Cafe Bucky

It is the community that will win the Metaverse…

Overview

I see an inevitable migration on the horizon of residents from SecondLife to Opensim
based grids. There are two main forces at work:  the decline of Linden Labs, and the
ascendency of the OpenSim.

• Linden Labs has been making a series of moves that are alienating the users.  They are neither leaders in policy, nor technology.  Not even meshes will save them.
• OpenSim is the clear technical leader, is rapidly making strides to stability, and the variety of grids springing up will assure that every community will have a strong home.  OpenSim is much like X11 in the sense that it provides “mechanism, not policy”.   Grid Operators take on the role of policy.

The Decline Of Linden Labs

Just since the time of SLCC (August 13-15, 2010), I can point to no less than four Linden Lab missteps which have upset various parts of the community:

1) Display Names – with over 1000 comments on blog, the Lindens appear to be intent on going live with a very ill-conceived plan to allow anyone to choose almost anything as a display name. What’s the problem with that?  They are not providing a means for users to protect their names from abuse.   While it may be true that a click or two will always reveal a true user name, it is still not clear what (Display Name?  User Name? Both?) will be written to chat and IM logs.  It is also not clear what the IM logfile names will be.  This is a huge worry for anyone who is concerned about identity and reputation.

The Lindens take the view that people can file Abuse Reports.  I note that this approach
attempts to address a symptom, but is no cure.  With all the layoffs that the Lindens have been through, and the recent reduction in support hours, do they have the staff to handle the increase in ARs that will be generated by Display Name abuse?  It would cost them less
to provide a control to prevent others from using your name as their display name.  It would also go over with the community a lot better.

2) Teen Grid Closing - I can understand the economics of closing the Teen Grid.  It costs a lot to run, and has a mere sliver of the main grid population.  What has a lot of people up in arms is the misguided idea of migrating 16 and 17 year olds to the main grid.  They would be better served by migrating to a grid that has been proven to be more focused on education (Reaction Grid comes to mind).

3) Customer Service Cutback – The short of it: same tiers, less service. Combine this with a slew of new problems (numerous ARs occuring from Display Name abuse, and legal/customer service issues arising from the presence of teens on what used to be a strictly adult grid).  The hours are also incredibly USA centric.  This will be one more factor that drives European and Asian users towards grids based in their regions.

4) Snowstorm, Do We Care?

Wizard of Oz: [in a booming voice] Step forward, Tin Man!
Tin Woodsman: [terrified, steps forward] Ohhhh!
Wizard of Oz: [still in a booming voice] You DARE to come to me for a heart, do you? You clinking, clanking, clattering collection of kaligenous junk!

Although SnowStorm is a great concept, in that there will be one viewer source code stream internally and externally, I sense that much of the developer community will focus their efforts elsewhere.  The Wizard of Oz Linden (who, as far as I can tell [1], has only
been in SL for 4 months) has declared:

“Don’t waste everyones time suggesting that we throw away Viewer 2, or that we revert the UI to Viewer 1. It is absolutely not going to happen, and any suggestion to that effect will be ignored.”

Yes, Scott really said that: http://www.mail-archive.com/opensource-dev@lists.secondlife.com/msg02459.html

Since the overwhelming majority of the community uses third party viewers, and does not like the 2.x UI, sensible developers are going to focus their efforts on giving the community what it wants.  The Linden Lab attempt at outsourcing some of their viewer development for free, while at the same time insisting on the 2.x UI, will not get much traction.  There is some limited cachet in being able to say that you contributed to the mainstream SL viewer, but if its usage is eclipsed by the offerings of several third parties, is it the best use of your valuable developer time?

The Ascendency Of OpenSim

I’ve touched on just some of the factors that are upsetting the SL community.  It’s time to shift to the positive.  We should be very glad that we are seeing the rise of a viable alternative!

As I have written before, and as others (such as Gwyn and Maria) have noted, OpenSim is showing itself to be a serious metaverse platform:

Technical – HyperGrid, MegaRegions, choice of voice (Whisper, FreeSwitch), more flexibility, compatible with existing SL viewers, archiving of regions and inventories.  Willingness to evolve past LSL.  Region scripting as well.

Policy – widespread, dependent on Grid Operators, if you dont like it, run your own grid!  Opensim grids win because none of them has to address the issue of trying to come up with policies that would satisfy everyone in a large walled garden.  We can easily move between web sites with varying policies and narrow niches.  The same thing will be true in the Metaverse.

Cost – a fraction of what LL charges –  Is there a market for high end grids with hand holding support, as well as a slew of specialty bargain basement offerings?  Yes!

Currency – yes!  OMC and Cyber Coin Bank These work across grids.   Maria writes in depth about this.

