The Daily Grind: Is Second Life the internet of the future?
Filed under: Opinion, Second Life, The Daily Grind
It seems like I've written that before... In fact, just over a year ago when I was a very new blogger on Second Life Insider I wrote "Is the future of the internet on course?" But it's close. I am not claiming in this piece at all that Second Life is perfect. I'm not going to pretend there aren't major changes I'd make in it, as well as major changes in the pipeline that we report on. I'm more thinking from a developmental point of view.Let me tell you a quick story. You'll probably recognise parts of it. About 25 years ago there was this geeky thing called the internet. No-one but the really hard-core used it. About 10 years later it started to become more commonly available. There was a mixed reaction. Some people leapt in. Some dithered. Have a look at www.nissan.com if you don't believe me - it's not a car-manufacturer. Take the example of bookstores - most traditional bookstores didn't do much, but a few people tried, and a few new people got into the mix. Many of the new ones, and many of the traditional ones fell by the wayside. This totally radical new company started to establish itself. Who hasn't heard of, and almost certainly used Amazon (either in the US or in their own country or both.
Let's assume the next major evolution of the internet is a 3D virtual environment - like Second Life. Someone will become the Amazon, the Google of the 3D internet. We keep hearing that there is a competitor to Second Life coming along - but they keep failing to actually manifest. The odds suggest that the longer this carries on, the more likely it is that Second Life will be the basis of the 3D internet. It's not a guarantee of course - anyone remember Netscape?
So, what do you think? Is 3D internet the next big thing? Is Second Life the Amazon and Google of 3D internet, or is it the Netscape? If it is the Netscape, who is the Firefox? The Internet Explorer? The Safari?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-27-2008 @ 8:17AM
Ghen said...
Well unfortunately we can't predict the course of the internet right now because there's a giant bandwidth bottleneck approaching that we aren't equipped to handle. The problems will happen when the mainstream public starts watching TV over the internet.
http://telephonyonline.com/home/news/internet_network_capacity_111907/
Its already happening for niche culture, entire foreign tv shows are on youtube as the only method of watching it. Plus recent studies show that P2P traffic is responsible for 50%-90% of all Internet traffic. (direct quote) Torrenting TV shows accounts for almost exactly 50% of that traffic or 25%-45% of ALL internet traffic.
http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-dominates-internet-traffic-070901/
So once TV watching on the internet becomes mainstream, the internet is going to chug along at dial-up speeds completely hampering any and all innovation until its fixed.
Reply
2-27-2008 @ 8:28AM
Tateru Nino said...
Well, I remember much the same happening to the Internet when the Web first came out (I was one of the ones arguing against the IMG tag back in the day, on account of the absolute crash in bandwidth).
Well, bandwidth crashed, but they were right - it spurred expansion of capacity.
2-27-2008 @ 11:08AM
Ghen said...
Its going to come to that, people have to see things break before they are willing to spend money fixing it. Same attitude with global warming IMO.
2-27-2008 @ 9:38AM
skribe said...
The internet has been 6 months away from crashing into a steaming pile since 1994. Or so 'those-that-know' keep saying.
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2-27-2008 @ 9:45AM
sirhc DeSantis said...
"The world will end - yesterday". C'mon who watches entire TV shows anymore? And the competition to SL will pounce if (and only if) each LL announcement is not followed by 100 + whining blog posts. Who needs "residents" like that?
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2-27-2008 @ 2:09PM
DCMetrocoaster said...
Watch both seasons of the Ghost in the Shell series. That is the future of the internet, and human to human communication.
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2-27-2008 @ 8:55PM
infiniteloop said...
IMVU is already larger than SL - do some research...
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2-27-2008 @ 10:06PM
Eloise Pasteur said...
Internet is six months away from dying - yawn, it's been six months away from dying for years and years, depending on who you read and believe. It's struggled at times, but it's still here. I suspect it will be in a few years time too, in some form or another.
IMVU may be bigger than SL although wikipedia suggests only 1,000,000 sign-ups rather than the 12.6 sign ups for SL. Do your research too. In addition how does an IM client with an avatar aim to become a 3D internet? Get real.
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2-27-2008 @ 10:38PM
Quin said...
In 1997, it was VRML capable browsers that were the future of the internet. Now it's SL. In 10 years, we've added physics.
Instant messengers have changed the landscape of the internet, but they have not replaced HTTP, it's a different type of communication. Second Life provides some form of simple narrative, but is much more useful as a live communication device and not to read or view things that are recorded. I just can't see loading up Second Life, or the next 3d browser after it, to read a webcomic, blog, or other website.
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2-28-2008 @ 7:22AM
TigroSpottystripes Katsu said...
is SL being prepared to be compatible with stuff like internet2?
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