Massively

Linden Lab has released the figures for the third-quarter performance of Second Life.

If you want the short version, it wasn't a growth quarter. Q3 2009 figures were not really very distinguishable from Q2 2009. There's actually nothing wrong with that. Growth plateaus are occasional and inevitable and generally represent a good opportunity for engineering and support to catch up a little with the service.

Mark Kingdon, Linden Lab's CEO, has been a bit of a mystery figure since his appointment about a year and a half ago. While he has not been uncommunicative, it's been hard to get a very good sense of the man at the helm of Linden Lab, his passions, interests and direction.

We were very pleased, therefore, when he took the time to sit down with us and answer a whole grab-bag of questions, about himself, about Linden Lab, and – of course – about Second Life. Bear with us, because we've got a lot of ground to cover.

Having learned something about the man driving Linden Lab and Second Life, we turned our attention to something dear to us all. Second Life, itself.

Massively: Do you see Second Life as a virtual world, a virtual environment, or as a platform? Or more than one of these?

Geography has meaning in Second Life

All of the above. Second Life is a virtual world in that it is a destination to which people are drawn. Geography has meaning in Second Life. At its core, though, Second Life is a platform for expression, communication, creativity and commerce. The richness of Second Life comes from the enormous creativity of the Residents. Our job is to provide the platform and tools that make this magic happen.

Massively: Here's the question of the ages: What are the Lab's goals for Second Life? We all assume that Linden Lab has clear goals for Second Life (actually, I think it's mostly an article of faith), but nobody seems to really be aware of where it's going, and many seem to worry that that's because they won't like the answer. Indeed, most addresses to the users lately usually include a "tough decisions... hard road... you're not going to like it" sort of disclaimer.

Our mission remains what it's always been: to connect people in a digital world and in doing so, improve the human condition. For that to happen, Second Life needs to extend and enhance people's everyday lives. I know that sounds grandiose and mundane at the same time. But isn't that life? Heavenly and corporeal all at the same time?

It has to be ... Internet easy. Intuitive. Second nature.

In the nearer term, we have more 'concrete' goals that move us towards our ideal. First off, we need to make Second Life much more accessible to a wide audience. It has to be a delightful experience. Internet easy. Intuitive. Second nature. It also has to be a rational experience with great tools for finding and discovering the people, places and things that matter to you. And, it needs more social tools so you can connect easily with others.

I think the "you might not like the changes ahead" meme is in reaction to the fact that the Second Life community is wonderfully, heroically, fantastically engaged and extraordinarily vocal. I'll never forget the self-immolating avatars during the Open Space re-pricing a year ago!

By design, Viewer 2.0 isn't revolutionary. It is a clean-up of existing functionality (with a few new things added to the mix). But, it will spark a lot of debate. Some people love their pie menus! Even the smallest changes can create a stir while major changes like our Adult Only project can be explosive. Yet, many of these changes are changes that will enable Second Life to appeal to a wider audience, to grow, to prosper, and to achieve our mission. We're not trying to take creativity and expression out of Second Life. We are merely trying to create an experience that Residents can navigate comfortably. With ease. On their own terms.

Massively: As a platform and as an economy it's hard to plan endeavors in Second Life without a roadmap of what's coming up and approximately when. So far, the only thing on that roadmap is Viewer 2009/SL2.0. The rest more or less consists of bite-sized vision-statements. Are there any plans for a roadmap(s) that users, developers, educators and businesses can use to plan?

Yes. In the past, the company didn't publish roadmaps or issue a long-term plan. In fact, the work approach was more "wisdom of the crowds," more self-directed, more spontaneous. That approach created the staggering platform we know and love.

As we move to the next level of growth, and we reach 400 then 500 people in the Lab, our approach to how we work will necessarily evolve. In fact it is evolving now.

We have roadmaps and our work – for the most part – fits into a cogent long-term plan. We are starting to communicate our roadmaps more broadly, now, as well.

For example, a few months ago, we held the first Solution Providers conference in-world, and shared a 'sneak peak' of upcoming platform improvements that relate to Enterprise. You'll see more sharing as we become more comfortable planning and more confident in our ability to deliver on our plans in a timely manner.

Massively: The "first hour" of Second Life is probably pretty difficult, but the next five hours tends to make that first hour look kind of rosy by comparison. Whether we're talking about one hour or six hours, are there any plans or ideas you'd like to share about improving that period?

