Linux Client for Second Life
Thanks for alerting me to this, thefile! It's only a matter of time before cosette_valjean and I can explore the online virtual world of Second Life simultaneously, side by side. A version of the SL client program that can run on my Linux computer is under development-- long rumored of-- and has now been revealed. Linden Labs made a early and incomplete Alpha version of the software available for download and bug-testing.
I've downloaded it, and much to my surprise, the license says it contains source code. It also says that permission is given for anyone to modify and distribute it. That smells like Open Source Software to me, even though it's an Apache license which I'm not familiar with, rather than a GPL. If so, this is more incredible than I thought. Is this an act of self-destructive heroism on the part of Linden Labs?
The way the game has made money works as follows: LL provides the software for free, and even lets you play the game for free, but if you want to build things or own property you have to pay. They worked out a system in which the cost is roughly proportional to the bandwidth and processing power necessary for your objects, special avatars, land, and buildings to be rendered when players view or interact with them.
Isn't there some secret in the source code that open source programmers could use to create an interoperable equivalent to Second Life, run it on free, non-Linden servers, and let users start importing the landscape and objects of the Second Life world? Could these servers create an infinite amount of virtual money that could be spent in Second Life? If that happens, how does LL plan for their business model to continue to work? Probably because they have not released the source code for the servers.
But LL has even more going for it than a lock on its currency validation and its world. Second Life is a classic Web 2.0 company in that all the content of the experience is created by many users working together. That's where the value comes from. What makes most internet-based businesses work is not just the software, it's the critical mass of participants. Consider the open source instant messenger Jabber. This challenger hasn't supplanted any of the champions because we choose an IM service for social reasons, based on who else we know that's on it.
Can some of you tell me more about this license, or about running web services? Do you think LL is crazy like a fox? What are they up to? In any case, I'm thrilled that Linden Labs has made this move, and hope that they are rewarded.
I've downloaded it, and much to my surprise, the license says it contains source code. It also says that permission is given for anyone to modify and distribute it. That smells like Open Source Software to me, even though it's an Apache license which I'm not familiar with, rather than a GPL. If so, this is more incredible than I thought. Is this an act of self-destructive heroism on the part of Linden Labs?
The way the game has made money works as follows: LL provides the software for free, and even lets you play the game for free, but if you want to build things or own property you have to pay. They worked out a system in which the cost is roughly proportional to the bandwidth and processing power necessary for your objects, special avatars, land, and buildings to be rendered when players view or interact with them.
Isn't there some secret in the source code that open source programmers could use to create an interoperable equivalent to Second Life, run it on free, non-Linden servers, and let users start importing the landscape and objects of the Second Life world? Could these servers create an infinite amount of virtual money that could be spent in Second Life? If that happens, how does LL plan for their business model to continue to work? Probably because they have not released the source code for the servers.
But LL has even more going for it than a lock on its currency validation and its world. Second Life is a classic Web 2.0 company in that all the content of the experience is created by many users working together. That's where the value comes from. What makes most internet-based businesses work is not just the software, it's the critical mass of participants. Consider the open source instant messenger Jabber. This challenger hasn't supplanted any of the champions because we choose an IM service for social reasons, based on who else we know that's on it.
Can some of you tell me more about this license, or about running web services? Do you think LL is crazy like a fox? What are they up to? In any case, I'm thrilled that Linden Labs has made this move, and hope that they are rewarded.