Linden Labs announced the appointment of Tom Hale as Chief Product Officer, highlighting the deepest advantage that I think Second Life offers as it evolves as both platform and world: knowledge and experience about the intersection of “gaming, virtual goods and virtual worlds, online communications, community and social networking”.

Today at Metanomics, I’ll be joining a panel discussion of Philip Rosedale’s vision for Second Life. And Tom Hale’s appointment highlights at least one of the central contradictions that is perhaps the greatest source of confusion over “what Second Life will be when it grows up”: that while it’s a world, with distinct cultures, shared artefacts, and a robust in-world economy, it’s also being pitched as a “platform”.

Tom’s title however highlights a third pillar of the Linden Lab strategy: in order to avoid becoming an ISP hosting servers and maybe a commerce engine (a strategy that, in the long-term, risks turning SL into a commodity), there needs to be a parallel focus on product.

Two recent announcements strengthen this shift in to products: the launch of the SLim viewer, and the partnership with Rivers Run Red on Immersive Spaces.

Tom further fleshes out the Lab’s capacity in this area. M Linden commented on Tom’s appointment:

“Tom brings deep experience at every stage of the product lifecycle – from creating, launching and marketing great products to building large businesses around them,” said Mark Kingdon, CEO, Linden Lab. “Second Life is made up of an unusually complex array of products, and few executives have the range required to craft and execute a product strategy for such a rich, vibrant and diverse experience. Tom does. He will play a pivotal role in taking Second Life to the next level and will be a great partner for me.”

Now, it’s hardly due dilligence, but Tom’s CV is impressive:

“Hale was an Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR) at Redpoint Ventures, investigating the intersections of gaming, virtual goods and virtual worlds, online communications, community and social networking. At Adobe, Hale led the collaboration and Software as a Service (SaaS) agendas, driving the strategy for businesses such as Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Connect (formerly known as Macromedia Breeze), and the Flash Media Server after the acquisition of Macromedia. At Macromedia, Hale held a wide range of senior management roles and was instrumental in making Macromedia products standard for web development, establishing the Flash Player as a platform for rich internet applications (RIAs), and building a $100 million a year business in the learning and training space.”

Welcome aboard Tom. Priority one: get good hair, and the rest will make sense sooner rather than later. (Oh, and if you post on the blog, use your Linden name!)