Right now, OpenSim worlds are seen as the childlike bargain-basement cousins of SL. Current perceptions include:

* OpenSim doesn’t works as well as SL (e.g. it can reliably handle fewer avatars per sim)
* a much smaller population (smaller market) than SL
* a sense that it’s full of con artists and general lawlessness

Those perceptions must be addressed if OpenSim is ever going to be used to build a real, federated Metaverse. I’d love to see a Metaverse like the World Wide Web, but there was more to building the web than writing some software and protocols. Legal and trust frameworks are required too. Remember how long it took before people felt comfortable entering their credit card info on the web? Trust doesn’t happen overnight, and doesn’t come about by writing some more C# code.

OpenSim needs a Cicero, not another hacker.

One thing that is holding OpenSim back is no independent client. If OpenSim decided to go GPL, that would free a lot of the problems, because they they could take the Linden code and make it their own… but I’m not going to argue that, as I know I will just die. So, given that, OpenSim *really really* needs to have one or more clients that are independently written, so that they are no longer tied to the Linden protocol, and so that they can update the protocol and document it to make it into something real. One thing that is a nightmare for Linden is the fact that it’s often impossible to connect to Second Life from behind a firewall. OpenSim should solve this problem — not just by allowing for standalone instances, for people want to travel– by fixing the protocol. But, that requires the client….

Also, there’s way more to virtual worlds than the “rich portable identity” you describe. Yes, that’s something very important. But there’s also the immersive nature, which you don’t get with the web, that you don’t get with facebook apps. This immersive nature is key to the true power of virtual worlds.

I used to think when I worked at Linden that anybody who thought they understood Second Life, couldn’t possibly understand Second Life. The diversity and potential of virtual worlds like this is huge, and part of the great thing about it is that different aspects of it speak to different people. Once you have a bunch of business types trying to figure out how to stick it into a buzzword compliant silo, you’re missing the point. Part of the point is recognizing the part you care about and its power, but also recognizing that there’s so much more to it that you need to be careful not to limit it and cut off the other things you haven’t even thought of that people will do with it. That would be as if instead of having the Internet and Web we have today, made by engineers interested in a peer-to-peer protocol and flexibility, we had the old version of AOL made by a company interested in locking in users and a revenue stream.

it worked for us – it was clear that LL was going down over a year ago when they took 4 months to answer an attribution question for my subQuark who had been approached by the big publishing “O” to author and then the subsequent policy and pricing changes (and we both actually met two business Lindens in person at Battery Street!)

from 19 sims isl to 16 in Reaction Grid was the result and who knows where we will be in a year. some other hosting services have similar priced plans with more resources and more will sprout up for those lacking the tech savvy or time to implement something like your fantastic Diva Distribution =)

alternatives are sprouting as the exodus continues (of both employees and residents)

i am deeply appreciative of the work you do and of all the OpenSim developers

I’d also like to point out that I think you are also 100% right about the social networking thing. I like social networks for many reasons – but there’s a point where you don’t need to integrate them into EVERYTHING. I swear to god, I’m going to end up with shoes that have soles integrated into twitter at some point if this nonsense keeps up. I understand that they want to have a wider adoption, I really do, but… yikes.

In the past SL did try to win new corporate customers with their behind the firewall server product and marketing activities focused on that market segment, but they did not really succeed. Instead more and more businesses use OpenSim, that can be much better tailored to customer needs, as well as it can be better integrated into corporate IT processes and system. – And now SL did announce that they will focus on the consumer market and it becomes clear that they abandon their server product for corporations.

What about former SL experts that were working on open interfaces and interoperability? Might they be interested in joining us as developers, testers and documentation experts? – I am sure others also share the same vision of an interconnected 3d Internet, the vision of a truly open metaverse. Now, OpenSim seems to be the only alternative left for people that want to achieve more than just a social community platform with some integration with Twitter and Facebook.

The Internet will be 3D, but the 3D Internet will not be SL, that becomes clear with this strategic change of SL!

This isn’t a nail in the coffin, just a cough that sounds concerning. Unfortunately it’s putting a bunch of customers on edge, and when they are on edge – plans for the future are put on hold. I think it’s time for LL to assure us that this sudden jerk in the course wasn’t them falling asleep at the wheel. Ideally if Second Life customers want to control the course that we are on, it’s time to be an investor in Second Life. Talk is cheap, but your L$ speak louder than words. Let’s hope they are listening.

See ya on the HyperGrid

Nink