Scaling – with one fell swoop, HyperGrid does much to address the issue of scaling.  How?  If people can easily get from one grid to another, then there is little reason to try to shoehorn them all into one place.  As we see with some web sites, there will be some huge grids, possibly with millions of users.  But balanced with that, there will a large number of grids that address niche communities, with 10’s of thousands of users.  If they choose to be isolated, they can turn off hypergrid access.   Within 5 years, the combined scale of OpenSim based grids will dwarf the walled garden of SecondLife.  It is like the old AOL service trying to compete with the entire web.

Third Party Viewer Community -  Not only will the viewers based on 1.x and 2.x source streams become the preferred entrance to OpenSim based grids (easy grid management in them), there will be a movement towards more types of front ends.  HTML5 is one possibility (resurrect AjaxLife?).  Unity3D holds a lot of promise.

What Could LL Do To Stave Off The Inevitable?

At this point in time, the biggest technical innovation LL has on their agenda would be meshes.

On the development side, they would have to show that they are open to some emulation of the 1.x interface, in order to gain traction.  They are competing for something valuable, developer attention, and are making a lot of wrong moves.

On the policy side, they need to show that they will provide adequate controls for display names, so that people can be proactive about protecting their identity.

On the support side, they would need to make a case as to why people should pay the same amount of tier, but accept a reduced level of service.

On the interopability side, LL finds itself in the position of being a large walled garden, a la the AOL service of the 90’s and 00’s.  LL should ask itself it wants to follow the examples of AOL, CompuServe, and Prodigy.

The Tipping Point

Having said all this, it is quite clear that the majority of Metaverse usage hours are still being spent in SecondLife.  I dont see any single event from the sides of OpenSim, or SecondLife, that will radically tip the scales.  I see something more organic going on: friends will drag friends to OpenSim grids.  Any one of several LL policy decisions will be a straw that breaks a residents back.  OpenSim will make some technical advance, etc.  There will be as many reasons to switch as there are metaverse residents.  The Tipping Point occurs when a sizeable number of people realize that their personal puzzle pieces have fallen into place for them to make the switch.

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[1] I did write to Scott, wondering how long he has been in SL.  No Reply.

Let’s Take It From Here
Time for the OpenSim / Viewer Community To Assume Leadership

My premise

We can no longer assume that Linden Labs will provide leadership.  We know what needs to be done, and with some Cooperation, we can take it from here.

• There are many separate pieces to the open metaverse.
• There are many competent folks involved with them.
• It is time for them to band together and chart a course forward.

It is time to go forward, and no longer worry about compatibility with the SL Viewer and server.  That being said, the key to success is to not go forward in 20 different ways.  Cooperation will be the key.

The Linux and Apache Communities are a success.  Their example can be followed in the Metaverse.

What do I mean by pieces?

Grids – Inworldz.com, Reaction Grid, and others are OpenSim based grids that are easy to get started with.  Think of them as Metaverse ISPs.

Server – OpenSim 0.7 shows promise and technical leadership (HyperGrid, MegaRegions, flexible architecture, archival capabability)  Think of OpenSim as the Apache of the Metaverse

Viewers – Emerald, Imprudence, Hippo, and others.  Think of viewers as you would think of Firefox, Safari, and Chrome.  How does the SL Viewer 2 fit in?  Think of it as Internet Explorer.

Why do we need cooperation between OpenSim and the Viewer Folks?

There are certain technologies that would be of great benefit to the Metaverse as a whole.  The shining example would be Importing 3D Meshes.  The community cant sit around and wait for an implementation to come from Linden Labs.  However, it is a major feature that requires a protocol between server (OpenSim) and Client (Emerald, et al).  The community needs to agree on protocols, so that multiple clients can take advantage of new features added to the server side.

What role should Grid Operators Play?

They need to make it easy for users to get to compatible viewers.  If the community sees great benefit in certain features (such as meshes), and the SL Viewer lags behind, then it will behoove the grid operators to a) educate and b) point users to the resources they need.  We need to get out of the mindset of having to maintain compatibility with the SL Viewer.

Does this mean that the SL Viewer may fall by the wayside if it doesnt keep up?  Yes.  So be it.

Is that pretty much it?

Yes.  Stakeholders in their respective domains need to bear one thing in mind:

Dont wait up for Linden Labs to implement what you want.  Cooperate amongst yourselves, make it happen, and try to follow the great examples of the Linux and Apache Communities.

To the Viewer and OpenSim contributors, and to the Grid Operators, I would say
this:  band together, assume technical and policy leadership, and forge a course together.  In unity, you shall thrive.

TravelTime is a Prim Animation Tool I have been writing in Second Life.  The gist of it is to be able to send a prim along a path, and have a lot of control over what happens at each point.  You can make a traveling slide show, or particle emitter, or even rez objects.  It’s pretty flexible.  See the video (I recommend full screen)   I’ll have more to say about TravelTime soon.

For three years, I have been very much into SecondLife.

A problem is that I really wanted to work in it.  I wanted to be a good enough scripter / engineer to be worthy of real life pay in a virtual world.

