A successful “media” Industry needs set’s of tool makers, end service providers, and platform providers that all provide COMPLIMENTARY componants to a ” projects” success.

If Linden, like MANY of the web3d “companies” before it, wont allow itself to be a “part” of a ecosystem for business, but only “THE” business…, then my “ahead of the curve” experience tells me youll all be selling flash based visuals again in a year.:)

Adobe walked foolishly into the “service-tools” arena last year and was slapped hard by the creative media industries… Google/you tube is just about ready for a rude wake up call from the media makers for NOT understanding that ALL must eat for any sort of industry to take place.
We wont even go into the current auto industry and its banker woes as a slow example of the obvious loss of industrial organizational thinking in the us and the corporate world in general.

anyhow.
RRR wont be providing those blogged hyped “cutting edge platform” avalon workspaces for Lively it seems:) and except for the cross grid IP violations i worry about, they can work with Linden fine:) and offer any products they agree too….

But lets not fool ourselves into any thoughts that this is a good thing for a wider web3d/ vr industry. Its not. In fact i havent seen almost any activity in the last 2 years of SL mania, that has been truly targeted at any real professional organizations and industry. My NYVRMSIG and SFWEB3D orgs from 96 and 2001 with none of the resources of the “current” VR pundits backers was truer to an “industry birth organization” than any of the web3d “ning sites” collecting mailing list names for pr announcement day after day.

anyhow enjoy your show.

c3

I do sincerely hope this really is what’s best for business, and all of the other people using Second Life. I also hope it addresses each of BizOwner’s concerns (the same concerns we all have, even on the regular grid), because I really do want to see SL succeed. I’ll admit I’m probably being overly skeptical, and could have this all wrong. But its just that – down here below the high level enterprise business stratum, we can still see the wreckage from other decisions and investments that didn’t go according to plan. Since this is one we’re all tied to, I think it only makes sense to examine it, and ask questions.

All of which is to say I think Keystone has actually been ahead of the curve and in fact REMAINS ahead of the curve. There are others who I consider in-world architects, whereas what Keystone has struck upon is using a 3D environment for cross-platform collaboration work. Architecture is, in a sense, not at all what Keystone’s work strives to explore and ACHIEVES – it’s just a nice short hand in a sense, meant to embody not buildings but rather information space, user interaction with archetypes, collaboration, and meaning.

So, I’m not entirely sure that his issue is with evolving business models. His problem has been similar to my own: change is good, creative renewal is good, but it’s nice to be able to place a marker somewhere and plan business activities based on an understanding of the evolving road map of a technology and to leverage the advantages of whatever technology path you choose, for whatever strategic reasons.

I was under the impression, and still believe, that one of the platform advantages of Linden Lab’s products (the “Grid” and Second Life) is the opportunity for serendipity, collaboration, and access to a community of creative, talented people. This move has lacked a road map that’s visible to the wider community (until very very recently), and doesn’t explicitly encourage what I also believe are a few of the main value propositions of the Grid as a whole.

In many ways I think everyone’s on the same page here: let’s advance the platform, let’s keep the doors of collaboration open, let’s understand what the future holds and where we’re going. I don’t see any of what has been said as at cross-purposes (although I, like Keystone, don’t understand what open source has to do with anything).

And I’d like to hear how your business model is changing David: what are you now considering that you weren’t before? What worked before that will now work because of Immersive Spaces and other applications like it? Where do you get information on the road map? And do you believe that access to the innovation community of SL is an important platform advantage for the Lab’s products? Can you point us to the awards and wider press/publications you’ve had of your work so we can understand your perspective a bit more (and seriously, I mean this in an honest way, I don’t mean to be snarky, I’m just curious).

Overall though, and again, I think everyone has shared the belief that the future is arising, it’s the means by which we can grab hold of it that are perhaps muddled a bit.