The first five hours of Second Life are very difficult

Indeed, the first five hours of Second Life are very difficult – worse than it is for the participants in Survivor! Our goal is to collapse that five hours of trial and error into a five minute experience that gives new Residents the life skills they need to explore and enjoy Second Life. Beyond making the viewer more intuitive, if we can quickly connect new Residents with new friends and new experiences, then the rest will take care of itself.

In early 2010, we are launching a new entry path for the enterprise segment

Over time, we'll develop unique entry paths for different types of Residents. If you are interested in role-play, there will be an entry path for you...if you are interested in starting a business there will be an entry path for you. In early 2010, we are launching a new entry path for the enterprise segment -- enterprise-friendly avatars, an orientation experience that's tailored for business, an in-world expo of the elements of Second Life that are essential for business...and so on.

Massively: What would top your wishlist for Second Life (other than, say, a billion active users or fair treatment by the media)? What do you wish Second Life had that you think it could or should have, but doesn't yet?

• A super lightweight experience to complement the immersive one that let's people dip their toes in and see what it's like to attend a concert, go to a meeting, chat with a friend, etc. without going through the full registration, download, and orientation process.
• A Web 2.0 oriented data model with an array of APIs that expose data streams so that developers can create more apps for Residents to find, discover, connect, transact, share, create and build.

Massively: The UI-revamp's a huge undertaking with at least as much potential to distress as it has to delight. Everything and everyone that refers to the UI is going to have to change their thinking – and in many cases, courses, tutorials, documentation and all sorts.

Obviously that sort of change brings along both extensive risks and costs. What does the new UI bring to the table? What makes it a winner? All we know at this stage is that you and Tom have told us that it doesn't look anything like the builds we saw (shame, actually – I thought that it was proceeding on some quite promising lines) or that were shown at SLCC.

First, to clarify: Viewer 2.0 is not going to look exactly like the pictures Tom showed at SLCC because it didn't have the polish then that it has now. But it is progressing in the direction you saw at SLCC.

Viewer 2.0 is going to be significantly different, but it's not going to be a game-changer right out of the gate. I don't want to deflate hopes, but I want your readers to have realistic expectations. This is a very, very complex piece of software, and its evolution will be an iterative process.

That said, the new viewer is a big step in the direction required to bring Second Life to a broader audience. Beyond the extensive clean-up and simplification of menus and floaters, there are three things I love about Viewer 2.0. One is the browser-like location bar where you enter a region name (e.g., p squared), hit return and voila you are magically teleported there. It is really slick and every time I use it I smile.

Using a simple web metaphor that everyone understands makes Second Life more natural, more intuitive, more accessible. Almost Second nature. In addition, I really like the sliding side panel.

Experience design is about big things, yes, but is really about many, many small things done extremely well.

By consolidating things there that would normally appear in floating panels, we've de-cluttered the world-view. Finally, I really like the look and feel. It's more contemporary with a finer level of finish than we have today and the sound effects will be positively elegant.

Experience design is about big things, yes, but is really about many, many small things done extremely well. We'll get there!

Massively: We're noticing that Viewer 2.0 seems to be the preferable name to Viewer 2009. Does that indicate a change in the schedule?

Astute question!

We all figured it was bad luck to name the viewer after a date, so we are calling it Viewer 2.0. It feels right because it is a 2.0 experience. I use it every day and although there is much still to be done, I love it!

[Although we note that that didn't bring us closer to knowing if the original Q4 target was still on the cards]

Lastly, we turned our attention to open-source, third-party viewers, third-party simulators, and the original plan to open up the code to all parts of the platform.

Massively: Back in 2005, Linden Lab announced their intent to open-source the viewer and a chunk of the server-side of Second Life. Now the viewer part has happened, but aside from various infrastructure technologies that were released, built in conjunction with IBM, there's been no sign of the rest. Is that still on the active agenda?

We don't currently have any plans to open source the server code.

We don't currently have any plans to open source the server code. I will say that I am a big proponent of an open development paradigm where we expose APIs and let the community create amazing new functionality. Apple has done this exceedingly well as has Facebook.

Massively: Third-party viewers: Boon or bane? Why?

Third-party viewers are a boon with a 'but...' A big 'but!' Having talented developers out there creating and integrating new functionality that Residents want and enjoy – that's a boon, for sure. The caveat, though, is that "bad actors" present challenges for us, since some can do things like enabling phishing or copying content without the rights to do so.

Cyn recently blogged on what we're doing to address what is a real concern for the community. We're developing new guidelines and policies that will outline the standards third-party viewers must meet to connect to Second Life, as well as tools to help developers and the community comply with these guidelines, including a 'viewer registry.'

