Comments on: Philip Rosedale, Once Back, Is Now Back Out at Linden Lab

By: c3

c3 — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 19:27:42 +0000

where’s the love?;(

By: Ancient1

Ancient1 — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 23:15:27 +0000

For a business centered around “residents” that keep the business going, its really something that Linden Labs has virtually no communication coming to the residents that would give them faith that the business is going to remain. For a business like this, when the Founder/CEO admits he only logs in a couple times a year, and then its only for interviews, you know something is profoundly wrong. If this was his baby, he would spend a lot of time in here, as many of us with 50 hour a week jobs, families and other responsibilities do. I did met someone socially here in California who is a older senior software engineer who worked at Linden Labs for a short period before he quit for a better job. He was OMG what a mismanaged organization that is, unbelievably bad structure to the technical group and half the employees don’t put in a real days worth of work. We can all see the results of that. Philip Rosedale has really let a lot of people down.

By: Anastasios Aurotharius aka Benjamin Linson

Anastasios Aurotharius aka Benjamin Linson — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:39:28 +0000

Thankyou Dusan for providing your insight into the going’s on at Linden Lab, it’s truly enlightening and sheds a lot of the mystery that seems to surround all of our experiences with Second Life. Also thank-you everyone else for commenting on the blog as it’s the dialog that produces such interesting reading for me and provides an opportunity for even more discovery.

Philip Rosedale’s departure did seem a little abrupt for someone who said that he had no plans to do something else and once more it makes us feel like we’ve been abandoned. Was four months really enough to make a significant impact? He certainly created a stir when he made a surprise late appearance at SLCC in Boston in August but I was glad that he did attend despite his late arrival. It was good to see him talk and address controversial issues steadfastly and with confidence. My overall impression of his character was positive. Unfortunately, ultimately, his hastened departure from Linden Lab was not as reassuring.

For me there were two things that softened the blow. Number one was his initial statement that his intention was to return to SL as an “interim CEO”. While I found that disappointing, at least he was showing transparency with his honesty. The second thing that he spoke of in addition to the “fast, easy, fun” message was the need to speed up the process of taking an idea from concept to implementation. The idea is to have a process where you implement something, get some feedback from residents, make the requisite changes and then implement it again. By shortening the cycle time and using this trail and error method, a lot of web companies can produce a higher quality product in a shorter amount of time. There may have been other influences that caused him to depart in a manner that seemed premature but at the very least he knows there is a lot of work to do, speed is of the essence and there are some things beyond his control. Get in, make some changes, and then get out.

I think one of the reasons why he can feel so confident and return to http://www.lovemachine.com is that Second Life has no competition in the market niche that it now serves according to http://www.theimaginationage.net/2009/07/second-lifes-competition-nobody.html and statistics from http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/?p=2800 . As long as there is no competition, there is no reason for SL to change. While we may feel saddened or even disgusted that SL is a mere shadow of what it once was, data from http://www.kzero.co.uk reveals that in the age 25+ market sector, virtual worlds are growing at a steady albeit slow pace. Looking at the overall industry of virtual worlds, Second Life is actually very healthy although when you travel in-world, the ghost towns and residents stories give a different impression.

From my personal perspective, I formerly participated in http://www.paltalk.com chat and yahoo chat and was elated to find the social climate in Second Life so much more hospitable. Yahoo has been on a long down trend and is rampant with angry venting and advertising bots and although I enjoyed certain aspects of paltalk, I found I had little in common with most participants. By contrast, once I got over the technical hurdles, I met a great number of congenial SL residents, the company of whom I have enjoyed immensely.

By: Optikal

Optikal — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:56:50 +0000

There is a pattern, an issue I notice; focusing on this, that or then, rarely taking a step back to look at the grander picture. For those aged residents that walk around with both eyes open, this pattern is as plain as a pre-windlight day. All I see is a whole bunch of hope with very little action, not the way to get momentum. Waiting and seeing.. I liken to watching a pail of water empty, unless you do something it will empty, and you don’t need to wait to know that.

By: Helene Zuili aka Clara Young

Helene Zuili aka Clara Young — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 09:44:19 +0000

Hi Dusan. It is always nice to read you.
All of those changes are showing either lack of professionnalism, lack of strategy, or total despair… and suicide at the end… or something that looks like it. I have been out of the world for the past month, totally disgusted by the lately sudden backward on SLE and the troubles Linden Lab communicates to us with their inability to answer us about business matters with big established clients (just an answer is a problem…)
I always felt Philip had come back because he had no choice in some way, but not with his guts. Maybe he needed more time away from his big monster machine, more time to accomplish something new and then come back with new energy and desire. Once I heard Steve Jobs talking about the time he was away from Apple, creating Next and Pixar and explaining that was the biggest luck for him and Apple, because this time, fired from his own company, gave him a lot of opportunity to think and time to breathe ….
Anyway, Philip re-entered as a Jack in the Box. What could he tell us ? I am re-entering to stop the hemorrhage, the decrease of the community and to prepare the company for an acquisition…. Well, maybe this is what he wanted to say by giving us the image of a nice future for Second Life with mesh, mobility, light viewer and consumer focus…
Now Philip seems to send this post as if he would slam a door… You are right when you say you only sell a company when it is high. But maybe it is better to sell it when it is worth a little, than when it worth nothing at all. The rythm of the evolution of the Lab is too slow compared to what is going on outside with video games, alternative browser-based enterprise solutions, social networks, mobile communities, and IT in general.
Sure, it is a complicated challenge and that challenge needs a lot of money to move on. Second Life worth the price of its technology without its community. And its community is tired…. like Philip seems to be.
What will be will be. Let’s wait & see…

By: Vivienne

Vivienne — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 17:57:13 +0000

I´ll miss the Phil Linden who made his brilliant vision come true. I´ll not miss the Phil Linden who let his vision become a playground for greed and stupidity.

By: Discord

Discord — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 16:24:20 +0000

almost destroyed mesh (almost cancelled it all together, fired 1/2 the team working on it, moved 1/2 of what was left on to other projects, froze progress on it for at least 2 months)

destroyed teen grid

removed educational pricing on sims

destroyed search

ruined the marketplace

fired off the most productive members of his staff

destroyed customer support (sure, letting go of some call center people made sense, but concierge and those who respond to support tickets are almost completely useless now)

I can’t think of a single productive / positive thing he did

is anyone going to miss him?

By: cube3

cube3 — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:32:24 +0000

“But content is always being created anew, and nature abhors a vacuum.”

uh,, this ISNT NATURE. its mediation..and we only have oursleves to blame.

the network/web2.0 mediation is all about “transfer” not value. and until the metaevangelists mature enough to realize this, the machine that feeds on us, will just be built again.

and youll all be sinking your efforts into the next green misty mars thats not a community or communications platform, but only a single bank account attached to a c corp from a valley based on talking about “transparency” while cloaked in gag orders…

and selling a machine that IS designed to make exceptional humans, less.

By: Metacam Oh

Metacam Oh — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:10:09 +0000

I disagree, the economy is vital, and so are all the options in that economy. Without that, you just have Open Sim

By: Vivienne

Vivienne — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:00:24 +0000

I´d go further. “Things” are of minor importance. So is an “economy”. What really matters it what people create on a social and community world level. This is the real quality a VR can contribute to the “real world”, not meshes or prims or whatever. “Things” can only be supportive.