[sldev] Why Linden Labs needs to let the community extend the client without asking for their IP

[John Hurliman]

Tim Shephard wrote:
> Clearly LL is suffering significantly from scalability issues.
>
> A day does not go by without real problems in terms of teleporting,
> database, and other connectivity issues.  To top it off, inventory
> issues are rampant.   I get more than 10 complaints per day about
> missing items that people have purchased.  We never bother contacting
> LL staff anymore, rather we just replace without question.
>
> The grid can not go past 40K concurrent users without falling over.
> This is putting LL Inc at risk.
>
> To solve this I presume the entire staff has been dedicated to
> scalability and stability issues alone, and for those who can't
> directly program in that respect have been moved over to QA.
>
> To do otherwise would be a shocking act of mismanagement.  Features
> are meaningless if people can not do the basic things, such as logging
> on, teleporting, and maintaining / transferring / rezzing inventory.
>
> On top of this, competitors are circling.   New ideas and new
> approaches are being developed everywhere and while SL is dedicating
> precious resources to just staying afloat - they are falling quickly
> behind in the feature race.
>
> What's the solution?  Simple - leverage your massive developer
> community to extend the client and simulator for you.    This worked
> brilliantly for building out the world itself and it will work
> *brilliantly* for improving the client and simulators that we connect
> to.
>
> However, we're not going to do this for free.   Well, some of us are I
> suppose, but the vast majority of us make calculated judgements when
> it comes to investing our time, and if one activity which is somewhat
> similar and we enjoy it is going to reward us more financially, we are
> going to pursue that activity.   This is a simple reality.
>
> What does that imply?   Support us in our desire to maintain control
> over our own Intellectual Property for extending client and server in
> the way we did inside SL.   If we want to open source, we can, if we
> want to close source or do something in between - we can do that to.
> However, leave the choice and flexibility in our hands.
>
> Will some of us get rich?  Maybe.   Maybe even make more than LL
> itself, at least in the short term.
>
> However, I tell you this now, living in fear caused by a philosophy of
> envy will get you no where.
>
> LL's corporate DNA is based on Web 2.0, on leveraging the power of the
> community and to betray those instincts that got you here now when
> things are so critical will be the mistake that makes your a minor
> footnote in the beginning of the metaverse.
>
> So: open up that plugin API.    Talk clearly and consistently about
> how we can extend the client and maintain our own closed source.
> Stop giving into the fears of old economy lawyers and managers who are
> still thinking with a non crowd sourcing, non Web 2.0, and most of all
> - non Second Life mindset.
>
> Regards,
>
> Tim. 

I think it's important to start this discussion with a very candid 
honesty. So truthfully, were you high when you wrote this?

John Hurliman