Massively: Opensim's been gaining considerable traction in various quarters lately. Any thoughts?

I see the virtual world through the lens of abundance not scarcity. The virtual world is going to be enormous and pervasive. There will be space for many players with very different propositions. In fact, virtual worlds won't achieve their full potential unless there are many players developing unique offerings for a wide array of users.

My hope is that the major components of the virtual world will be inter-operable and we started to work on that last year with IBM. By necessity, we shifted our focus to more urgent projects this year, but hope to pick it up again in 2010.

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And there you have it. Certainly the reversal on opening the server code will come as a disappointment to some but now, just over four years after the original announcement, it can't really come as much of a surprise that it is not going ahead as originally envisaged.

Will an abundance of platforms really be the rising tide that lifts all boats, or will it fracture a market that hasn't yet grown into a genuine abundance itself?

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	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Linden Lab, the company behind the Second Life platform is launching the open beta of Project Nebraska today. Project Nebraska was the working title for what is now called Second Life Enterprise, a standalone Second Life solution for enterprise use.

This "Second Life in a box" solution, is actually in two boxes. It consists of a combined software and hardware bundle, including two 1RU rack-mount servers, prepackaged as an appliance and configured to provide virtual environment and voice services, ready to use with standard Second Life viewer software.

But that's not all.

'I cannot read the fiery letters,' said Frodo in a quavering voice.

'No,' said Gandalf, 'but I can. The letters are English, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Lawyers, which I will not utter here. But this in the Common Tongue is what is said, close enough:

'You agree to review and adhere to the guidelines on using "Second Life," "SL," "Linden," the Eye-in-Hand logo, and Linden Lab's other trademarks, service marks, trade names, logos, domain names, taglines, and trade dress..'

He paused, and then said slowly in a deep voice: 'These are the Master Rules, the Terms of Service that rule all accounts.'

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Well, a joint-project of Rhys Moult with Curtin University and the Tabor Adelaide iYouth Project has produced a video which essentially summarizes the 7,500 word Second Life Terms of Service in a straightforward and easy-to-digest form. It's top work, and you can check it out, after the fold.

Seems that most of what you hear in and about Second Life recently revolves around creator rights, copyrights, trademarks, intellectual property rights, infringement and so forth. It's not that intellectual property infringement is new – you can certainly replicate content with the official viewer if you know how – but it is in the limelight and a major feature of Second Life discussions by virtue of assorted high-profile infringements, and legal actions.

Copyright infringement can't be made to go away. Since the Statute of Anne in 1710 originally codified copyrights in law, infringement has only been somewhat quelled by various means, never practically eliminated. In these predominantly digital times, there are many new tradeoffs could be made that could reduce the incidence of infringement, but at the cost of also reducing functionality.

While Linden Lab allows you to submit a DMCA notice via post or fax, there is a third option that's valid while you're waiting for the promised new DMCA process to come along.

While many service- and platform-providers insist that they do not accept emailed DMCA notices, if you submit them correctly, the provider is lawfully obligated to accept them. Interestingly, a proper DMCA notice by email can actually give the recipient more surety about the identity of the submitter than faxed or posted notices.

Remember Kevin Alderman (known in Second Life as Stroker Serpentine), CEO of Eros LLC who is one of the plaintiffs who have filed a lawsuit against Linden Lab for negligence with respect to security and failing to act in accordance with their obligations under the DMCA? Well, it can't be a good week for either him or for the Lab.

During Linden Lab's Burning Life event in Second Life this year (a sort of living pop-art showcase and party that draws many spectators) persons only presently known to the server logs left a cache of copied content, including at least one of Alderman's latest products, and a whole swag of other content belonging to other designers – free for the taking.

It isn't really Burning Life's fault, but if you had to place the stuff somewhere where many people would take it, none-the-wiser that it was unlawful content, that would be the best place at this time of the year.

Linden Lab have installed a new account setting for Second Life users, where an account can be marked as a 'scripted agent' (which you can call a 'bot' if you prefer). At present, it isn't actually known what effect the marker has, or to what use it is being put. At some future time, we are told, it may be used to exempt accounts from contributing to the Second Life parcel-traffic system.

Right now, though, it's sort of like being asked "Would all citizens who have firearms and do not use them to break the law, please leave your name at your local police-station." That is, there doesn't seem anything actually wrong with the idea, but you've got to wonder why it is being asked at this time.