Second Life Pros

It’s not just virtual worlds, but Disney predicts to have one billion dollars in revenue this 2008 year, up from the 700 million for last 2007 year.
This is interesting, because it means that online technologies, and virtual worlds in particular, are definitively here to stay.
I also think that as soon as we’ll have more bandwidth worldwide, and better interfaces, the use of virtual worlds, and Second Life, will reach the masses, and become very profitable for companies offering virtual services.
What do you say? It’s a good, or a bad prediction?

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The official Linden Blog is offering new interesting videos for you, like how to play movies and webpages in your land. Check it out!

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As usually happens (see Google, for example), the founder needs an experienced CEO.
Philip Rosedale (below I’m at Linden Lab’s HQ in last july 2007) is stepping down as CEO of Linden Lab.

Here’s what he has to say about that:
We’ve decided to search for a new CEO, and I wanted to briefly talk to everyone here about the reasons for that decision.
I feel that the most important contributions I have made and will continue to make to Second Life are related to building both the product and the company through my direct contributions to vision, strategy, and design. As we grow, …read more

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You know my story, right? I will probably be hired by Amazon.com, thanks to a Luxembourg Virtual Job Fair to which I attended in last november. That was great!
Now there are plenty of virtual worlds job out there… check here for more details, maybe it’s your turn!
I see a great advantage for employers here. Less costs, and already a selection of some sort!
What’s your take on it?

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I’m in the SLED Mailing List since almost a year, and I love it.
Now they have a new blog, and I’m sure it deserves some good visits, folks, because education is and will be one of the strongest sectors in Second Life.

[screenshot source]
That Mailing List is also very useful to get in contact with the educators around the world, share experiences, and so on. If you’re in education, you should enroll
Do you have other educational resources to share?

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I recently bought an Iphone for a friend of mine. I don’t like Apple too much, probably because I’m sort of a geek, and I don’t need the “cool” stuff and design. Anyway, they’re not bad products at all.
Curious to see Second Life through your Iphone? Check here!
Boxfab wants you to use your Iphone as a display. Interesting concept, stay tuned for more

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Mono is an open source implementation of the .NET architecture, something used to develop software and integrate it in bigger systems.
Some regions in the beta grid are now using Mono to run the simulation, and they have a very good performance improvement.
The Linden Team behind this is doing an excellent job, and I can guess that this will be one of the main factors in helping Second Life keep growing month after month.
Keep your fingers crossed!

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I hated the anti-piracy campaign: downloading an mp3 is not comparable to stealing a car, or an object. Lawrence Lessig, in its Free Culture book, gives a great detailed explanation about that. Briefly, mp3 download, through peer-to-peer clients, doesn’t affect the music market in a significant way.
Also, if I steal your car, you’re carless; if I download your mp3, you still keep your copy.
By the way, I was disappointed to see similar comparisons in a recent anti-copy campaign in Second Life. More details here.

What do you think about it?

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One of the WORST things in Second Life is search ranking: it reminds me of the early web, in which you could win the first page on Altavista simply adding the same keyword a hundred times. Now SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is much tougher than before, because technics improved, and because there are millions of visitors (and revenues) at stake.
Now Linden Lab decided to improve search rankings (yes, it was time, folks!).
It is just a minor tweak for now, but it’s a sign!!
Also, SL ranking is not as simple as in web pages: in the early days of the web …read more

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Digital Entertainment ran a survey to understand how many brits know Second Life: surprisingly, half of them (48%) never heard of it.
I think that that number will go down to 1% only when there will be a breakthrough improvement in Second Life (a killer application, or a much better client, or whatever like that).
In the meantime, Second Life awareness is slowly growing.
What can you expect from something that just two years ago was practically unknown?

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