreme. Beware LL as European VAT laws are very complex and often conflict across Europe. Enter that minefield at your peril, especially if your own troops (SL Residents) are not on your side.

I must say I find it strange that we cant gamble (not someting I personally have any interets in) because the service we are paying for is based in the US but we must pay VAT presumably because the service we are paying for is based in Europe. Double speak it seems. The service is provided in the US so lets agree on that at least.

I pay VAT to my ISP as the service connects me from the UK to LL in the US. It is they who move the data form the US to the UK and back again so they are importing/exporting it not LL. I really cant see how VAT is applicable to another servise after that point and onwards. Do you?

If the Client software was not free I could understand why purcahse or use of that might attract VAT as it is supplied here in the UK. But it is free so any % of free is free.

I have other questions to ask in my next post if its decided that VAT is, to my amazement, applicable here.

Yesterday's Money: 27th March

Second Life Insider

Mar 28th 2007 9:28AM Bob...You are still doing a great job with this info. Just wanted to say thanks again.

I keep looking at the headline spend figure and thinking I wonder where the spend is going. That is how much on clothes or on land or on weapons etc. I dont suppose there are figures of spend by catagory available anywhere so we will never know. It would be fascinating to see a pie chart once every week or month showing the split of spend by catagories. It would show where the demand for goods and services was most concentrated. LOL, of course we might not like the answer.

It was just a thought... keep up the good work... Bob

Yesterday's Money: 14th March

Second Life Insider

Mar 15th 2007 5:34AM Thanks Eloise

For making the figures so clear with regards to which currency everything is in. It is a great help and you are providing a great service to the SL community. Keep up the good work.

Best Regards... Bob Wellman

Yesterday's Money: 13th March

Second Life Insider

Mar 14th 2007 5:05AM I like the idea of your Yesterdays Money feature very much. Lots of useful and interesting data.

However I would like to make a small suggestion to make it easier for the uninitiated like me to follow exactly what it means. Someimtes you make it clear that a figure is US$ or L$, but sometimes you just say $ and I am not sure which currency the figure is in. Would it be possible to always specify US$ or L$ on every figure. It would really hep me understand the figures better.

As a UK resident I would like to convert these numbers into STG£ so I can get a real feel for thier true worth. I expect others are doing this for Euros too. Any help with L$ : STG£ (and Euro) exchange rates would be very handy, if it were at all possible.

Is there any place I can see a graph of your figures over time so I can see the trends in the economy?

One final thought. Its a pity that we dont have a special currency symbol for Linden dollars isnt it?

Keep up the good work and thanks for all the time you must pend compiling the data for us.