HP is all over virtual worlds. Or Phil McKinney of the Personal Systems Group is anyways. Nice little post about how the future will unfold, including the comment that the combination of virtual worlds and new desktop devices will give rise to “intelligent avatars (who) would be able to represent them both in conferences and in virtual worlds.”
A hint at what the shopping malls in SL of tomorrow have in store comes by way of 3D printers:
Gartner vice president Roger Fulton said that 3D printing will not only speed up product design, but lead individuals to set up micro-manufacturing plants, making customised products to order for sale over the internet.
But there’s also the intriguing comment that “Virtual worlds such as Second Life will make a giant leap forward, as issues such as their legal and geographical status are ironed out.”
Um. Geographical status?
No idea what they’re talking about, unless he’s worried that any company based on California is too Tao for big business?
I’d imagine the issue of geography refers to the complexity added to legal situations, where the virtual world itself is devoid of any jurisdiction per se. In a case such as being an SL employee, I could easily imagine lawyers keeping themselves amused for a long while, arguing over what degrees of jurisdiction apply, based on the location of SL’s incorporation, the employer’s location, and that of the employee, all of which might conceivably be on different continents.
One might similarly consider land ownership, governed by laws all around the world, but absolutely free of any restrictions or protections in SL, leading to the manifold abuses witnessed routinely, such as tenants being immediately tossed off their plots, despite being fully paid up, when a new sim owner comes onto the scene. Thankfully, the consequences of SL homelessness are vastly easier to deal with than in RL.