Tertius – The Superior Inner Core

Oh… there they go again

Gwyneth Llewelyn — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 00:23:25 +0000

Linden Lab was bought by E Corp… whoops, sorry, I meant by some private investors specialising in investing in ‘conservatively run companies with strong free cash flow, proven management, and a platform we believe can add value to the global economic community‘.

Interesting turn of events. Do we also live in an alternative reality?

At the time of writing, nothing changed, except that the pace of development seems to have been increased. Then again, after dropping Sansar, all developers allocated to that doomed-to-fail project have returned to Battery Street to continue working hard on Second Life, so, no wonder that there have been some improvements lately.

Facebook creates new Virtual World company?

Gwyneth Llewelyn — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:21:50 +0000

Is Facebook not stopping with virtual world acquisitions? After buying Oculus VR, Linden Lab, High Fidelity, will they add Kitely and others to a new company, separately run by Cory Ondrejka and John Carmack, and joining together any developer who is not already working for Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Apple, or Google? Will this behemoth of agglomerated companies manage to fulfil the dreams of those who have read too much William Gibson and watched the Matrix way too often?

Or is it just a marketing stunt, to make sure Facebook shares remain up while facing dwindling returns from ads? Will Zuckerberg drop everything as soon as Facebook’s shares are steady again?

What will eccentric and insane investors like Richard Branson, Larry Ellison, Paul Allen, John McAfee, or even Elon Musk do about this? (Jeff Bezos is just laughing out loud…)

Linden Lab to release web-based viewer

Gwyneth Llewelyn — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 21:33:44 +0000

It’s not just Tipodean that is doing a Web-based SL viewer. Linden Lab is also experimenting with the same technology. While they admitted that this was “just an experiment”, they are redefining the whole concept, and will launch a WebGL-based viewer later this year.

Update (October 2022)

Well, well. Another prediction that became truth, eleven years later. Or rather nine, because this project is already two years old as I type this update. It was not made by Linden Lab; however, they promote it, via their Second Life Premium Plus subscription — allowing Premium Plussers to get ‘special access’ to SpeedLight.

Oh, and it’s not just Web. Of course it also runs on Android and iOS.

Linden Lab to ban mature content

Gwyneth Llewelyn — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:34:41 +0000

With the advent of age validation, mature content will be effectively banned from Second Life, and the utter Disneyfication of the grid will be thus complete.

How far will Linden Lab go with ID validation?

Gwyneth Llewelyn — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 19:35:09 +0000

They will not stop at “age”. You will be “voluntarily” asked to provide more and more of your RL data on your profile, including, but not limited to, age, skin colour, gender, ethnic group, address, phone number, and yearly income.

Augmentationists will cheer to the policy changes, since it will make Second Life become a sort of 3D version of LinkedIn. More and more people will put their curriculum vitae on their profiles, and provide a PGP key or similar digital signature/certificate. Providing verified credentials will be the norm in SL, although, of course, several regions in SL will still remain anonymous.

Major Revelation on the SLCC ’07

Gwyneth Llewelyn — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 16:49:40 +0000

Pay close attention to what Philip is going to say during the Second Life Community Convention 2007 in Chicago, August 24-26. He will be revealing something extraordinary first-hand that will change the whole way we think about Second Life.

Hint: it’s not the end of sex in Second Life. And it’s not SL 2.0 either.

Ginko’s not “dead”…

Gwyneth Llewelyn — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 16:43:20 +0000

… rather, Nicholas Portocarrero is discussing with real world banks how to best come into Second Life. Expect a few more to start opening virtual offices in Second Life, but not as a “media splash campaign” but rather as a way to attract more customers by providing L$-based services in Second Life.

IBM to Run Mainland; Linden Lab becomes “Metaverse Foundation”

Gwyneth Llewelyn — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 16:41:13 +0000

Linden Lab is tired. They will let IBM run the mainland “very soon”. IBM will be the major supplier of sims for “community” and “business”; Linden Lab will focus on software and interoperability, as well as fixing and maintaining the “Open Second Life Protocol” through a “Metaverse Foundation”.

Service Level Agreements

Gwyneth Llewelyn — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 13:37:59 +0000

… will be introduced slowly in Second Life.

Where is Philip Linden?

Gwyneth Llewelyn — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 09:42:12 +0000

He’s missing in action.

The last time this happened, he came back with 8 million US$ in his pocket. Will the same happen now again?