Some are.  Some do make a living in SL.  But they seem to be few and far between.

I did write a piece recently about how I think OpenSim will win.  I stick to that.  I am not clear on how I will personally make much money in that area at this time, but I do think there is a clear comparison to the development efforts of Apache in the 1990’s.

My experience in SL has been that I could pick up a gig here and there and get paid in Lindens (but never very much), or that I could occasionally get a building gig that paid real money.  It was never anything consistent that I could consider living off of.  Most development in SL is done on a very slim budget, or simply for free as part of volunteer / community efforts.

As for my store, I give away my interactive objects for free, in part because it is a way of getting my portfolio out there.  I get < $10 a week from donations.

So my conclusion is, I will pay attention to SL and OpenSim, but I am going to stop developing in them for the time being.  It takes away too much time that I really need to spend doing RL work.  I am certainly open to gigs that pay; I just dont see how I can count on that though.  I see gatewaying to the web, and the trends of Google Wave and Augmented Reality, as being areas where there will be big opportunities.  Some of that will map nicely into SL/OpenSim.  They’re just not here yet on a big enough scale.

Kim and I will use our SL time to explore and attend events, and basically chill out together :)

Buckaroo is on Eduisland 4.

I am happy to say that my store, Buckaroo, is now open!  This is where I provide scripted objects for free (or for commercial purposes, 300L).  The primary idea is to get my stuff out there, so that my portfolio is known.  It is also a way of giving back, especially to the Info Island Archipelago.

The items at this moment are:

• WebMon  – browse and launch external web pages – menus or search
• VidMon   – per-person video – pick from menus or search
• Slider      – slideshow/texture viewer – give items and visit web sites on a per-texture basis
• SimpleSlider – slideshow/texture viewer – give notecard (more of a kiosk than Slider)
• VideoPoster  – per-person video, defined in description field of object – no menus
• LMGiver    – browse, launch, and get Landmarks – menus or search

There are a few things that will quickly follow that list (such as TPFromDescription).

Here is the SLurl to Buckaroo: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland%204/43/177/26

Pricing and Perms

Items are Free for Personal, Educational, and Non-Profit use.

Items are 300L EACH for commercial (300L for each copy you make, or get direct from the store)

Items are mod and copy, but not transfer.  I dont want others reselling my work as their own.

Support

Support calls start at 500L if I come out (or at my discretion).  I strive to provide good documentation on my web site, and recommend checking out the great videos that Torley has done (see the Second Life Video Page).  I am open to custom work, at Rl rates.

Roadmap

I have a definite roadmap in mind.  The next steps are to round out the products with TPFromDescription, BuckyRadio, TPMap, GiveHints (a welcome mat that provides direction to whoever steps on it), and FlipSide (toggles between two images, for giving more info).

There will also be more consistency across the products, and more documentation (which will be moving to my main web site)

There are a lot of things I will be able to do to take advantage of the upcoming prim touch functions (which will allow scripters to detect WHERE on a prim a click occurred).

Of course, there are things beyond that such as swapping objects in one place (such as a collection of sliders), and integrating WebMon/LMGiver into one object that allows a user to search across different types of items.

And it’s rumored that I built a thing or two :)

I’ve done a demo implementation of Imagemaps for Second Life.  The upcoming release of the server side includes several new functions for handling touch events on a prim (the face and the coordinates!)

I will be writing documentation for this, but for now, pop this into a prim and look at the extensive comments near the top of the file.  The script should serve as pretty good example of how to use a list to represent clickable regions for an entire prim.

NOTE: You need to be running on the Beta Grid (Aditi) at this time to see this in action.

MultiFaceImagemap.lsl

(try this with a plain box prim.  Faces 1 and 2 have some actions bound to them)

More soon!

I have been pondering for a while on how to reopen my store, Buckaroo.

I want to provide tools, and do want to show my portfolio in action.

So, look for a return (soon, as in this month) of WebMon, Slider, SimpleSlider, VidMon, and VideoPoster.  Also look for BuckyRadio, LMGiver, and perhaps more down the road.  I have more ideas than time.

These will be free for Personal and Educational/Non-Profit Use.

I will ask for Commercial Buyers to make a donation of at least 300L per item. (and if they make copies, they should donate something for that too)

Permissions: Copy and Mod where it makes sense.  Scripts are Copy only.  No Transfer!  I dont want people getting my products for free and then turning around and selling them (yes, this has happened with BuckyRadio)

This brings me back to Support and Custom Work.  I’ll come out and help / answer questions for a fee, starting at 500L.  I’ll be improving the documentation I already have on my web site.  I am open to Custom Work, so always send me a notecard or email that details what you have in mind — dont rely on an IM.

There will not be any retroactive price reductions or refunds, etc.  The $L earned up to this point was a small bit of encouragement to keep improving the products.  Come to the store when it is ready and think of as free updates!

I’ll follow up on this when the store is ready, and will do my best to answer any questions that this brings up.