What do they do once all this is up and there are no in-world stores to upgrade your hair or clothing? Everyone walks around without the ability to have their own unique identities in these “secure” environments. Well, the company could pay a bunch of developers in real US dollars to supply them, ring the cash register again.

I do believe however that all these concerns can and will be addressed. But real economic growth comes not from spending less money and finding ways to cut costs (like job losses). Technology should continue to allow us to be more efficient, better producers, and use technology for competitive advantage to build our top line. While I am an interested bystander in LL’s pursuit of SL in the workspace, I think they are missing the better strategic alternative; to create the SL platform into a competitive collaboration tool. Right now, Cisco and WebEx have LL beat hands down on collaboration and virtual meeting spaces in a package requiring lower-end workstations.