Massively^™

Ok, I didn't want to say it, but I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say that the Second Life symbol over Cory's face makes him look CREEPY.

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Wow, what a graceful and classy letter. This is showing true leadership.

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Cory and Philip: both visionaries.

The loose comparison to Apple is inevitable. It's not the end, folks, it's just the beginning of the rest of the future.

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Yes, definitely a classy letter, but I think the public should know what these "engineering differences" are, especially because we're still *on* this wild ride.

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Prok something is wrong with me... I am agreeing with you! =O

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Here's hoping for the best for Cory. He's always been a smart, fun guy to be around, as willing to crack a joke as discuss Second Life and tech in general. There are few people I know who can head up a tech team as diverse as Linden Lab's, get a product like Second Life out the door, and still be so approachable and friendly.

Besides, he has the best avatar in Second Life history!

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I'm with Prokofy and nimrod on this. We would be well served to have an open discussion about these "engineering differences".

I've been thinking a lot about the engineering issues for the future of Second Life (as well as OpenSim and related efforts), and I've put down a few thoughts in my response to this post at
http://www.orient-lodge.com/node/2660

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A few of you have taken two statements and combined them. There is no mention of "engineering differences". There is mention of divergent views of Second Life's future, and then later he is telling Engineering (his team) that they will continue to do well.

the divergence could be about anything. Good luck Cory!

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After meeting Cory in 2005 at the first SLCC, I was impressed with his technical skill and oratory abilities. Any company that snags him will no doubt be enriched greatly.

I wish him the best of luck, and thank him for his massive contributions to Secondlife.

You rock, Cory.

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Betting that the following will happen:

Cory will either try to start his own virtual world, or he will get hired by google, IBM, or sun; all which are jumping into the virtual world thing.

would be nice if cory started a serious competitor to SL.

maybe LL would start fixing their fucked up system. Though that would mean LL would have to restructure. :)

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As someone said, this appears to be a classic professional differences situation, perhaps over design, engineering, creative or management issues--or all of them. I've seen it happen several times before myself, and as Desmond mentions, look at Apple.

Cory is a hoot and an impressive guy. I'm sure we'll be hearing about him and from him again.

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A company has to be able to survive this sort of thing. If the leaving of a CTO/CIO cripples a company there are more serious systemic problems.

Fact of the matter is Cory was/is great at grand strategic vision, but when it comes to the day to day management of the system and the deployment of new critical features...it's not been very good.

SL can't grow unless somebody with SERIOUS experience in managing mission critical data center level experience comes in and settles the dust enough to stabilize the environment. You cant roll out new exciting features when what you have in software and infrastructure feels like a deck of cards.

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Sadly this seems to be the last nail in the second life adventure coffin, As much as I grumbled on LSL radical changes in the code's core, I still hold the highest respect for the language itself and to the one man who created it – Mr. Ondrejka.
If there is one thing Mr Ondrejka supported was fair play and high morals, especially on fair trade and protecting creator’s rights, it’s not the first time we see LL taking the dark path of unfair trading, mostly by simply looking the other way as copy bots and other illegal “toys” ripped and embezzled all the fun (and profit) out of second life members.
Yes, this ship is going to town. I simply recommend to all of you out there to bail out now - just like in any pyramid game.
With that I am still left aghast to see large companies from small and somewhat “left behind” countries still spills money in, second life in 2008 will be focused on setting a “bail out” path to LL original team members as they “sell away” second life to people with no idea of innovation and artistic creation, less then making some more money on the backs of the poor souls that failed to exit.
But really, this is just a personal view of the situation, my question is – will it do major harm to you if you simply convert all those LL to real $, and simply let them wait in your paypal account until the storm will pass (or the world will raze to the ground …)

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